Page 22

Luc

I ’d planned on a quiet night in, my usual evening routine of a book in front of the fireplace, a glass of wine close at hand. I’d turn in around ten, up in time for my morning run before starting the day. I still craved Ava. There was no denying it. But my conversation with Alaric weighed heavily on my mind. I had to make myself scarce when it came to the princess.

“Hey!” She called out to me from down the hall, waving her hand, an eager expression on her face. If she was upset at me for avoiding her over the last two weeks, she sure didn’t show it. The moment I laid eyes on her I got the sense that my anticipated quiet evening of relaxation had something different in store for me.

Ava, dressed in her usual outfit of jeans and a loose-fitting band T-shirt, a pair of white Chuck Taylors on her feet, hurried over without waiting for me to utter so much as a “hello.” She looked so good it hurt. I’d been doing my best to ignore her since our tryst, but it was near impossible. Over and over again I’d found myself thinking of her, the way she’d felt, the tight expression of pleasure on her face as I took her virginity.

“Good evening, Princess,” I said, trying to maintain my composure.

She laughed. “Listen to you!” Ava puffed out her chest and formed a comically serious expression on her face. “‘ Good evening, Princess .’ You’re talking to me like you’re the head butler or something.”

“That’s not too far from my actual job,” I said. “And I’m trying to be professional.”

She grinned. “What, making up for all of the times you’ve been un professional?” The look on her face made it clear what she’d meant by that.

“Princess!” I hissed, keeping my voice low and looking over my shoulder to make sure that we were alone. Thankfully, no other members of the staff were in the hall with us. “You know better than to talk like that out in the open.”

“Good point. Then let’s talk in private, yeah?”

“No. I have duties to attend to.”

“Come on, you’ve been ignoring me over the last couple of weeks and it’s starting to drive me a little crazy. I just want to talk.”

Part of me wanted to refuse and get on with my night. Another part wanted more than anything to speak to her again. It was almost scary how easily she was able to get me to ignore my duties, to say nothing of the king’s orders.

“Fine. We’ll talk—but with the door open.”

“Probably a good call, right?” A sly smile was on her face.

Without responding to her comment, I stepped over to the nearest balcony door and opened it. It was only around five, the sun setting in the west and casting the sky in brilliant oranges and reds. Though I’d lived in Edoria all my life, the sunsets still managed to take my breath away. Down below, various members of the royal court, along with groundskeepers, were in the gardens. The lights of the towers of the financial district in downtown Lausanne were beginning to twinkle on for the evening. Off in the distance, the autumn colors of the trees spread out into the horizon. The air carried the perfect amount of briskness. It was another perfect night.

“What is it, Princess?” I asked, making sure the door stayed open.

She narrowed her eyes. “Don’t give me that, you know damn well that this is about you ignoring me.”

“I haven’t been ignoring you.” My tone carried a defensiveness that was strange even to me. I’d never felt the need to explain myself to anyone but my king.

“Then what’ve you been doing? We went from seeing each other every single day to you going out of your way to avoid me.” I began to speak, but before I managed to utter even a single word, she raised her finger and arched her eyebrows. “And don’t even think of telling me that I’m imagining it. I have a zero gaslighting policy, and I’m not going to let you feed me any bullshit lines.”

I should’ve known that simply avoiding Ava and hoping that’d be the end of it wouldn’t work. Moreover, she had a right to know what was going on.

I sighed, shaking my head. “It’s your father.”

“You mean the guy who I’m supposed to eat dinner with k tonight but more likely than not won’t show up?”

“The very same.”

“Why did he tell you to ignore me?” Her eyes flashed with worry. “Don’t tell me he knows.”

I laughed. “You think if he knew that he would’ve let me off with a little warning? No, he doesn’t know. He was simply concerned about your, well, I won’t sugarcoat it, miserable performance as a princess so far. My avoiding you was his way of making sure I wasn’t around to be a distraction.”

The anger faded from her face, replaced with disappointment. She turned, spreading her arms and placing her hands on the balcony railing.

“I know. I know I’m totally bombing it as a princess. But… I don’t know what I’m supposed to do. I’m terrible at every single part of this job, or whatever you want to call it. I can’t walk right, I can’t talk right, and the idea of dressing in the clothes that I’m expected to wear is enough to make my stomach turn.”

She turned around, a determined expression on her face.

“But you know what? I’ve made peace with that. If I can’t act the way that I’m supposed to as a princess, it’s OK. If that doesn’t sit well with my father—if I should even call him that with the way he treats me—then fine. I’m not going to lose sleep at night worrying that I’m not acting like other people expect me to. I’ve always lived my life according to my own code, and that’s not about to change.”

I had to admire her fierce determination. It was a reminder of what I’d found so damned attractive about her to begin with.

“In fact,” she continued, “I’m going to do what I want tonight.”

“Is that so?”

“It’s so. And what I want is to spend time with you.”

My heart tensed at the idea. The fact of the matter was that I wanted nothing more than to spend the evening with Ava. But I dared not speak the words.

“Is this a command of the princess?” I asked with a wry tone.

She grinned. “Nope. I’m asking you as a friend. But if issuing an official command is what gets you to hang out with me, then I won’t hesitate for a second.”

I chuckled. “Fine. After all, it’s just the orders of the king that I’m ignoring here.”

Ava went pssh , waving her hand through the air. “Don’t look at it like that. The princess wanted to go out for the evening, and you volunteered to accompany her. After all, you’re not about to let her go out into the big, scary world all alone, are you?”

Her words took me by surprise. “Wait, you’re going out?”

“ We’re going out. And to get there, we’re going to need a ride. Come on.”