“Careful with the flattery. I might just get attached.” I pretended to joke and nudged his elbow. But really, I didn’t want his praise. I was already imagining that maybe we could start something, or that his showing up was fate. But I’d had my heart broken by Wickham recently enough that the barriers were still up, and in either case, I had no reason to believe Henry saw me as anything more than a friend.
“There could be worse things.” Henry grinned, and those stupid butterflies returned. Perhaps fate intended for us to—no, I paused.
I stopped myself from gushing like a teenager and asking him what he meant by that. Self-conscious, I changed the subject. “Well, let’s check this afternoon out. Surprisingly, I’ve gotten pretty good at navigating this system over the past fewmonths.”
“Uptick of crime at Pemberley?” he asked.
“We’ve had a few incidents.” I didn’t want to go into detail. "After all, we get a lot of visitors from all over the world. Most of them are great. But we can’t prevent everything.”
“Well, I’d imagine Pemberley might be a target for criminals and con artists.” Henry furrowed his brows at me.
“Con artists… I wonder if Zac could’ve taken up that line of work.” I took a seat at the monitoring station, tapping my fingers on the desk. “Our security usually keeps everything in check. My brother and his best friend, Charles, own a security business for a reason. I suspect word has gotten out because we haven’t had a burglary attempt for years now.”
“You think you’ll go into that, too?” Henry asked casually.
I shook my head. “No, I’m still studying natural medicine. Plant-based cures and remedies. I think there’s a lot of untapped potential. I just need to decide where to go for graduate school.”
“Makes sense for a fae princess. I bet you’re gifted in that area. You always were good at chemistry.”
I hadn’t shared my fae abilities at school, so I wasn’t sure if he knew how on point his comment was. “Gifted or not, I enjoy it enough to work hard.”
Henry smiled. “That’s what really counts, doesn’t it?”
“What about you? I remember you liked science. Remember our chemistry lab?” I chuckled. It had been over a year, but I could clearly recall accidentally blowing up a glass tube.
Henry laughed. “Nobody lost an eye, so I’d say we did pretty well. I do like science, but I’m also interested in engineering. It’s hard to decide, you know. I’m working as a research assistant in a lab while I figure it all out. It's not an amazing position, by any means, but it's where I am for now."
“In this area?” I wanted to know why he’d been near Pemberley but was still too scared to flat-out ask if he’d hoped to see me.
“Yes, the lab’s about thirty minutes from here.”
Well, that cleared up a lot. He was just here coincidentally.
“I see.” I turned a few knobs on the screens and found the time the Longfields arrived. Milo was right. They had checked in first, then gone back out to thegarden. “Hey, watch this. I wonder if we can trust Susan’s account. She doesn’t seem to have the greatest memory.”
“Yes, but Darcy also said they saw someone on a four-wheeler when they did the initial video check. So she may have noticed more than her husband,” Henry said.
“Maybe,” I answered. “Ugh, I hate having to be suspicious of people. We’ll need to verify there was a gardener out there, though.”
“But the Longfields are fae, right? Don’t fae always have to be honest?” Henry asked.
“Yes, and no. We’re just bound to our word, which means it’s generally easier to just be honest. However, fae can be deceitful or even mistaken. They can twist words, omit the truth, or add words like “maybe” or “could have” to change the meaning of promises.”
I thought of all the ridiculous parties I’d attended with high fae. Comments like, ‘Imightowe you a favor’, or ‘wecouldreally enjoy visiting again’, ran rampant.
“Well, I don’t know how you keep track of it.”
“Honesty is easiest. That’s what I choose.”
“I can tell,” Henry said softly. “It’s an admirable trait of yours.”
I kept the video stream playing and checked different corridors, looking for clues, but there wasn't much. So, I steered back to the images from early in the afternoon. Henry appeared on the screen. “Oh, look. There you are. But I thought you didn't come until 2:00 p.m.?"
Henry’s cheeks flushed, but he shrugged. “There's nothing exciting to see there. Maybe check the gardens again.”
“You said you visited the statuary first.” I watched him walking toward the elevators as he entered the front hall. They were in the opposite direction from the statuary.
“Oh, I think I needed to use the restroom.” Henry looked entirely chagrined.
