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I choked momentarily and sipped a bigger gulp of the drink in front of me to help calm the shock.
“Ah yes, the love of my life, though some would doubt her capable of anything beyond what she shows the kingdom. Her father didn’t approve of our relationship. I was poor, unworthy. She was destined for greatness and ruling this land.”
The parallels were not lost on me as I sat taking in the story that I’d somewhat known from the last time the king opened up slightly about this.
“It took me a long time to realize that people treated her certain ways depending on what they wanted, what she could do for them, how well she behaved. And so I decided that no matter how she treated me, I would simply treat her the same. Whether she saw me as the poor villager who was doing his job, the lover, the one courting her, whatever I had the honor of being, it didn’t matter. My treatment of her would be consistent, as was making sure she knew she was cared for and thought so highly of.”
“And what happened?” I asked, as I inched forward a millimeter, already on the edge of my seat.
“Eventually it worked.” He shrugged. “Whatever young man is in your life, Cora, if they are worth it to you, give it time and don’t give up. Friendships, romance, in all things. If it matters to you, give it time and don’t give up.”
He smiled, grinning as he popped the last biscuit into his mouth. “Now, how about you show me some of the constellations you enjoyed back home.”
I nodded, rising from my chair with him as he moved toward the endless bounds of maps in his private stash.
Give it time and don’t give up.
King Driscoll might not have given that advice if he knew for sure I’d been speaking of Noah. Especially in the romantic sense. Not giving up didn’t matter at the moment. Because whether I gave it time or not, Noah was with someone else. And seemed happy with her, which meant there wasn’t room in his heart romantically for me. Not in the way I was leading myself to believe our time together meant.
But that’s how it should be. Because as much as the king treated me kindly, and as much as Noah treated me like a friend, I was still just a feeder. A human from a faraway world.
And a rough-around-the-edges foster kid in Faerie would never belong in the heart of a prince.
