Page 275 of Reign

“I was thinking.”

“You can think upstairs.”

“Why am I thinking upstairs?”

He slips one arm beneath my knees and stands with me.

A startled laugh escapes me as I grab his shoulders.

“Luciano.”

He sets me on my feet but keeps one hand around mine. With the other, he picks up my sketchbook.

“Come.”

I glance at the table. “What about breakfast?”

“You finished.”

“There’s berries left.”

“There’s always berries left.”

Fair.

Luciano leads me out of the kitchen.

When we reach the second floor, he turns away from his bedroom and continues down the hall.

Toward mine.

I slow.

He glances back at me.

“Why are we going to my room?”

“You’ll see.”

That answer is never reassuring.

He opens the door.

A small, ridiculous uncertainty wakes inside me.

Surely he isn’t putting me back in here.

The man wrote his name beneath a list of potential husbands less than twelve hours ago. He cannot possibly be exiling me at breakfast because Riot possesses a mouth.

Luciano walks inside and places my sketchbook on the bed.

I remain near the doorway.

“Are you putting me back in my room?”

He turns toward me. “No.”

“Then why are we here?”