“Just put it under my name.” His voice immediately relaxes my shoulders and ushers in a deeper inhale.
Elora’s eyes widen, her mouth comically falling agape. “His Highness. I mean,Your Highness, Prince Nox. What are you doing here? Sorry, what am I saying? You can be here whenever you want!”
Elora laughs again, the noise higher pitched as her cheeks turn bright pink, nearly drowning out the freckles that dot her fair skin. Nox sets two books down on the desktop, his arm wrapping around my low back with his hand resting on my hip. Elora’s eyes grow impossibly larger, moving from me to Nox’s hand and then back to me.
“You two—”
“Elora, stop gawking at them and give them their books!” the older woman chastises, not even looking up from her own book.
“Right.” Elora pinches her lips together, flicking her plaited copper hair over her shoulder as she writes out the titles for Nox’s additional books as well as his name. “There. You guys are all set!”
Nox grabs all eight of my books, shooting me an incredulous look at the amount I have chosen.
“Rhea,” Elora says, standing from her chair and walking to the side of the desk, her hands sliding into the pockets ofher trousers. “If you ever want to talk about books, I’m here most days. If I’m not here, I’m at our bookstore in the central shopping square. It’s called The Overflowing Bookshelf. If you are ever free, I mean. I’m sure you’re probably busy most of the time.” Her eyes dart to where Nox is waiting a few steps behind me.
I study her face, her smile genuine while her gray eyes sparkle with an eagerness that makes me want to say “yes.” Totry—as Selene suggested and as Alexi and Bella would want—to live a life worthy of their sacrifices.
“I would like that,” I say, and I mean it.
Chapter Thirty-Two: Rhea
My heart thunders inmy chest, and my palms grow clammy as we reach a door where an image of a massive, tangled tree under the stars is burned onto its front. The king and queen are waiting in the room on the other side, and I’m not entirely convinced that the nausea burning in my stomach won’t expel itself at any moment.
“This is the queen’s dining hall. It’s the smaller one of two in the palace and reserved just for our family,” Nox informs me, perhaps mistaking my unease for curiosity.
A few palace workers pass us in the hallway, their eyes scanning where Nox holds my hand before widening in surprise. It seems to be the reaction of everyone who sees us together, which admittedly hasn’t been many people since we’ve kept mostly to his room.
“Wait,” I screech, tugging on his arm while his opposite hand reaches for the door. “What if— I mean, you know what I am like and my history. I’m not exactly someone worthy of a crown prince. What if they don’t want us to be together?”
Bewilderment pulls Nox’s brows high on his forehead before he wraps his arms around me. “Sunshine, there is so much wrong with what you just said. First, you are literally a princess—”
“Hardly! Only in title.” Even then, I wasn’t exactly sure I could claim that title anymore after running away. Not that I necessarilywantedit.
“Fine,” he says, huffing out a laugh. “Excluding the title of princess, my parents will love you simply because I do. But even if—for some ridiculous reason that I can’t fathom—they don’t, their opinions or anyone else’s are inconsequential.”
“You can’t mean that.”
“I absolutely do.” When I don’t seem persuaded that this meeting won’t be a complete disaster, he adds, “We don’t have to do this if you don’t want to. We can always wait until you’re ready.” He smiles down at me, but doubt still lingers within me.
“But?”
With another short laugh at my coaxing, he continues, “Butthey might have an answer for how we can move around here without so much attention brought to you. I can mix my signature with yours when we are near each other, but that means I’d have to go everywhere with you.”
Pinching my lips, I exhale slowly through my nose. I hear what he isn’t saying—that while he’d happily do what I ask, it will hindermeto do so.I don’t want to be another cage for you.
It takes a few moments for the bravery to seep in, and I nearly convince myself that I should run back to Nox’s room before it does. But Alexi and Bella flash in my mind, and eventually, enough courage wells within me, so I give Nox a small nod.
He opens the door, and we step into the dining space. I take in the glittering white stone walls, made brighter by the two gorgeous three-tiered chandeliers above glowing with small flames. The portraits decorating the space draw my eyes, but I don’t get the chance to study them before a throat clears. Nox squeezes my hand in comfort and leads us to the long table centered in the space, his parents standing on the opposite side.
“Your Highness, it is wonderful to meet you,” Nox’s mother says as she lets her gaze roam my face.
Her curly brown hair is twisted into an elegant updo on her head, her beauty classic and regal. Forest-green fabric lays delicately over her brown skin, layered in a crisscrossing pattern that accentuates the curves of her body. Gold roses embroidered in small patterns trail down the length of her dress. Next to her, the king is dressed in a similar shade of green, the sleeves of his tunic rolled to right below his elbows.
I’m caught up in wondering if my own flowing skirt and matching pink top are too informal when I realize that she is addressingme. “Oh, you don’t— Just Rhea is fine.” Then, remembering who I am speaking to, my eyes grow wide, and I add on a quick, “Your Majesty.”
“I have a feeling,” his father drawls, a familiar smirk on his lips as he gestures for us all to sit, “that there is nothingjustabout you, my dear.” My chin dips, my hair a honey-colored curtain that falls around me for a moment before I force myselfto look back up. “And I am happy to drop all formalities. My name is Sadryn, and this is my wife, Alexandria. We are incredibly happy to meet you, Rhea.”
Nox pulls out my chair before taking his own. Where his posture is completely at ease, I sit perfectly straight, my muscles straining.
