Freed from Gravity (Bound and Freed #2)

Chapter 9

Nine

ALLETTE

FIVE YEARS AGO

“It’s such a lovely day, isn’t it?” There’s something about Tuesdays that makes my heart soar. That “something” has a name: Prince Senan Vale.

Wynn yanks my sheets from the bed, barely sparing me a glance as she rolls the fabric into a ball and adds it to the top of the laundry basket. “It looks quite lovely.”

“Why don’t you take a break and enjoy the sun with me?” Sunlight is meant to be shared, after all.

She takes a freshly pressed sheet from the pile, stretching it around the corner of the mattress. “I couldn’t possibly.”

“Come on, Wynn.” I venture back inside, grabbing the other side of the sheet and tucking it beneath the mattress. “Just a few minutes. I’ll even help you make all the beds, so you don’t get behind on your work.” I can call down to the kitchens for tea. It’s been ages since Wynn and I shared a pot.

Her mask bounces when she stands upright, her lips pursing as she considers the offer. “I promised my parents I would never set foot on one of your balconies. That was their only request when letting me apply for a position here.”

That seems silly. Why would they care if Wynn went outside? Unless… “Are they afraid you’ll fall off?”

My mother never used to allow me on the balcony alone when I was little, but as soon as my wings grew, she stopped worrying.

“I swear to catch you if you do.” I’d hardly let my best friend fall to her death.

“I know you would,” she says with a soft smile, collecting the quilt from where she draped it across my chair. “But it’s not that.” She glances out the balcony door with a grimace. “At least not entirely.” She unfolds the quilt, tossing me the other side. “My uncle’s best mate was caught on Lord Windell’s balcony and the king had him thrown into the pit.”

That cannot be true. “Why would anyone care, let alone the king?” Sounds like a tall tale to me. Although if there is some truth to the story, I’d love to hear it.

She shrugs before fluffing the pillows. “I’ve never thought about it.”

When I’m with Senan later today, I’m going to ask.

My heart beats a furious rhythm as I soar over the towers stretching toward the sun. I couldn’t hide my smile if I tried.

Senan sent word for me to meet him in the mountain park. I haven’t visited the park since my parents passed. After stealing away in my tower for weeks, meeting him somewhere so public feels strange.

The moment my boots meet soft grass, I send my wings away. Wouldn’t want one of my aunt’s friends recognizing me.

Which is why I’ve glamoured my hair a sunny blonde. Let’s see if my prince can find me among the crowd of Scathians picnicking on the mountainside.

Males and females lounge on blankets in various states of undress, catching every last drop of sunlight. Tiny children squeal and squawk like the swans they feed down by the pond, as bare as the day they were born.

I unbutton the front of my jerkin and am about to slip out of the leather garment when a deep voice drifts over me, sending chills up and down my spine.

“This is a little too disturbing, even for me,” Senan says from behind, his tone laced with smiles.

“What’s disturbing?” I ask, biting back my own.

“If people see us together, they’re bound to believe we’re twins.” Warmth from his body presses closer to my back, and I have to fight to stand my ground instead of melting into him.

“Which would be dreadfully awkward if anyone catches me with my tongue down your throat,” he whispers against the shell of my ear.

I’m not sure what he means about being twins, but the second part is quite enticing. “Sounds awful. Where do I sign up?” I glance over my shoulder only to burst into a fit of laughter.

What in heaven’s name is he thinking? “You look ridiculous.”

“Ridiculously handsome, you mean,” he counters with a waggle of his dark brows.

“No, I don’t.”

He runs his finger through his shoulder-length hair, his lips pursing into a pout. “Can I not pull off blonde?”

“That isn’t blonde. That is lemon yellow.”

“Even better. You love lemons.”

“In cheesecake, you fool. I don’t let them put their tongues down my throat.”

In a blink, his hair is no longer yellow, but a dull copper. “Better?” he asks, his brows raised.

I prefer his natural black hair, but at least he doesn’t look like a dandelion anymore. “Much. Care to tell me why we’re here?”

He loops my arm through his, tugging me farther up the mountain. “Nope. Follow me.”

