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“It’s not flattery. I’ve done my homework; everyone loves you.”
He laughs. “Truth be told, the emperor’s wife insisted on being seated next to me at the state dinner.”
“Can you blame her? You are the most sought-after prince in all the land. Some would say the world, for people who follow obscure royal singles,” I tease.
“It sounds like a specialized dating website.”
“Someone should develop that. It could have saved you a trip,” I say.
“Ah, but then I would never have had the honor of meeting you, Hailey.”
“Stop,” I say breathily, looking away from him to pretend to study the sunset.
“You’re lovely when you blush at compliments. Unfortunately for me, it’s too dark to see your cheeks.”
My body heats at him mentioning my cheeks or any of my parts.
“My chest gets all splotchy when I’m feeling shy. It’s not a good look.”
“That’s where you’re wrong. You’ve only made yourself sound more adorable. Do go on: what else turns pink when I compliment you?”
The low pitch of his voice sends waves of pleasure across the table. “You’re a flirt, your majesty.”
“Please, call me Torben. And if we’re being formal, it’s ‘royal highness.’ My parents are addressed as ‘majesties.’”
“Fortunately, I won’t have to remember all that since I won’t be meeting them anytime soon,” I say. There I go, putting my armor up, making sure no one can hurt me. Not even a gorgeous, flirty, overly polite, pain-in-my-ass prince who keeps giving me heated looks.
To distract myself, I pick up my phone and google his name’s meaning. When I get my answer, I have to cover my mouth to keep from telling Torben that he is growing more and more cute by the minute.
“What is it, Hailey?”
Thankfully, I don’t have to think up a lie.
From inside the main dining room, a bluegrass band plays a sweet slow song I haven’t heard since before Daddy died. Or, before he drank and gambled all our money away and pawned his guitar.
Oh, dear. The memory. Daddy’s guitar, Mama’s fiddle. Toad and Papaw on banjo. A crackling fire in the fire pit.
The universe is messing with my emotions, and Torben is misreading the moment.
I clear my throat, eager to distract the prince from asking me to dance. I can’t right now.
“So, you’ve told me about your parents. What about your siblings?”
The heated look in Torben’s eyes cools.
“Flora is our little sprite. Being the youngest, though, she’s largely left to her own devices and is prone to disappear daily in the woods for hours. But she’s also sweet, stubborn, smarter than the rest of us, and utterly spoiled by the general public. Of all the siblings, she’s showered with the most gifts from the citizens of Gravenland. And she sends hand-written thank you notes to each of them.”
Flora sounds like pure sunshine, and it almost hurts my heart to know I’ll never get to meet her.
I swallow. “And the others?”
“Two utter disasters as princes but decent fellows at heart. When one of them isn’t drinking, that is.”
I nod. “Etienne and Sigurd.”
“You have indeed done your homework.”
“You could say that.”
