“You did?” Her gaze dropped to the basket. “That’s awfully sweet, but why would you do that?”
Why would I do that?I drummed my fingers on the side of my leg as I mulled this over. That’s a good question. No, it’s a great question that deserves a good answer. “Er, isn't it obvious?”
“No.” She shook her head back and forth while still staring at the flowers. “Those are red roses. Usually, you give red to someone you—”
“Love,” I cut her off, unsure why I just spit out the L word. I mean, I definitely wasn’t going to be busting that out any time soon. “Right.” I waved my free hand gingerly over the basket. “This wasn’t really aboutlove.It’s more of a convenience of color,” I rambled. “It’s more of an I-was-thinking-about-you sort of thing.”
“That’s really sweet.” She pinned a confused line between her brows. “I don’t think I can accept them, though. Out of respect for my situation, and all.”
This can’t be happening! How can I be out of time? Oh, wait . . . she said she was accepting the offertonight. I still had today!I checked behind her. She appeared to be alone. “Ah, are you here withhimnow?”
“No,” her words tumbled out, laced with relief. “I snuck out by myself. There have been many closed-door meetings at the castle, so I waited for one.”
“We need to go somewhere alone,” I accidentally mumbled out loud when I thought I was only thinking it.
Her chin took an angled stance. “Pardon me?”
“Oh, I mean, ah, if you’releaving.” I clasped my hands in front of me and leaned a measure toward her. “You should let me do something nice for you.”
“I should be getting back to the castle soon. It’s quite a walk.” Her gaze skirted to the side, and she dropped her voice. “I don’t want anyone to discover I snuck out without my security.”
“You don’t have your guard,” I rushed to echo as this was the best news ever! If she was alone, then I could offer a ride home and get more time with her. “How about I take you home!” I blurted out eagerly, then immediately dropped my tone, “I mean, I don’t think it’s safe for you to be off wandering around without security. Plus, I can bring your roses too.” Her eyes dropped to the basket again, and her lips pinched. Before she refused, I tacked on, “Consider them congratulations.”
“Ah, okay.” Her nervous gaze slid forward. “That might be okay.”
“Perfect.” I ushered her forward toward the alley where my truck was parked. “So right this way. It’s not a royal chariot,” I joked, “but it's 1000 HP.” I flashed her my best lady-killer-smile before I forgot I didn’t have a lady-killer smile. I’d never been one to flirt. This was painful! Why didn’t they teach this stuff in school? I’d do boot camp a hundred times if it meant I never had to flirt.
I approached my truck and opened her door like a perfect escort. I was clearly racking up bonus points with all my gentlemanly ways. It was too bad I had to compete with that stupid king. I set the basket in the box and then ran around to my door, jumped in, and cranked the engine. I took off toward the castle.
I thought she would remain quiet, but she initiated small talk. “Thanks for the ride. I’m sorry if I interrupted your plans in town.”
“Oh no,” I assured her. “I was only there to get a pipe fitting to fix a leaky pipe, but it was so busy, I was on my way out.”
“Do you have plumbing problems?” Her brow lowered as if she actually cared about plumbing systems.
“It’s been an ongoing issue.” I drummed my fingers on my steering wheel, as I diagnosed while I spoke, “Since the place sat empty for so long, I’m beginning to suspect there’s something bigger going on. I’ll switch out this fitting for now, and see if I get water again. If not, I’ll have to try something else.”
“Ah, you have no water?” Her chin inclined to a thoughtful angle. “What are you doing for cooking and showers?”
“Well.” I slowed the truck, taking the bend in the road that led to the castle hill. “I’ve been grabbing water from town—”
“But you didn’t get any today because of me,” she cut me off, empathy hinting in her tone.
“Not because of you—” I tried to tell her the rest of the sentence. The part that said this was better. I’d rather thirst for days than miss this opportunity to see her one more time, but she gave me one of those smiles I was beginning to memorize. It was higher on one side, and should come with a black box warning because it had the force to stop my heart.
She pointed out her window. “You might want to slow up here, because of the guards. I’ll have to explain what’s happening, but hopefully Weston’s at his post.”
My truck crawled forward, my heart ticking up when I spotted the infantry soldiers in their uniforms. I tightened my grip on the steering wheel so much my knuckles bleached. It wasn’t that I missed being a soldier because I didn’t. However, the uniforms sent my mind back to a place that stole the air from my lungs.
I turned into their long driveway, my truck jostling forward, finding every pothole. It was a very bouncy reminder of all the ways the war was bleeding this country of resources as we hadn’t had proper road construction in two years. I winced when I nearly hit my head.
“Ah, Weston’s not here.” Her smile died as she murmured, “I thought it was odd I could leave the castle without him, but now it makes sense. He must be on his day off.”
“What does that mean?”
“Weston’s my personal guard, but he’s more than that. He’s a friend and he never narcs on me. I was hoping he’d cover for me.” She rolled down her window and waved toward the guards. “Are you kidding me?” She moaned. Her face blanching.
“What’s wrong?” I leaned forward, trying to see where her gaze was fixed.
