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I exhaled. “Thanks—Ah—”
I hissed, grabbing the back of my head. I had let down my guard!
“Third, never look at my phone without my permission,” he said before turning and walking to the door. “I’m watching you now, Wolfgang.”
“Same to you!” I grumbled, rubbing the back of my head. One day I was going to be confident enough to give him one of those hits.
Chapter 15
It was a bit scary how good we were at not talking to each other in private but acting in front of the cameras. It had been more than a week since our fight. We’d left Rozem to go on to several other cities. On the train, we ate breakfast together and had a bland conversation about nothing important, so it looked like we weren’t actually ignoring each other to everyone else. Then he kept to the conference room, and I stayed in the drawing room.
Wolfgang and I spent most of our time preparing for each city. Making sure I knew all about the local customs, about some of the people we’d meet, and of course the press. Then at night, Gale and I would return to our room. He’d stay on his side and write. I’d pretend to sleep until I actually fell asleep, and then we did it all over again. I wasn’t even as furious anymore. But the fact that he wasn’t saying anything made me not want to say anything, either.
At this point, it was becoming a little bit ridiculous on both of our parts.
What was also scary was the newspapers. There were still releasing gossip about Gale and me as always. But the newest addition was Sabina. I knew how vicious the press was. But I didn’t realize how vicious the palace was. The first article published the day after Rozem read, “Sabina Franziska Royal Stalker Obsessed With the King.” It wasn’t untrue. However, the stories leaked audio of her…the audio I had taken while at the palace garden party, where she wanted to be the king’s mistress. I was edited out, and it sounded like she was caught talking to a friend or something. The next day after that, several papers I didn’t really know of but were also very important, like The Weekly Chronicle, The Ersovian Herald, and of course, The Ersovian Times had stories from close “friends” talking about how desperate she was to be Queen. Even her ex-husband went on record, talking about how she’d do anything to gain a title.
In a week, I watched Sabina fall from the prince’s past rumored true love to a calculated, greedy, coldhearted, and crazy…whore. With her slow downfall came my rising. A lot kinder coverage on how well the trip was going, how nice I was, or what I was saying with my outfit choices. I was just trying to look nice, but by some reports, you’d think I was giving out secret codes. One talked about how my broach was a throwback honor to some medieval female swordswoman, and it showed my deep-rooted thoughts on feminism. When I asked Gelula, she looked back at me and said it was just the best one for the outfit…as I thought.
Either way, the press was doing what they often did: creating content. It was just how severe they were with Sabina all of a sudden that made me know for sure it was Gale. Which was how I was not used to seeing him. Right now, across from me, putting apricot jelly on his bagel, reading his morning brief was how I was used to him.
I guess I was staring too long because he paused and glanced up at me, his eyebrow rising…but it was a bit funny with the jelly at the corner of his lip. So the corner of my lips turned up.
“What?” he asked gently.
Taking the napkin, I reached over the table and cleaned the side of his face. “You really like the apricot jelly, don’t you?”
He smiled. “Actually, I prefer strawberry, but someone keeps beating me to it in the morning.”
I glanced down at my plate…as I was the guilty party. But then I remembered we were free to order anything we wanted. “The only one depriving you is you. There is enough to share.”
“Are you sure?” He chuckled. “You put a lot on everything: toast, bagels, croissants…”
“Here.” I switched my plate with his.
“It’s fine—”
“Nope.” I held his plate farther away from him. “The last thing I want to be accused of is depriving the king of his favorite jelly.”
“The king is satisfied watching you eat it so vigorously.” He stretched the word with a smirk, clearly teasing me.
“Vigorously?” I repeated.
“Like a bear to honey.” He laughed at me. “It is the only one you eat, Odette.”
Hearing him laugh and call my name…feeling myself laugh, really laugh, felt so good after so long.
“I don’t only eat the strawberry,” I said, lifting his half-eaten bagel as proof and taking a bite, but the moment I tasted the apricot, my face bunched, and I regretted it.
And he only laughed harder at the look on my face. “I guess you’ve proven yourself wrong.” He shook his head, taking his plate back. “Enjoy your strawberry…bevilën.”
Our eyes met when he called me that, and for a brief moment, it felt like everything melted, and as I stared into his blueish-green eyes, I melted again, and there went the last tiniest shred of my anger.
Poof, it was all finally gone.
And I wanted to tell him that, but before I could, in came Wolfgang and Balduin. It was the same time they always came. 8:30. And normally, they were welcomed, but right now… they ruined the whole mood.
“Sir, ma’am.” Balduin nodded to us.
