“Training, of course. Thank you Simon, I’ll go directly.”
Scooping up a pastry to eat on the way, Kai turned for the door. He caught his reflection in a large mirror on his way out - and doubled back, glancing at Simon’s turned back before taking a moment to flatten his hair and straighten his shirt. As the sole representative of the Merrow, it was important to look presentable, he told himself. That was all.
???
When he arrived, Adeline knelt by the grate, stoking the fire. She glanced slightly over her shoulder at the creak of the door and her hair, roped in a thick, fraying braid, swung over her spine as she moved. From her profile, lit in the warm glow of new flames, Kai saw the soft curve of her cheekbone lift in a smile.
“Good morning, Your Majesty,” she said.
She took her time pushing to her feet, back arching slightly as she went, then slowly turned on the spot and planted her hands on her hips. Though he managed to suppress it, Kai had to scold himself for the groan that rose in his throat. Why was it that her every move seemed like a performance, a dance? He turned his eyes to the fire for a long moment, spots flaring in his vision when he turned to face her.
“Good morning, Princess.”
“Adeline,” she reminded him.
“Kai,” he returned.
She laughed, and the sound was throaty and rich. For some reason, it called to mind the long summer nights he’d spent drinking stolen rum by the fire with Al and Os, sprawled on the grassy banks of the Laune with a canopy of stars overhead. He watched her for a moment, revelling in the warmth of that laugh and the memories it stirred, forgetting himself entirely.
Kai realised a beat too late that she had stopped laughing. He was just staring at her now. She stared back, unreadable.
“Kai it is, then. Well, go ahead and choose your sword, Kai.”
Adeline’s cheeks had pinked slightly, but it wasn’t like any blush he’d ever seen. More as though she’d suddenly warmed. She held his gaze steadily, still completely at ease.
“Go on. You can’t spendallmorning batting your lovely eyelashes at me.”
“I wasn’t –”
She cocked her head at him, lips pressed together to keep from smiling.Ah.He felt the familiar prickle of heat rising uncomfortably up his neck. She was poking fun at him, again.
He really had to get better at reading that tone.
Kai turned quickly to the weapons wall, searching the rows of blades even as he worked to smother the heat rising to his face. By the time he had unhooked a sword from the wall and returned to the training floor, he was somewhat more composed – but the blinding beam of Adeline’s smile had dimmed. She watched him with her head tilted to one side, braid slipping over her shoulder, her face still and inscrutable.
“You can tell me if it’s too much, you know.”
“Too much?”
“IfI’mtoo much.” She caught her bottom lip between her teeth, a gesture that was already so familiar he knew she was holding back that ever-present smile. “Like the other day.”
The other day.
So shehadnoticed it; the moment when he’d let his composure slip in the heat of their training. Got close enough to see the barely-there freckles on the bridge of her nose, to catch the dent of her teeth in her bottom lip and think, for just one fleeting, dangerous moment, about biting it himself. Just this morning, those same intrusive thoughts had him staring into the blazing fireplace, willing his eyeballs to melt from their sockets just to maintain a scrap of sanity. Kai knew he had let himself too comfortable in her personal space, and he’d wanted to believe the Princess thought nothing of it but –
“I’m sorry,” said Adeline.
Kai’s inward spiral came to an abrupt halt. He frowned.
“You’resorry?”
“I am,” she nodded, still struggling to flatten that tilt to her lips. “It wasn’t fair of me to tease you like that.”
Kai was not entirely certain she didn’t tease him still, with the curve of her mouth and the lovely, laughing lilt to her tone. He didn’t know what to say.
“I have no objection to you teasing me, Adeline.”
He should not have saidthat.
