She tilted her head. “Is that really such a good idea?”
She didn’t want him to act like there were any romantic feelings between them. They had both given in to their desires tonight, nothing more.
Caspian gestured to a stone bench in the courtyard. “Would you sit with me for a while?”
Slowly, she walked over, and sat next to him, hesitantly leaning into his warmth. His arm draped around her and brought her head to rest upon his chest. Caspian murmured, “Let’s stay like this. Just for a minute.”
Her brow furrowed, but she didn’t move from his embrace.
After a moment, he said, “That was … that was incredible.”
“It really was,” she admitted.
He laced his fingers in hers, and his lips touched her hair. “If there was something that would make you happier, I would do it.”
She glanced up at him in surprise.
His face was genuine, and his eyes were green. “I want you to smile more. At me.”
She smiled widely, and said through clenched teeth, “Better?”
Caspian laughed, the sound booming. “No, not because I asked you to, but because youwantto.” He dragged a hand through his hair. “I don’t want the version of you at court. I want the real you. Relaxed. At peace. Smiling. With me.”
She raised a brow. “I think I was pretty relaxed a second ago.”
He made a sound of exasperation. “You know what I mean. How do I do that? Make you happy around me?”
“You need me to tell you?”
He cleared his throat. “I don’tneedanything, but it would be much faster and save a lot of time if you just told me what to do.”
She pressed her lips together, staying silent.
“So, tell me,” he pressed.
She was too tired for these games. “Why does it even matter?”
“I don’t know why.” She felt him shrug against her. “But itdoesmatter.”
Elziabeth said nothing.
“Elizabeth. You’re the only woman I’ve ever enjoyed being around. I don’t even hate speaking with you. You constantly say things that surprise me. Sometimes, I think I might even have grown to care about you. And I don’t say that lightly, because most of the time, I care about nothing.”
This wasn’t a declaration of love. It was a declaration of not-hate.
She hoped he was finished, but he wasn’t.
“I do. Care about you.” Caspian spoke as if he was trying to sort through emotions he didn’t quite fully understand himself. His voice grew irritated as he said, “Well say something then.”
She extricated herself from his arms and stood before him. “What do you want me to say?”
His tone was sharp. “Just tell me what to do to make you happy around me,” he said, growing angry. “I can cover you head-to-toe in diamonds, whisper sweetnothings in your ear every evening, take you on an expensive trip somewhere, just you and me. What do I need to do to win your heart? To have it belong to me.”
Carefully, she asked, “Why? Why does it matter?”
“Because it does,” he snarled. “Tell me what I must do to warm your heart covered in ice.”
Her spine stiffened. “My icy heart, as you call it, the barriers that exist between us are not without reason.”