We walk arm-in-arm toward a cropping of trees devoid of blankets. “Are we going for a picnic?” I already had lunch but wouldn’t say no to something sweet.

“Gods, no. I can think of nothing worse than sitting on the hard ground eating bug-infested scones. Except maybe swimming in that pond.”

“You should probably fire your cook if your food is bug-infested.”

He snorts. “Very funny. Do you see all these flies milling around?”

I don’t but decide to play along anyway and nod.

“They’re waiting for some unsuspecting prince to smear a load of butter atop his scone. And when he does, they’ll dive right in, get stuck, and laugh in victory when he unknowingly gobbles them up.”

“Are you certain they’d be laughing? Sounds to me like they’d be screaming in terror.”

“Either way, the end result is the same: Me with a bug between my teeth and my brother Aeron cackling so hard he nearly chokes on his own scone.”

I bite my lip to keep from laughing at the misery on his face. “So no picnics?”

He grimaces. “Not if I can help it.”

When we reach the shade of the trees, an unsettling feeling fills my gut. The back of my neck starts to prickle, and I glance over my shoulder, half expecting to find someone following us.

All I see are swaying branches and leaf-dappled sunlight playing on the luscious grass.

Although when I turn back around, the uneasy feeling remains. “Did you come alone?”

Senan catches the lowest branch on the closest tree and lifts himself into the foliage. “Once in the shower this morning,” he says, reaching down for me, a wicked smile teasing his lips. “But I thought of you the entire time. How about you?”

My fingers slip into his, and he grips tightly, hauling me up next to him. “I mean to the park, you cad.”

He drags a hand across his brow with a chuckle. “Of course, I came alone. The new guard Boris assigned is a pain in my ass though.” Balancing himself against the trunk, he reaches for another branch above his head and drags himself up. “It took far too long to shake him. The bastard nearly made me late.”

I don’t bother asking why we’re in a tree or telling Senan that this would be far easier if we flew. All that matters is that we’re together.

We climb higher and higher, through the branches fraught with shuddering emerald leaves, until Senan comes to a stop near the top.

He throws a leg on either side of a sturdy limb and then helps me sit in front of him. It’s so peaceful up here, with the rustle of the leaves and the sound of laughter drifting from the park. I turn to smile at my prince when I catch sight of something carved into the tree’s rich brown trunk.

Senan

I trace the letters of his name, my lips tipping into a smile.

He rests his head on my chin with a contented sigh. “I used to come up here when I was little—before I got my wings. Aeron convinced me it was the tallest tree in the kingdom. Bet me his dessert for an entire week that I couldn’t get to the top.”

I can picture him now, a little raven-haired boy scaling a tree simply to impress his brother.

Were we ever here at the same time?

As soon as the thought crosses my mind, I push it right back out. The whole park would’ve been in a tizzy if the queen and her sons had been visiting. “My mother never would’ve allowed me to climb so high.” And she definitely wouldn’t have let me bring a blade so I could carve proof of my victory.

His eyes sparkle as he kicks his legs back and forth, shaking the branch. “Who said my mother knew?”

That poor woman. I bet she had her hands full with Senan and his brothers. It must have been nice for Senan to grow up with other children around though. Wynn is the closest thing I have to a sister, and even then, she is almost always working so we don’t get to spend as much time together as I’d like.

Thinking of Wynn reminds me of our conversation from earlier, about her uncle’s friend. “Can I ask you something random?”

“You can ask me anything. The randomer the better.”

“I heard a story earlier today about a Tuath servant being thrown into the pit for stepping onto a balcony. It sounded so far-fetched; I wasn’t sure if it was true.”

His feet stop swaying. “That’s strange.” His brow furrows. “Although…now that I think about it, I can’t recall ever seeing any of our servants outside. Not sure why he would have been thrown into the pit though. Maybe they’re separate incidents?”

“Maybe.”

Our conversation drifts to other topics before fading into passionate kisses and greedy hands. We forget about the world outside the branches, losing ourselves in each other until the sun starts to fall, and my prince must return to his castle.

We make plans to meet the following Tuesday, and I hate that it feels so far away. But to love a prince is to watch him leave time and again, hoping and praying he won’t forget you between now and then.