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No matter how many books I flip through, nothing grabs my attention. I’m too caught up in thoughts of what could be happening at home. I imagine Darsan’s conversation with my father when he returned. Would he be happy to know that I’m alive? Does he miss me? I imagine the shock on people’s faces when four towering minotaurs stroll into the kingdom accompanying him. I’m sure they’d be terrified at first, but I hope that they would quickly change their minds once Darsan explained everything.
I just wish I was there for moral support.
With a huff, I haul myself out of the chair that’s put my legs to sleep, and wait until they stop stinging before I walk back to the shelf and return the book in my hands. I don’t even know what it was about. Running my fingers along the spines as I read them, I make my way down the wall of books and wait for something to catch my eye. When nothing does, I stop on a random book and pull it from its spot, forcing myself to acknowledge the cover. It’s navy blue with a beige map sewn into the cover.
I sigh.
This feels like a waste of time, even though I’ve got nothing but time to waste.
“I’d skip that one.” I nearly drop the book when the voice behind me breaks the still silence, and the hairs on the back of my neck creep up to attention. Slowly, I spin around on the spot and find Nor leaning with his shoulder against the doorway, watching me.
He’s wearing a blue shirt so tight it looks like it’ll split in half if he moves the wrong way with dark pants and his usual boots.
“How long have you been there?” I ask. You’d think with him being as big as he is that I’d hear every move he makes, but he managed to sneak up on me.
“The whole time,” he says, wagging his eyebrows.
I roll my eyes and turn to put the book back. Leave it to Nor to find a way to annoy me in three words or less. But despite being annoyed, I can’t deny the spark of excitement I feel at his presence. He came here for a reason, and I doubt it was to brush up on his literature. Maybe it’s to smooth things out between us.
“Do you mind if I join you?” he asks, testing the waters.
“Wouldn’t you join me anyway?” I toss back and raise an eyebrow at him.
He huffs a laugh and pushes off the wall, stepping farther into the room. “Yes.”
The door drifts closed behind him, shutting with a soft click. As soon as the room is sealed, the air is charged with an invisible buzz of energy. Unseen electricity sends goosebumps up my arms and makes my hair stand on end.
My stomach flips nervously as the gravity of our aloneness sets in.
“I checked the garden first,” he says, slowly making his way over. He stops a few feet away from me and looks up at the shelf of books. I think he’s pretending to peruse to avoid eye contact. “This was my second guess.”
“You know me pretty well for someone who barely spends time with me,” I say sarcastically, unable to help myself. I don’t know what drives me to make jabs at him every chance I get, but I smile at the way his jaw tenses with irritation. He’s more personable when we banter back and forth. I almost feel like we could be friends, aside from the long stints of ignoring one another in between our good days.
“You’re not very hard to figure out,” he laughs.
“Oh?” I turn to face him, and even though he towers over me, I stand up a little straighter to challenge him. “And why is that?”
A confident smirk appears on his lips. “Do you want me to say it’s because you’re a simple creature?”
“If that’s the truth, yes.” I can already imagine how the words will sound in his voice, but if he says it, I’m leaving. I want the truth, but I don’t want him to think I’m simple.
I press my lips together and stare up at him sternly, flustered by how I want to walk away, leaving him standing here alone, and also fall into his arms at the same time. Damn him and every one of the complicated emotions he evokes from me.
“You want the truth then,” he says, making me narrow my eyes on him. There’s no doubt in my mind that this man is meant to be king. He’s proving to be a royal pain in my ass.
“Preferably, yes.” I fight the urge to roll my eyes and cross my arms over my chest instead. Did he really come here to annoy me?
And here I’d thought he might have come for something more.
He chuckles once and turns my way. “Considering how often you cross my thoughts, I’d have to be pretty dense to not have you figured out by now.”
The floor feels like it’s been jerked from beneath me, and my breath catches. Even though I’m sure he heard, I try to play it off by clearing my throat, and heat creeps up my neck and into my cheeks.
“W-what?”
He takes a half-step closer, his gaze never breaking from mine. Instinctively, I want to mimic him, but I remain rooted firmly to the spot. Mostly because I’m still in shock, but a tiny part of me wants Nor to come to me. I want him to show some amount of interest in me. The thought of being pursued by him, even when it contradicts our truce, makes my heartbeat pick up speed.
He must hear it too, because his brow quirks upward. “Does that surprise you?”
