Weary.
Of.
Inside.
Go.
Out.
Phillip just huffed before looking back down at his map.
Norah rolled her eyes and groaned before going back to her pile and picking up another book. When she found it, he tried to ignore her, so she shoved it in his face and pointed almost violently at the next word.
Stupid.
The look he gave her was unimpressed. But when she started to flip through the pages yet again, he huffed and stood. Then he strode over to another shelf and searched its contents. A momentlater, he returned with a book of his own. After flipping through it for a moment, he stuck it in Norah’s face and pointed.
Brat.
Despite the tone of the word, Norah couldn’t help but grin. It was nearly as good as if he had spoken the word out loud.
An hour later, they were sitting on one of the sofas in the smaller library, a growing pile of books beside each. Lady Freya and Sir Oliver watched them with amusement from the other side of the room as Norah and Phillip had their first true conversation… in silence.
They talked that way long into the night. And though it was impossible to share complex thoughts in such a stilted manner, by nightfall, Norah had learned more about Phillip than she had since the beginning of her stay.
His favorite sport was horseback riding. He missed visiting the beach. His favorite fruit was apricots, and while he loved the color red, his favorite color onherwas green.
This last thought made Norah blush every time she remembered it, and by the time Lady Freya insisted that everyone go to bed, Norah was flying higher than she had in years.
As the servant was helping her change into a nightdress, however, Norah had a startling thought that nearly chased away all the others.
For the first time since arriving, Norah realized that she felt at home. And not only at home in a familiar sense, but in a way that she could happily continue in. The kind of familiar where she could look forward to the next evening after their work was done, when they could share books and plan the next day, and then the next, and the day after that. Falling into such a life would beeasy.
It would be sweet.
Because in a way that was nearly frightening in its sudden pulsing intensity, Norah realized that shewantedit. Not just because she wanted to break Phillip’s silence and heal him, but because she wantedhim.
And after a lifetime of yearning to escape, that revelation was frightening indeed.
Chapter 14
Pea
Norah opened her eyes and sucked in a sharp breath. Cautiously, she raised her head to find that she was lying in an unfamiliar bedchamber. It was large–larger even than her room in Phillip’s palace. The walls were whitewashed, but the bedcovers, the chairs, and even the rugs were a rich red and gold. Pushing herself up onto her elbows, she rubbed her eyes and looked around.
How had she gotten here?
Where was she?
She ran her fingers lightly over her scalp, looking for some sort of pain where she might have hit her head. When she didn’t find any, however, she wondered if she could have been drugged. Perhaps someone had slipped a sleeping mixture into her drink at supper the night before. There was no other explanation for waking up in a place she didn’t recognize and had never seen before.
A hearth stood on the other side of the room. It wasn’t lit, but there were several glowing coals still at the bottom. Shivering, Norah stood and went over to the hearth, where she grabbed a metal poker from beside it and began poking at the embers.
Generally, the servants would have warmed her room before she awakened, but Norah didn’t mind stirring the coals herself. She had often done so in the mornings after she and Nanny had awakened and their cottage had grown cold. She didn’t need a servant to light it again. Which was good, as she wasn’t even sure she was still in the palace.
After stirring the embers, she grabbed a piece of wood from the little pile beside the hearth and placed it with the coals, and then she began stoking the embers once more. The work that should have produced a little flame, however, only served to snuff the embers out. Poker still in hand, Norah stared into the hearth stupidly, trying to understand how she could have failed at such a simple task.
She tried for a few minutes more, but no matter how many times she tried to revive the flames, the hearth remained dark. In frustration, Norah put the poker back and dusted her nightdress off. Well, if this room was determined to remain cold, she would simply figure out where she was and get back to her room. But when she turned to find the door, she froze.
