“You,” he answered on a sigh. “I’d do anything to be with you.”
The sincerity hit me hard, and my heartstrings tangled and tugged. I didn’t understand, honestly, but I believed he meant it.
“But I’m already with you,” I pointed out. “Want me how?”
No answer.
“Prince James?” I ducked my head a little sideways to see his face, and dammit, he’d fallen fast asleep. While leaning up against me, no less. No wonder he’d gotten heavier.
Clearly, my desire for answers wouldn’t be satisfied tonight. I’d have to find a method to mine them from him later. For now, I supposed I’d let the poor man sleep.
I laid him carefully down onto his bed, drew the covers up, then stopped and looked at him for a long moment. Prince James had been blessed by the gods in looks and charm. Even like this, he was beautiful, with those chiseled cheekbones and jawline, his platinum hair soft against the pillow. Anyone, if asked, would happily be lovers with this man.
I wasn’t blind to the many, many complications that would come with dating him. No one would approve of our relationship, as I wasn’t anywhere on his social level. I had nothing to recommend me—no money, no connections, no royal blood. Bastard child though he was, Prince James was a favorite of the royal family, and everyone would have issue with us openly dating. To their eyes, I might be worth a dalliance but nothing more. Nobles weren’t kind to commoners reaching “higher than their station.” Courting would also make things awkward as hell because people would try to use me to get to him.
I also wasn’t blind to my own attraction to Prince James. He was so incredibly sweet and thoughtful, I felt sure he’d be an amazing lover. Hesawme, like no one ever had before and maybe never could. The knowledge took my breath away.
There was also this strange tug towards him. I felt strongly that I wasmeantto stand by his side. I had no rational explanation for the feeling. I couldn’t begin to explain it, and yet every time I was with this man, I let him in that much closer. I did that much more for him, like now. Getting him to eat dinner and putting him to bed was far outside of my duties. I’d done them without hesitation because I disliked seeing him suffering. Such actions felt right, soul-satisfying, and I couldn’t explain that either. The desire to be the one at his side kept growing, urging me to forget the consequences and go for it. It left me very torn on what course of action to take. Did I listen to my common sense?
Or give in to my desires?
Because, dammit, James Kronenscheld truly tempted me.
But questions tangled in with my temptations. What had all his comments meant? How had he known about my suit stash? About me not snoring?
And what if I had made an assumption I shouldn’t have? He’d told me he battled the Demon King in a previous life, and with the amount of detail he knew about the demon portal, I believed him. It sounded like he had experienced it all himself. He’d given me enough details to believe he knew his Tasks for this life.
Only…what if the life he’d lived hadn’t been from a hundred years ago?
I didn’t know how else to think of this, but he knew too much, as if he’d livedthislife before and was somehow repeating it… But that didn’t make sense either.
Had he regressed?
Surely not. Surely I had leapt to assumptions. Ugh, I seriously wanted to ask more questions. How dare he fall asleep mid-interrogation!
Sighing, I turned and headed for the door. Never mind my book, I needed a stout drink and to stare into nothing for a while. I couldn’t even drink and I still needed one. I clearly had some thinking to do.
Twenty-four
James
For the first time in weeks, I felt well rested. My nap yesterday—which had actually turned into an unintentional thirteen-hour power nap—had helped, but I believed my beautiful evening with Edwin had helped more. I hadn’t realized how bad off I was until he’d coaxed me into eating a late dinner. He’d treated me as a person instead of his superior, and it’d brought back so many memories of us from the past, I almost felt like I’d stepped back into my first life all over again.
I was in a far better frame of mind today as a result.
Edwin, however…
I suspected I may have said something while asleep. I was a horrible sleep talker. My Edwin used to tease me about this because he claimed he could get me to answer any question while I was asleep. Since he knew things I had no memory of ever saying, I had to believe him.
Last night, I distinctly remembered falling asleep under his desk, only to wake up in my own bed this morning. I was quite sure he had taken me to bed, as how else did I get there? ButEdwin couldn’t quite look me in the eye this morning. He also seemed baffled? Not sure if that was the right emotion, to be honest, because he also had a bit of color high in his cheeks.
Although, granted, that could be the wind.
Itwasa very windy day out here today. Insane, actually. I’d left my hat in the carriage. No point in wearing one when I’d only be fighting to keep it on. We’d returned to the two major projects both due to start this very day: the seawalls and the veterans’ hospital.
Veterans’ hospital first, because I had Royce in tow. It had taken some very fast talking to get him out of his lab this morning, and I didn’t think I’d be able to keep him with me much longer. I wanted him introduced to the hospital before he ran away again.
Sea Cross Hospital wasn’t completely new, but I’d repurposed it for my plans. The entire market district was crammed to the gills, so finding an empty lot was impossible. Repurposing a building was far, far easier. Also less expensive. All the other hospitals in the country would be built new out of necessity.
