I cast a glance behind me and see a small crowd has gathered near the dock. They do their best to feign nonchalance, but it’s clear they came because someone spotted the prince.
I look back at Franco as he reaches for the side of the dock and pushes our boat away from it. “I thought the point of bringing me here was to be seen by others.”
“Seen. Not crowded.” I expect him to reach for the oars next, but instead, he sprouts his wings and extends them wide. Lightly, they begin to beat the air and our boat moves away from the dock. In a matter of seconds, we’re far from shore.
“Nice trick,” I say, nodding at his wings.
“Isn’t it?”
I look out at the lake, taking in its calm shimmering waters, the other boats interspersed over its surface. The sun is high overhead, but it isn’t blindingly bright. It never is in the Lunar Court, which is something I’ve always appreciated ever since I lived here as a child. I love the way it casts everything in a strange, almost violet glow during the day. Peace settles over me as Franco continues to navigate us over the lake. When I return my attention to him, I meet his eyes, but he quickly flicks them away.
Then more silence. Again.
I resist the urge to drum my fingers on the bench. “Lovely weather today, is it not?”
“Very.” He glances around the lake, then pins me with a pointed look. “You know no one can hear us right now, right?”
I take that to mean he doesn’t want me to speak to him anymore, so I purse my lips and nod.
Franco throws his head back with a frustrated groan. His wings go still as does our momentum. “Damn it, Em. I can’t take it anymore,” he mutters.
My heart leaps into my throat. Breezing hell. This is it. This is the confrontation I’ve been dreading. The one I almost stopped fearing would come to pass. “You can’t take what anymore?”
His posture stiffens. “This. Talking about the weather. Pretending we’re the two most boring people that ever lived. It’s driving me mad.”
I shutter my eyes as I process his words. That’s not at all what I was expecting.
“Insult me,” he says. “Tell me I’m being an ass. Roll your eyes and remind me what a chore it is to be in my presence.”
“What? Why?”
“Just do it. I like when you’re honest. When you aren’t afraid of me. You were the one person who…never mind.” He snaps his mouth shut and looks away.
I’m about to let that be the end of it. Ishould. If I don’t, I have no idea where this conversation will go. And yet, that’s the very reason why I can’t let it end here. “If you want me to be honest, then do the same for me. What are you trying to say? I’m the only person who what?”
He opens and closes his mouth several times before saying, “Ever since we returned from the opera, you’ve been walking on eggshells around me, and it makes my skin crawl.”
My eyes go wide as a flood of indignation heats my cheeks. “You’re one to talk. You’ve been avoiding me all week, acting like I’m some…some plague.”
He pulls his head back as if I’d slapped him. His words come out small. “Is that what you think?”
A thousand heated retorts burn my tongue, but my defiance is quickly extinguished when I remember how he looked at me after he caught me humming. It was an expression I couldn’t comprehend, but it doesn’t take much thought to know what it meant. I lower my head. “I don’t blame you.”
He runs a hand over his face with a groan. “That’s what I’m talking about. Don’t do that. Don’t act like I’m someone you need to cower before.”
I lift my eyes. “Youaresomeone I should cower before. You’re my prince.”
“That’s never stopped you until now. Not until…until that night. Now you act like I’m going to send you to the executioner’s block at any moment.”
“Have you not threatened to do exactly that?”
“I thought we were beyond threats by now.”
“Why? Because we’ve spent all of a handful of hours together?” My words come out far sharper than I intend, and as soon as they leave my lips, I don’t quite understand why I said them in the first place. All I know is—in the moment—they felt like a weapon.
A flash of pain flits over his face before he steels his expression. “If I was going to punish you for impersonating a princess, I would have done it already.”
“That’s not what I was afraid of being punished for.”
