His lips pull into a smile and my eyes wander to the dimple on his left cheek.
Damn him. Why does he have to be so good-looking.
“Where are you headed? Mind some company?”
“Oh… I was just going to sneak some lunch from the kitchen.” I don’t tell him about the rest of my plans.
“I’ll join you. We could take it to the courtyard? There’s a beautiful dusting of snow on the ground today.”
“Okay,” I say with a smile. Suddenly, I’m nervous. Something flutters in my stomach at the thought of sharing a meal alone with him. At the thought of that dimpled smile and green eyes focusing on me for an entire meal.
“Do you often retrieve your food from the kitchen? You don’t dine with your father or… anyone else?”
“Who else would I dine with?”
“Oh, I don’t know. There are always people coming and going out of the castle. Your father’s staff, knights…”
“Are you suggesting that I’m having meals with young, handsome, valiant knights, Adrian?”
“I never said anything about valiant. Or handsome.” He side-eyes me with a sly grin. Adrian is possibly the most handsome male elf I’ve seen in my twenty years. And he knows it. Not necessarily in an off-putting, arrogant way, but he’s not blind.
“Speaking of being a knight…” I say, changing the subject. “Would you ever have time to… I don’t know, show a few tricks to a poor, defenseless princess?”
He turns his head to look at me, his eyebrow arched high. “You want to train?”
I nod my head.
“What for?”
“I’ve just been thinking…it would be nice to learn a few ways to defend myself.”
“What would you need to defend yourself from?” It’s a world full of horrors outside of the walls of the castle and the town, but I rarely leave them, and he knows it.
“I don’t know. Nothing. You just never know.”
His brow remains arched as he halts, studying me with his arms crossed. His dark green short-sleeved tunic highlights his green eyes, which are glowing under this hallway lighting.
I feel uneasy under his scrutinizing gaze, and my eyes wander to the corded muscles of his folded forearms and biceps.
“Did something scare you? You’ve never shown any interest in training… that I know of.”
“No. I’m getting older, that’s all. More practical, if you will. When I was younger, I felt invincible.”
His steady gaze remains fixed on me. “And you don’t anymore?”
“No,” I reply softly.
I see many unspoken thoughts flash in his eyes, but finally, he nods. “Okay.”
My lips pull back into a grin. “Great.”
After we raid the kitchen for some basic sandwiches and fruit, we pile it all into a basket and Adrian carries it outside to the courtyard.
I glance around me, squinting at my surroundings as we step into the courtyard that’s surrounded by four dark pillars, statues of different elves andanimals I’ve never seen in my lifetime, and plants with various shades of deep color.
As we reach a bench, I look around one last time before taking a seat. It’s becoming a habit.
Adrian passes me a sandwich and pours me a glass of bubbly wine. No party wine today. Just the normal stuff that will tingle and burn on the way down, then make me feel flushed and a little lighter. He finishes by crafting a single purple flower in his hands, conjuring it from an invisible magic that we don’t fully understand, and passing it to me. The beautiful petals are black with shades of violet.
