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He pulls away and holds out his hand, palm up. There's a silent command that I have to obey. It's been drummed into me since I was little. You always listen to and immediately respond to your betters. There's nothing I can do but give him the phone. It's in his hand, and he's flicking through the messages before I can so much as blink.
His eyebrows lift and a look of scornful derision crosses his face.
"And what would my lady sister want with you?" He glances down at me, finally letting go of my upper arm. I swallow; he's so close. Something curls in my stomach, fear or maybe excitement; I can't tell. But it spreads through my bones, right to the heart of me. My skin tingles, and I can feel the ghost of his hand still on me even as he passes me back my phone.
"Are you just," I can't help myself. The words spill out of me, insubordinate and absolutely crossing the line. "Are you just haunting the hallway, hoping to catch someone entering your sister's room?" I ask.
He goes very still. I've barely met this man, but with his face drawn into a severe expression, his brow furrowed, he reminds me so much of both Mason and Benedict. I wonder if they see it in him as well. That brotherly resemblance is substantial.
And if his temper matches theirs…
I brace myself for the tidal wave that's about to crush me to the ground.
He gives me a gentle shove, his hand on my shoulder again.
"Go see to my sister, and whatever she asks of you… make sure you report it back to me," his tone is even and measured, even if his expression is not, and I can hear the tightness in his chest. Like he's holding himself in. But… from doing what? My eyes search his face.
He scowls. And I hate that he's beautiful even when he is frowning. It's not fair. My family used to say I looked like an old woman when I was angry.
"Go." That one word is all it takes to jerk my body out of my frozen state, and I'm halfway to Ruby's door. My trembling hand fists as I lift it to knock, feeling the piercing stab of his gaze on me from behind. I turn my head to look.
But I can't see him in the shadows. I know he is there, though. His energy, the feel of his emotions tumbling out of him, his frustration, all of it, boiling under the surface, it follows me.
"Come in," Ruby's soft voice from within calls to me. I swallow hard and slip inside. Her rooms are beautiful, the arched ceilings beamed with old wood, dark with age. The walls are thickly wallpapered in what looks like something closer to fabric than actual paper.
Ruby sits in a living area, doors behind her that are open, and a luxurious four poster bed with velvet curtains waiting for her, I suppose, to sleep.
But for now she glances at me, a book in her hands, her pale skin even paler in the dim light from an overhead chandelier that's been turned down low.
I curtsey. She sets the book aside. It's thick, hard-cover, and well-worn. Made Madeline is not the only King who likes to read.
"Let me look at you, properly," she says with a smile that has no hint of the usual King cruelty I've come to expect from her brothers.
I step closer, to a round woven rug that's made up of a riot of flowers and twisting vines. There are two long, low couches, one of which Ruby is sitting on, and two chairs beside me. I step into the center of it all, and try not to feel nervous. This family has me constantly on edge. If I'm not already going gray, I will be in another month. No, week.
"I'm sorry I wasn't here earlier, my lady, your brother-"
"Is lurking outside my door?" She raises her delicate brow, and then smirks. "He has nothing better to do. Ignore him. It reminds him of his proper place in life."
She twirls her finger in the air and I try not to swallow my tongue. The thought of me ignoring any of the family is ridiculous, w which she knows, but she's allowed to be sassy. I have to keep that on the inside.
Still, I turn, like she's asking me to.
"Sturdy," she comments when I've done a full circle. "Hard work. I bet you grew up on a farm." She looks at me appraisingly. My throat goes tight, thick with memories I don't have time for.
"Something like that," I say.
"I'd also bet you give Maddie a run for her money. She hasn't escaped you at all, yet, has she?" Ruby smiles, demure, and then reaches to the side table next to her. Her fingers tap on a small circular object, sitting beside a smooth, round quartz-hinged jar.
"No, she hasn't, my lady. So far we seem to be getting along just fine." I shift my weight.
"I'm having tea sent up. Why don't you sit." She gestures to a chair and my throat tightens up. It's a direct request, but it feels loaded somehow. Everything with the Kings is a double-edged sword. It promises to cut me if I try to grab at it.
"Please," she says, her smile not even straining, the corners of her eyes crinkling. She means it. And I hope… that there's nothing hidden underneath her words and her expression, waiting to trap me somehow.
"Thank you, my lady." I sit down on the nearest chair, right on the edge of it, not feeling fully comfortable enough to take up the whole space. Lady Ruby gives me an appraising look. In this space, she seems completely at home, and intimidating.
"I can see why my brother hired you," she says, and I straighten up without thinking about it, trying to meet her strong gaze but the roiling in my stomach is almost too much that it doesn't let me. Not really.
