It was then that Thalia found her worry increasing. She doubted the little girl had left the castle. There was no way with how savage the storm sounded. But what if she had taken a wrong turn somewhere? Was lost and afraid? Huddled in a room, terrified and alone.
“Olivia!” Thalia started to rush down the hallways, crying out for her daughter. “Olivia!” More thunder! More lightning. It was relentless, as if the storm was trying to tear the castle down around her. “Olivia!”
She didn’t do it on purpose, but Thalia found herself walking toward the duke’s side of the castle. Olivia had been told time and time again not to come here on her own, or ever for that matter. But Thalia wondered if perhaps Olivia had sought safety in the arms of the duke. And what was more, if the duke had given it.
I want to say that is unlikely, but where Olivia is concerned, he has always been more gentle than he wants to appear. For some reason, she is the only one who is capable of drawing him from his shell…
And sure enough, it was when Thalia found herself approaching the duke’s bedroom that she heard voices.
They were hard to make out with the rain lashing at the walls of the castle, and the wind battering the towers, and the thunder rumbling non-stop. But the doorway to the duke’s bedroom was open, beyond which she saw the burning light of a fire, and deep within she heard what could only be the duke’s voice.
“… the princess was scared,” she heard him say. “She did not know this man. She did not know what he wanted or what he might do. Was he dangerous? Did he mean to hurt her?—”
“But he’s a prince!” she then heard Olivia cry out, giggling as she did.
“But she does not know that yet,” Ronan grumbled. “How could she?”
“But… but… but it’s always a prince.”
Shockingly, Ronan laughed. “Maybe to you. But to the princess, she doesn’t know any better. She’s been living in a tower her entire life, remember? What does she know about princes?”
“But it has to be a prince. Who else would?—”
“AmIreading the story, or areyou?”
Thalia crept to the open doorway and slowly, ever so carefully, peered around the corner. And when she saw what lay beyond the doorway… she very nearly started to cry; such was the beauty of the scene before her.
Ronan was sitting on a single couch by the fire and Olivia was perched on his lap. He had one arm around her, while the other held a story book that he was reading from. And Olivia was happy to curl up in his arms, with her own arms wrapped around him. More than once a clap of thunder shook the room, and each time it did, Thalia noticed the way that Olivia clung to the duke, and how he held her as if for protection.
“Now, where was I…” Ronan was back on the book. “Ah, yes.” He cleared his throat. “Did he mean to hurt her? She could not say, but there was something about him that she could not help but be drawn to. A sense of comfort that she found when she met his eyes and when she saw his smile?—”
“Because he’s a prince!” Olivia cried.
Ronan smiled and shook his head, and then he continued to read.
Thalia thought to walk into the room and join them. At the very least to let Olivia know that she had seen her. But she found that she did not want to ruin the moment, happy to stand back and simply watch, which was exactly what she did.
There was still so much she did not know about her husband. Never mind thewhyof it. It was thewhatthat she chose to focus on. What did he want? What did he expect from this marriage? And what did he see as their future?
He had spurned them this morning, and it had rightly upset her. But she knew not to take it personally. He was warming to them at his own pace, and she was certain that he wanted more… that he wanted what she was offering. She just wished he would realize it already.
The only problem as she saw it was when or if he would ever come around. He was scared. He was unsure. He was happy to pretend that he wished to be left alone. But that wasn’t the truth as Thalia saw it now, and she decided at that moment that she wasn’t going to give up on him.
A smile reached her lips, a tear fell from her eye, and she turned and left the duke alone with Olivia, knowing that this moment was not for her. She and the duke would have their own moment soon, of that she was certain. Even if she had to force the issue…
Likely, that is the only way it will happen.
Twenty
Thalia found herself glaring at the duke. It was not intentional, but she could not help herself. She had started today with hope, wondering if maybe Ronan would start to show his true nature to her. That he would have the courage to. But as the day wore on, as Thalia was forced to witness the same dispassionate and emotionally withdrawn man she had come to know as her husband, she was starting to realize that nothing was going to change.
I know he wants to. I can feel it in the way he looks at me when he thinks I am not looking. How he treats Olivia when nobody else is around. It has to mean something!
“Is something the matter?” Ronan asked her.
Thalia kept her glare trained on Ronan. They were seated in the carriage together, their destination the estate as they had spent a long day together at an associate’s home. It was nothing too fancy or regal, a simple luncheon with perhaps a score of guests.But it had been enough to prove to Thalia the stark reality of her situation.
Olivia was with them in the carriage. She was curled up beside Thalia, half-asleep because she had spent much of the day playing with the other children. And it was only because of Olivia’s presence in the carriage that Thalia held her tongue.
