She slapped me hard on the shoulder as her eyebrows drew together in a moment of anger. She then laughed as I began to
chuckle at her response. Even if that was pushing it, I only wanted to hear her wonderful laugh.
“Nicholas, serious answers only please,” she scolded me then resumed her position of sitting with her back against the bath
and closed her eyes.
“My apologies, princess. Yes, I do enjoy horse riding. I love how powerful and pure the animals are. Some may seem
angry and full of rage on the outside but once they begin to trust you, you can learn a lot about them. They teach you to build a
relationship. At first, you must learn their boundaries and go at their speed.”
“Are you comparing me to a horse? Will you learn my boundaries and go at my speed?”
“I already know your boundaries and am willing to wait for them to be taken down, piece by piece.”
I kept my eyes closed, daring not to look at her now as I knew I’d break more with each glance. She looked even more
beautiful as water dripped from her skin against the warm light.
“It is your turn to answer now, Annwyl, and please, make it a good one.”
She fell silent for a few minutes as I guessed she thought of an answer. I didn’t wish to tell her I already knew a lot about
her. Simply from sneaking into her mind while she slept, walking through her dreams of fantasy, wonders, and the places she
wished to run to.
I wished only to keep those a secret for me. I knew how embarrassing and deeply it would hurt should she find out I knew
things about her without her permission. I remembered when April did it to me when we were kids. It was how she and my
sisters found out about Ornella, snooping into my mind when I didn’t know how to block them out.
“I have this secret library in a tower back home, which I’m sure isn’t really a secret but deep inside there, tucked away I
had a secret place where I hide things I have found or were given to me. Books, pressed flowers, and a certain purple flower a
young stable boy gave me one summer,” she admitted, and I opened my eyes to her looking shocked.
“Until now, I’d forgotten it was the flower you first conjured for me. When I found it in the box months later—after you left
—I just assumed it was one I found on one of my walks. Now I can remember you gave it to me. It explains why I have always
been drawn to the flower …because of you.”
She turned to look at me then, her eyes glistening with a mixture of happiness and a hint of sadness. I wanted to take the
sadness away. I hated how I took her memories away, but I knew if my parents found out about her and how she knew of my
existence, she would have been in danger. If her parents would find out, I would have been killed.
“I also kept Lord Cole’s—your jacket—there as well. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to give it back to you. It was the first thing
to my knowledge at the time a man had even given me, and you’d mentioned how it was a way for a man to claim me as his.
Was that your way of trying to claim me then?”
