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Prince Urban didn’t respond; he merely stared, seething at Soren, as if planning which was the best way to murder him. Then he glanced toward me, and his expression mellowed. He sat back in his chair and focused on his food, eating with impeccable—if not reserved—table manners.
From there, the rest of dinner progressed in absolute silence. Even Nicolette held her tongue.
Chapter 6
Vienne
The next morning, I sat alone in the East Salon, breaking my fast and watching the sun rise.
The baby had hiccups. I laughed and patted my belly with every start. The precious little bundle wasn’t even born yet, and she still managed to utterly fascinate me.
It was strange how much I loved her already. Hoping everything was okay in there, I took a sip of my morning tea and stroked my stomach again, trying to comfort her. She was so active today, as if she were already curious to meet the world and start exploring. I couldn’t wait to hold her in my arms and kiss her forehead, then rock her against my chest.
And I really should stop thinking of her as her, I suppose. She could very well be a he. Except something in me screamed girl, and I couldn’t vanquish the notion, no matter how hard I tried. Truly, the gender wouldn’t matter to me either way. She just felt like a girl for some reason, and thus I kept thinking of her that way.
“There you are,” my sister’s voice called right before the door to the salon slammed shut behind her, the loud crack making the baby inside me give a leap of fear.
“It’s okay,” I murmured quietly, patting my belly again. “That was just Auntie Yasmin. You’re okay, little one. I’m keeping you safe.”
“Are you deaf? I said no cape today,” Yasmin muttered as she struggled to remove hers from her throat before flinging it in the face of the apologizing maid trailing her, who fumbled to catch the wad of emerald.
Once the cloak was out of her hands, Yasmin rolled her shoulders as if relieved to be free of it before flashing me a wide smile. “Much better.” She fell gracefully in the chair next to mine and gave a long, exhausted sigh as two more maids rushed to arrange her dress. “I’ve been looking for you everywhere, but I should’ve known I’d find you here. You’ve quite taken over my spot, haven’t you?”
The East Salon was my favorite room in the entire castle. Caulder had built it on recently at the top of the keep when he learned how much Yasmin adored watching the sunrise. No other castle in all the realms had a room quite like this one. One wall was built entirely of windows filled with Donnelly’s famous clear rock, and it faced the east so the queen could sit and enjoy the sunrise every morning with a cup of tea.
The thing was, Yasmin rarely woke early enough to actually see the stunning sunrise. So it had become my place of peace over the past few weeks when sleeping became too uncomfortable and I found myself awake and out of bed this early.
The sun had risen over an hour ago, but I was so comfortable here in this chair that my back didn’t even hurt, and the sun felt good, warming my face. I was loath to move.
“What can I help you with?” I asked as I set down my tea in order to give my sister my full attention. My gaze went across the room to the maid who was trying to fold Yasmin’s discarded wrap. “And I believe that maid really is hard of hearing.”
Yasmin blinked, taken aback before glancing at the maid who watched us with wide frightened eyes. “Really?”
I nodded. “She reads lips, though, so just make sure she’s looking at you fully before you give her instructions.”
Yasmin studied the girl a moment longer before turning away with a dismissive flutter of her hand. “How you remember such trivial information is beyond me.” Taking the cup of tea another maid rushed to deliver to her, she took a sip, set it back in its saucer, and said, “Something must be done about Nicolette.”
“What do you mean?” I took the cup and saucer from her hand after she drank so she wouldn’t have to stretch to set in on the table.
“What do I mean?” she repeated incredulously. “You were at dinner last night, were you not? How can you even ask me that? She was much too forward with the High Cliff prince. It was ghastly and indecent. Caulder should’ve stopped her as soon as she asked that man to sit next to her.”
“She’s only curious, Yasmin.”
“Her curiosity is going to land her in trouble. Why, before we know it, her belly will be as full as yours with a High Cliff bastard in there, and Prince Urban will flee back to his own kingdom, leaving us to deal with his mess. You heard him yourself, he’ll likely lay with anyone now that he knows he can’t have his one true love or whatever he calls his silly mate.” She rolled her eyes dramatically.
My lips parted in surprise, shocked she would even think up such a scandalous idea. “I…” I faltered, not sure how to deny such an outrageous claim. Because, really, it felt all wrong to me. Maybe I was just being too naïve, but I honestly couldn’t see anything of the like happening.
“I really didn’t get the feeling Prince Urban was interested in Nicolette in that manner,” I finally answered as diplomatically as I could. Truth be told, I thought he’d treated her as if she were an affectionate little sister.
“I agree,” a new voice rose from the doorway that had opened without my notice. “My brother might possess a rakish charm, but he has never preyed on innocent girls, nor would he, especially one as young as your princess.”
Yasmin and I whipped our attention to where Princess Allera entered the salon with a dark, calculating smile, leaving the door to the room standing boldly open behind her. “Your little Nicolette is quite safe from him, I assure you.”
“I…” Flushing, Yasmin cleared her throat before bowing her head. “Princess! I beg your forgiveness if it sounded as if I was defaming your brother. I just… I worry about my impetuous sister-in-law. That is all.”
&n
bsp; I lifted my eyebrows, surprised. Yasmin had never been so quick to recant before. This was interesting. Princess Allera must intimidate her.
