Say something, you idiot!
“No. I didn’t know that.”
That wasn’t a lie.
Nes chanced a glance at the duke to find that he was still studying her, eyes squinted like he was trying to read in low light.
“You know I’m attracted to you, right?”How the fates was she supposed to handle that information? Nes’s toes found the edge of the rug and she traced it, left to right, right to left, left to right, right to—Gods!What was she supposed to say? To do? She could kiss him again.No! Terrible idea.
He was handsome, but he was also a duke! Off limits, a peer of the realm; while she was a tutor, a commoner. Attraction meant absolutely nothing—however possibly mutual it may have been.
As if the moment couldn’t get any more confusing, the next words out of his mouth nearly stopped her heart.
“Are you attracted to me?”
Who says that?! Oh gods, what do I do? What do I say?
“Yes.” Her mouth betrayed her. Nes felt chaos coalescing in her palms as her nerves got away from her. She forced her focus on her breathing until she could release the power that fizzled against her skin.
“Yes?” His voice was low, uncertain, as though he wasn’t sure he’d heard her correctly.
Frustration at being stuck in such an uncomfortable situation welled up within Nesrina. He’d been more forward than Rihan. But Akkas Kahoth struck Nes as the type of man who kept his nose in books rather than breasts, and something about that had her thinking torrid thoughts as her eyes wandered, yet again, to the gap in his loose shirt.
She was a lecher, like Rihan.
“Yes,” she admitted again, half-confident, half-defeated. “But it doesn’t matter. You’re a duke, and I’m a tutor.”
“What does—”
“No,” she cut him off with a raised palm, afraid she’d pounce on him if she let him stay, let him keep talking. “You don’t get to wake me from sleep”—with a glorious kiss—“and drop this, this, knowledge on me, thenask more questions! Oh, youinfuriatingman! Go, get out of here!”
“Miss Kiappa, I’m sor—”
“Nope! Go.”
He slipped past her and fled the room.
She could have sworn he walked down toward her washroom, but she refused to look back at him, and soon, a door closed.
Climbing back into bed, she yanked the drapes around herself. Sprawled out, surrounded by curtains that evoked the pine forests back home, she traced a finger over her lips, reliving that kiss. He’d pressed his mouth so gently to hers, in a move that completely and utterly upended her world.
Who Akkas was, or who he seemed to be, was so at odds with everything she knew about the aristocracy. He wasn’t smarmy; he seemed sincere. He wasn’t ingratiating; he was irritating. He wasn’t poised; he was awkward. If anything, Rihan had been the poised, smarmy, ingratiating one—and he was common.
That didn’t matter. What mattered was: everything had become far more complicated, and the sun wasn’t even up!
How the fates was she supposed to get to the symposium now? She wouldn’t be able to face Lord Kahoth without mortification blanketing every interaction.
Oh, that infuriating man, annoying me by dayandby night.
Nes punched the pillow where he’d lain mere minutes before, then she sniffed it, to see if any of his cologne had transferred over.
fifteen
Nesrina has a favorite author.
Severaldayslater,Nesrinawas still attempting to avoid being alone with the duke . . . somewhat. They seemed to have reached a silent agreement: The nighttime interruption was not to be brought up. Although, they certainly wouldn’t have discussed it in front of the children, and she ensured those were the only times she was in the presence of the confusing lord.
On the third step of her daily regimen, Nes was heading from the kitchens to the library to select a book for her fourth step, a stroll in the gardens. In the main foyer, she paused as she did most mornings to admire the glittering elegance of the entrance to Stormhill. It had impressed her when they’d first arrived a month before and continued to dazzle her each and every time she passed through. That had to be a sign she wasn’t getting lost in the glitz.
