AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Lieutenant Tomas avoided looking at me as he cleaned up the training room. I approached Noah slowly. “Your Majesty,” I bowed my head.
He shook his head slightly and jumped in before I had a chance to say anything further. “I’ve got a few meetings with the queen, but I’d like to feed beforehand.”
I swallowed and immediately hated the excitement that curled in my gut.
“We’ll head to your chambers and I’ll depart from there,” he commanded.
We moved out of the room, with Noah not bothering to spare me a second glance. I kept my focus forward despite feeling the lieutenant’s eyes on my back as I left.
Noah slowed after a few moments, waiting for me to catch up to him. He turned his head to the side. “I apologize for being short. Lieutenant Tomas isn’t the most forgiving fae when his pride is wounded.” His smile relaxed me somewhat, but I glanced over my shoulder nonetheless.
We entered my room, and I tried to quash the “what if” tingles running through me. They were ridiculous and I knew where they led…disappointment.
“I’m not really going to feed from you. You look hesitant,” Noah said as soon as the door was shut.
“Why did you say that in front of the lieutenant then?”
Noah shrugged. “While the feeders and staff most likely have conjured the truth, it’s rumors at best if other fae hear that I won’t feed from my human. And isn’t that a good thing? Or you’d be occupying your time and sentence some other way.”
His tone was light, but the jab I felt at the words were there regardless. A smile even played across his lips. But his words were still a reminder of my place. I nodded and turned my gaze to the ground.
He needed to go. This lingering in places alone with him was messing with my head. The friendliness, the almost physical side of things. It was too much.
“I realize I’ve neglected my duties where your training goes,” he said, continuing despite my reticence. “I know I mentioned you train if we go to war since you’re my feeder, but it’s more than that. I most likely wouldn’t be allowed to the front lines if a war were to erupt. And even still, since I don’t actually feed, then it would be a risk of your life for nothing. It never sat right with me, allowing feeders to do that—go to war with us.”
I looked up, watching Noah as he moved across the room toward the window. He gazed out, deep in thought, but I wasn’t sure if it was even on the topic at hand or not.
“But there are other threats that could come our way. It bothers me that there have been years and years of a war on the horizon with neither side making a move. As my feeder, you’d be in peril if I was targeted because of our closeness. I’d like it if you would train with the mindset that your life may depend on it. It may not be the front lines that are the largest threat.” He turned to face me and I met his gaze. It held an intensity that didn’t include his usual warmness.
My brow furrowed but I bowed my head in a slight nod.
“You understand, Cora?” he asked.
He wanted an actual response. “Yes, Your Majesty.”
“Get dressed for dinner. I’ll meet you outside in thirty minutes.”
He rushed from the room without even a correction to the Your Majesty I’d used.
I stared at the closed door, impressed by what seemed like genuine care for his people … and that included me.
* * *
A light rapping at my door thirty minutes on the nose from when the prince had vanished so quickly before echoed in my room. I was sitting on my bed, staring at the elegance around me with awe and even a slight appreciation. Having slept in this room for a few days hadn’t yet dulled my amazement.
“Coming,” I said as I jumped off the bed.
I smoothed my hair down before I opened the door and immediately caught myself. What the hell, Cora?
And as suddenly as I’d caught myself primping before answering the door, the puzzle of my life, my purpose snapped into place. This was it. The nervous un-Cora like behavior was the final reminder that I needed to realize my worry and focus should be on me.
Noah’s words about training proved to be a help greater than I could have imagined. His words gave me a new purpose. I’d train and workout and learn from books in the library, and my life would be one where I’d make myself strong. The resources were available to me, and I wasn’t going to waste them.
And I was most certainly going to drop the notion that a true friendship with Noah Driscoll was in my future. Banter and surface-level interactions were fine, and I could live with that.
I answered the door with a smile and expected a playful prince on the other side. Instead he seemed almost shy. My smile lessened as I shut the door behind me and followed him into the corridor.
“You know, I should probably be meeting you somewhere less,” I looked at the darker halls and the stark contrast it held to the opulence of the main areas of the palace, “grungy.”
