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“He’s been abroad for so many years that he’s blissfully unaware of Mother’s reputation. And he has a house in Portugal.” She sighed happily.
“I hear the weather is gorgeous there. But you’ll have to learn some Portuguese.”
She looked appalled. “I doubt that’ll be necessary. I’m sure his household speaks English. He is an Englishman, after all.”
“How keen would you say he is?”
“He danced with me all night, then invited me out riding this afternoon, that’s how keen. I guarantee you I’ll be engaged by next week.”
I gave her a light, albeit sarcastic, applause. “Brava, cousin.”
“Trust me, you don’t know how relieved I am to only have to deal with this nonsense for one more day.” She touched her dress gingerly, as if it might spring fangs at any moment. “Still, a duke is hardly a king.”
I sighed. Even when she was getting what she wanted, it was never enough—she always wanted what I had to go along with it. “A duke is an incredible catch. And far better than you could have attracted at home.”
“That’s true,” she said, though she still pouted. After a moment, she smiled. “I’m positive I was born to be a duchess.”
“I’m sure you were,” I said, forcing myself not to roll my eyes.
Eliza and Faline led us outside to the stables, where Beric was just finishing harnessing Ivy to a carriage.
If such a thing could be called a carriage. It looked like nothing but an armored box with wheels—something more suited to transporting prisoners than kings. It had no windows, only small slits wide enough to peek through, allowing in the smallest bit of light.
But the carriage wasn’t worth spending my thoughts on when Beric was standing there. He was in white, same as Ann and I. But it was so different seeing him dressed in such a way that I found myself staring. He looked just as handsome as he did in his usual black—I was certain he’d look good in anything. His uniform wasn’t as clean as mine, and the tear in his sleeve suspiciously lined up with where I could see the scar on his forearm I had healed.
My heart beat a little faster at seeing him.
I only wished Anise wasn’t here.
CHAPTER 16BERIC
I longed to push this off a day—enough time for Cali to forget how foolishly I’d behaved last night. But at the same time, I was glad to see her, despite her nuisance of a cousin tagging along.
Even so, wrangling two high-maintenance knights in a dangerous battlefield was going to make for an exhausting day.
“My lady,” I greeted, as the group approached.
“My lord,” Cali said, with a grin that made heat rise up my neck.
I played it off by turning to her maids and Albert. “Enjoy your day off. If all goes well, we should be out the entire day.”
“The entire day?” Anise exclaimed. Already I was tempted to put in my earplugs to block her out.
Eliza raised a brow at me. “Have fun,” she said, overly cheery as she and Faline each linked an arm with Albert before heading inside.
I sighed and went to check on Ivy. An excuse to calm my nerves. I wasn’t worried about The Dark, but I’d never had to look after two people before—the king had never needed much assistance. And I already knew the dreaded cousin was going to be a problem.
And speak of the devil, there she was, hands on her hips, approaching me. “We’re not expected to drive this thing, are we? Where’s the coachman?”
“There isn’t one, to put as few people in danger as possible.” I patted my horse’s shoulder, fondly. “But Ivy knows the way.”
“Danger?” She looked genuinely frightened. “Are you sure we should be doing this without the king present?”
“The job of a squire is to protect your knight while she’s supporting the king. In no scenario will you ever be out of danger.”
At my words she went a little gray. I hoped she felt sick enough to abandon her post, because that meant I could more quickly send her home.
Why didn’t I just do it? I had the authority to, no reason required. And I did have a reason—she was redundant. Excessively so. And I’d seen her perform mediocre magic, so I knew for a fact she wasn’t qualified. Besides, the Royal Knight was not allowed guests for security reasons.
