Page 14 of The Hidden Daughter (The Lost Daughters #7)

Later that night, sitting on the bank and wrapped in the blanket Oskar had brought, still shivering just a little from their long swim in the fjord, Amalie stretched out like a cat in a puddle of sunshine.

‘I couldn’t have planned a more magical night if I’d tried,’ Oskar said. ‘I only wish I’d thought to bring food with us this time.’

She brushed her fingertips over his leg, which was still bare, and she felt goose pimples ripple across his skin.

‘What do you think of me cooking for you tomorrow night?’ he asked. ‘I’ll make us dinner and we can eat in the restaurant after everyone else goes.’

She laughed. ‘But the staff aren’t allowed to dine there. What if someone sees me?’

‘Hmm,’ he murmured. ‘No, you’re right, I couldn’t be seen with a maid there, imagine what the paying patrons might say.’

She swatted at him, but he deftly caught her hand. ‘You know what I mean. I don’t want to get either of us in trouble.’

‘Meet me in the kitchen tomorrow night, after closing,’ he said. ‘I’ll have it all planned, but please, just let me cook for you. I want you to try something I’ve been working on lately, hoping to perfect. No one will reprimand you, not if you’re with me.’

‘You can cook for me whenever you want, Oskar,’ she said, truthfully. ‘I’ll sneak out to see you every night for the rest of summer if I have to.’

‘Tomorrow night, then. And every night after that.’

She closed her eyes for a moment, knowing that when she opened them, he’d still be staring down at her.

‘Whatever happens, I’ll never forget you, Oskar,’ she whispered as she gazed up at him, her head on his lap as he stroked her hair. ‘These have been the best days of my life.’

He bent and kissed her, his lips warm and hungry against hers. ‘I love you, Amalie.’

Tears filled her eyes. It was almost the middle of summer—their time together had flown past, and now she couldn’t imagine not seeing him every day, not being with him at the end of each shift; not feeling his arms around her or his fingertips brushing against her skin.

I love you, too, Oskar. So much that sometimes I can barely breathe at the thought of losing you.

‘Stay here the night with me?’ he asked.

The way his fingers tugged so gently through her hair, his lips finding hers again before she could even answer, made her melt into him. Right now, she would have said yes to anything.

I need to go back to my room. I can’t stay out all night. What will the other girls say?

‘It will just be us, the fjord and the midnight sun,’ he whispered against her lips. ‘We don’t have to do anything you don’t want to. I just want to lie here with you in my arms and never let go.’

And just like that, Amalie found herself nodding, powerless to say no to the boy she’d fallen head over heels in love with, and knowing that if he asked her to, she’d walk to the end of the earth, give up everything, just to be with him.

Amalie didn’t remember falling asleep, but when they woke in the morning the amber light of the sun was still casting a pretty, soft glow around them. She tugged the blanket up around her, shivering from the early morning air even though she was nestled against Oskar.

‘I’ve dreamed of waking up beside you,’ he said, leaning over and kissing her on the mouth.

Amalie tucked in closer to him, his arm around her shoulders as they watched the beauty of the morning unfold around them.

The lush forest covered the land to each side, the water a dark blanket stretching out in front of them, and Amalie knew that she’d never witness anything so beautiful in her life as what she was looking at right now.

But despite it all, despite the happiness blossoming inside of her, she still had a little worry that wouldn’t go away, that had begun to play on her mind the night before even though she’d done her best to banish it.

‘Oskar, may I ask you something, and will you promise to answer honestly?’ she asked.

He gave her shoulders a squeeze and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. ‘Anything. I have nothing to hide from you.’

Amalie cleared her throat. She hadn’t wanted to say anything, but everything seemed so perfect, and she didn’t want to be lulled into a false sense of what they were, of who she was to Oskar.

He’d told her that he loved her, but her older sister had always warned her how easily men could say words to get what they wanted from a woman.

She might be in love, but she didn’t want to be a fool in love.

‘I overheard some of the maids talking about us yesterday. They were whispering about how I was your fun for the summer, and that I’d be left broken-hearted once you left.

That you’d done this last time you were here.

’ Amalie took a deep breath and it shuddered from her lungs as she looked up at him, wanting to see the expression on his face.

‘Will I ever see you again, after this? Or is this just a summer fling for you, something you do with a pretty maid you find every year?’

She hoped she could keep the look on his face in her memory for the rest of her life, because the way his eyes softened, the way he stared back at her, told her everything she needed to know. Amalie could tell that she’d hurt him just by asking.

‘This is real, Amalie,’ he said, holding her hand. ‘I’ve never felt this way about anyone before, and I’m not leaving here at the end of summer without you. Whatever they’ve said is because they’re jealous of what we have, nothing more.’

She smiled, even though her eyes had filled with tears. ‘We come from different worlds, Oskar. Even if we wanted to stay together, even if—’

‘Shhh,’ he murmured, wrapping his arms even tighter around her. ‘We will find a way. I promise you, Amalie, we will find a way to be together.’

She closed her eyes, even though they were supposed to be taking in the view, feeling him against her, wanting to remember forever what it felt like to be in his arms. Only she wasn’t sure what was worse—knowing this was only for the summer, or that they both wanted to be together and couldn’t.

Within minutes, she’d have to rush back to her quarters and get ready for work, but for now, she wanted to soak up every second of being in Oskar’s embrace, of feeling his breath against her cheek; the soft thud of his heart as she turned her head against his chest.

It was the strangest feeling, but it was as if her heart was expanding and growing like a flower under Oskar’s tender love and care, at the same time as it was slowly starting to break in anticipation of what was to come.

‘Tonight,’ he said. ‘We’ll be together again tonight, and every night after that if I can help it.’