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“So now you’re asking me to sit with you under the stars in a garden. Sounds to me like you’re trying to be romantic.”
As expected, his eyes narrow, and his features harden. Messing with him is too easy, and admittedly fun.
“You can sit on the ground if you want. I don’t care.” He lifts one shoulder in a shrug. “I can be an insufferable ass if you’d prefer. I’ve had lots of practice dealing with my brother, Oryx.”
The image of a minotaur who eerily favors Nor comes to mind. “Is that the one who talked sense into you?”
He nods curtly. “He’s the youngest, and the most stubborn of them all, but he has his moments.”
I was determined to stay standing to prove a point, but now my heels are howling in agony and the desire to sit wins out over my determination. Taking a seat next to Nor on the bench, I leave as much space as possible between us, which isn’t much with the billowing fabric of my dress. He shifts to adjust his arm on the back of the bench, shaking the sturdy metal frame in the process, and I ignore the cocky look on his face.
“How many siblings do you have?” I ask.
I can’t stop the questions from coming. The steady flow of conversation gives me a false sense of friendship, even though I know better than to believe it, but it’s better than sitting in the quiet of the night and listening to one another breathe.
“I’m the oldest of five,” he says.
Five. As an only child, the prospect of having four siblings to share everything with is daunting. My father barely tolerated me as it was. I can only imagine how little attention I would have gotten with four other demanding children running around.
I might have enjoyed playing with other kids my age when I was small, but after years of trying for more children, my parents eventually gave up. I made friends with the staff and children of nobles who frequented the castle instead.
If anything, Lizette is more like a sister to me than anything. She’s a maid, and she does an excellent job of looking out for me, but the impact she’s had on my life is immeasurable. I know I’ve only just got here, and there’s still a lot of work to do, but I wouldn’t have made it this far without her.
Once again, worry crawls up my back at the thought of her and my eyes shoot toward the door.
“I’m an only child,” I say, staring without seeing what I’m looking at. “But Lizette, my maid, is the closest I’ve ever had to a sibling. I know you said you don’t know where she is, but they wouldn’t hurt her, would they?”
“I can tell you care for her deeply,” he acknowledges. “No, no one in the castle would harm either of you, that I can assure you. She was probably served dinner and escorted to your room. Don’t worry.”
I could have avoided a whole lot of stress if he’d just answered me the first time I asked, but his words are comforting. Soon—whenever that is—I’ll see her and fill her in on everything she missed. I hate she didn’t get to join the ball, but Lizette’s always been quiet and reserved. She might have been overwhelmed by it all. Hopefully she had a dinner as good as mine and got some sleep after our long day.
At the thought of sleep, my eyelids sag and a wave of exhaustion sets in. If we don’t move soon, Nor is going to have to carry me to his room. I doubt I’ll have the energy to get undressed, much less make consummation enjoyable for either of us.
“We should—” I start, but the snapping of a branch nearby makes me jump and silences my tongue.
Quicker than I would have thought possible for someone so bulky, Nor is on his feet facing me, his eyes locked on something behind me.
“If it isn’t the lovebirds,” a gruff voice says, sending goosebumps skittering up my arms. Even without seeing who’s speaking, they make me uneasy. “Forgive me for interrupting.”
“You know better than to sneak up on people, Zen. You could find yourself skewered on a horn. Or worse.” Nor scowls, his brows lowering fiercely over his eyes. Every visible muscle in his body looks tense, like he’s ready for an attack, and I nervously turn around to catch a glimpse of who he’s talking to.
For a second, I think the minotaur is standing in the shadows, but I quickly realize that isn’t the case. He’s dressed in black from his neck to his ankles, and his skin is so dark it looks blue. White horns curl their way toward the sky, and his vibrant yellow eyes are almost luminescent in the dark. He’s a specter of darkness, a nightmare from a children’s book, and when his eyes meet mine, it feels like I’ve swallowed an ice cube.
“I’m aware, but technically, you snuck up on me,” he says, shrugging as he casually makes his way over. He walks with a slow, lazy gait, like he’s got all the time in the world to tread on Nor’s patience. “I was sleeping under the Orris bushes, and you woke me. Rude, don’t you think?”
Nor’s anger is palpable as he shifts in the corner of my eye, but I can’t drag my gaze away from the newcomer. Something about him doesn’t sit right with me, aside from the fact that he just materialized out of nothing. There’s something dark about him. Something malicious. Even the air around him seems darker.
“What’s rude is your pompous attitude,” Nor fires back. “Who’s to say you weren’t eavesdropping?”
Zen smirks, revealing stark white teeth, and pauses for a beat at the end of the bench. His eyes rake over me, leaving me feeling raw and exposed, before cutting to Nor. “Eavesdropping on trivial confessions. Don’t insult me. If I wanted to vomit, I would have attended the ball. I only went to the ceremony for the irony.”
With a lazy roll of his eyes, he saunters on, and my eyes follow his form until it disappears inside the castle. I’m unable to rid my mouth of the bad taste he leaves, and I’m left wondering what irony he was talking about.
Was it something to do with me being human?
Maybe the alliance of Ulleh with such a poor kingdom as Hyatt?
The only other irony I can think of, which I’ve yet to bring to Nor’s attention, is the fact that Ulleh has stolen everything from my kingdom, including its princess. Even though I can’t know for sure, I doubt that’s what Zen was talking about. He doesn’t seem like the type of person who would care about foreign politics.
