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“It’s quite an impressive skill for a prince to remember all the names and faces of hundreds of attendees from his closest cities and towns.”

His lips quirked to the side, and he leaned in ever so slightly to say, “Only the memorable ones, but don’t tell my counselor. He’ll make me memorize hundreds of portraits.” When he shifted back, his height felt ensconcing.

“Besides, not many chaperones indulge me in honest conversation, and I must admit, it was one of the best I’ve had in the castle in a while.” Stress skirted across his brow so quickly I almost doubted seeing it before he yielded to his former convivial air.

“Would you settle for an honest conversation from an attendee today, Your Highness?”

His eyes flashed bright. “Attendee today?” He shifted, partly angling himself away, and it made me question if he thought my change in status might spur me to bite him or something.

“I am.” My gaze dropped to the stony ground between us before raising it back up from underneath my lashes. Was this….was I flirting with him? My stomach danced in rhythm with the orchestra’s bass that thudded through the castle halls.

This is dangerous, Nora. You shouldn’t be engaging with him like this. Do you want to be tossed into the castle dungeon?!

He straightened before me, then bent at the waist in a cordial bow. I panicked and fumbled into another curtsy. The decadence of his laugh satisfied me in a way no amount of sweets in that hall could as he reached out his hands between us. “I am honored you accepted my personal invitation. Please, no more of that. That’s an order from your prince.” There was a mischievous twinkle in his eye.

That statement should have filled me with an unquenchable rage. Instead, gravity loosed its tether on me, and it felt like I was floating.

“Don’t expect a similar order from me. I actually like you bowing to me.” My smile faltered, fearing I’d gone too far. Damn it, Nora.

“Then I shall do it more often.”

An unidentifiable type of tension settled between us as we held each other’s stare. I cleared my throat, breaking the silence. “Shouldn’t the host be attending his ball?” I tossed my glance over his shoulder toward the ballroom.

He twisted his torso, following my direction before facing me once more. “Up for that honest conversation?”

Present me information on a silver platter? Yes, please. “Of course.” My lips twitched into an encouraging smirk.

He sighed and began strolling along the cobbled stone path. Stopping at my side, he extended his arm. Bewilderment squeezed my chest as I watched mine link with his, hardly believing as I wrapped around his powerfully built yet inviting arm. Even through the fabric of his finely made suit jacket, his arm was laden with muscle. We began a leisurely stroll, no apparent destination or timeline.

“Affairs like this…” He made a sweeping motion with his hand back toward the castle now growing further behind us with each step into the gardens. “I don’t relish in.”

Of all the things I thought he might say, something charming to make me swoon again, or something resembling disappointment that it wasn’t grander, his admission struck me as odd. “Why not?”

Rays of sun continued to fall upon us, negating the near lifted chill in the air. Our feet scuffed against the stone, the only sound besides birds perched in some of the surrounding trees. The music faded from earshot, the reminder becoming louder that I shouldn’t be out here, drawing attention to myself from the one person who had the power to destroy me with the snap of his fingers. My hip suddenly felt too light, missing the weight of my dagger and the protection it offered.

“There are a lot of things I should be doing with my time,” he said. “I have goals and desires that require concentrated efforts. Events such as this, they’re a requirement for my position. While they are pleasing to the eye, I see the work and the resources it requires to put something like this together and I can’t help but feel burdened by it, instead of grateful.”

“Burdened? By a glamorous party and beautiful women throwing themselves at your feet?”

He chuckled. “Yes, I suppose it sounds pitiful. I just…of all the things I wish to accomplish during my reign, I would rather change the lives of others than indulge my own.”

A boulder formed in my gut that had me wanting to burst at the seams. Help others? Was this man serious? After all the opportunities to help the people in my village, the resources he withheld, and the audacity to sink funds into parties for a queen, he still somehow made it about himself. The rising anger screamed so loudly in my head it drowned out the little voice telling me to play the part. I slid my arm out from under his, unable to stomach touching him for a moment longer.

“Yet there is still a ball happening inside.” I did my best to put a lid on the building tempest inside me, and every muscle in my body strained to contain it.

“No kingdom is ever truly run by one person. There are advisors and military leaders and allyship with other kingdoms that all play a factor. Though I may wish it different, the final decisions are made based on what is best for the kingdom as a whole. When there are lives at stake…”

For the first time since I’d met him, he struggled with what to say. I braced for the carefully calculated words that would probably tip me over the edge. Lives were at stake every day. More than once this past winter, a frozen body greeted the morning market goers. With each passing hour, starvation threatened to claim another innocent life. If it weren’t for Chol, they would have continued to suffer needlessly.

That was a man who truly cared to make a difference.

“The wrong decisions made by expensively dressed men tucked behind the safety of tall stone walls means that people suffer.” He threw a cutting glare toward the towering white structure that reached toward the sky, and his knuckles whitened from his balled fists.

Resentment encompassed his words, surrounding us in a blanket of shared bitterness. My raging tempest dulled, and for the first time, I considered he may in fact be telling the truth. That glimmer in his eye, I recognized it well. It was the flicker of desperation, sparked to life under the weight of being bound.

“Is there anything you need from me?” His attention swung back to me, glaring with an urgent intensity, as if he’d lift the castle from its foundations if I requested so.

It nearly forced me to take a step back. My tongue became too thick and dry to form appropriate words. “W-what, pardon?”