I lift a brow, shifting to lay on my unmarked hip as I look at her with anticipation.
Huffing out a laugh, she hugs her knees to her chest. “We’ve known each other since we were children—his parents own the bee farm I told you about. He’s…lovely. Kind. Smart. Strong. A flirt in all the ways a girl could want without it becoming a burden.” My finger toys with one of the buttons on the tufted chair as she speaks, the longing in her voice matching what I feel inside.
“Are you two together?”
“He wants us to be, but”—she shrugs a single shoulder—“the nature of my job has always made it difficult to do so.”
“Does he get frustrated by what you do?” I ask. I imagine being forced to stay away for however long the king wants would be taxing on a relationship. Especially when Eve presumably couldn’t welcome her own guests into the castle.
“The opposite,” she says, surprising me. “Edwin has always cheered me on, even when I didn’t think I was worthy of it.”
At that, I sit up a little, making sure to hold Eve’s gaze. “Why would you think you aren’t worthy?” Eve is earning a living for herself, choosing to be away from her sister in order to bettersupport her. Those sacrifices are not easy to make and certainly not ones to make someone unworthy.
She clears her throat, uncertainty tugging her brows together. “Prior to coming to work at the palace, I had a different job. It’s how I met the king originally.”
“What—” A loud bang sounds, and our conversation is quickly abandoned in favor of scrambling off of the chaises and ducking onto the floor. Voices float to us from below, and I cast a wary eye to Eve who holds her finger to her lips before crawling towards the railing. I watch as she scans the library, her shoulders hiking before she slowly retreats backwards when the voices grow nearer.
“It seems like some of the nobles have snuck away from the party for aprivaterendezvous,” she whispers, gesturing to head back towards the staircase. “We better go before we accidentally get spotted.” Once we are safely hidden by the massive bookcases, we quicken our steps until we reach the stairs and then slow down as we pause every few steps to listen for voices. I let Eve get ahead of me and follow as she guides us back to the last row of books, the hidden tunnel straight ahead.
“We have to be quick,” she says, the voices doubling until I’m unsure justexactlyhow many people are in here with us. “I’ll light the torch again once we are safely inside.”
I nod and then watch as she reaches to grab a nearby book from its perch on the shelf. “What is that for?”
“A distraction, should we need it. Ready?”
I stick closer to her as we dart out from the safety of the bookshelves, exposed to whoever might be here as we run to where the torch is laying in front of the opening.
“Did you hear that?” A female asks, murmuring far too close for comfort following the question.
“Shit,” Eve whispers, pressing her fingers along the outline of the hidden door until it clicks. She adjusts her grip on the book she took from the shelf. “Hurry, go!”
I quickly move into the tunnel, leaving enough room for Eve to follow behind.
“Hello! Is someone here?” a male shouts. To my utter disbelief, Eveheavesthe book across the open space we just ran through and into one of the bookcases, a loud smacking noise reverberating out. Then she ducks into the tunnel, pulling the wall back towards her with the metal bar.
She doesn’t move, and with our surroundings now pitch black, I have to use the sound of her breathing to figure out how close she is. Muffled footsteps sound on the other side of the wall, and I move to scoot deeper into the tunnel when Eve’s hand gently lands on my leg, prompting me to stay where I am.
“One of the books fell,” the male says, a hint of annoyance in his tone. “Come on, let’s go back to my place. It’s creepy in here.”
When we hear retreating footsteps, Eve strikes a match and fire immediately casts its glow over her as she lights the torch and then shakes the match to extinguish it.
“You threw a book,” I say to break the tension, the comment making Eve smirk.
“Idid, but we needed a distraction!” she argues, her voice only a whisper.
“At the sake of a poor book?”
For a moment, I can tell that she is unsure if I’m joking, but then her features relax, and she shakes her head in amusement. “Listen, I’m all for not harming booksunlessit comes down to me versus them.”
I can’t help but snort and shake my head, a lightness in my chest that feels foreign now.
We don’t speak much on the way back, and when Eve stops at the door that leads to my bedroom, she says her farewell. “I can’tbe seen in clothing not handmaiden appropriate in the halls,” she says by way of explanation. “I’ll use the tunnels to make it back to my own floor.”
I dip my chin as I press along the door like Eve did, finding the section that clicks open. “I’ll see you tomorrow, then.”
“Tomorrow. Goodnight, Lady Rhea.”
“Rhea,” I correct, opening the door and carefully stepping through. Turning, I bend over until I can fully see her face again. “Just Rhea is fine.”
