Chapter 7
I let out a sigh of relief as I step out of the carriage, the inn being a welcome sight given the ache in my feet and the headache building from my hair being too tightly pinned.
"Everything all right?" Fen asks.
"Mmm. Don't take this the wrong way, but I'm glad I'm no longer your wife."
He laughs. "Is there a right way to take that?"
"Your wife has too many pins in her hair," I respond. "Ingrid doesn't have to have any."
"Well, I'll be pleased with the return of Ingrid." He reaches for the door of the inn.
"I'm not sure I'm ready to go inside yet," I admit.
Surprise shows on his face, but he drops his hand. "What do you want to do?"
"I don't know. Look at the stars. It's a nice night." I gesture up at them.
"We can look at the stars," he says. "Though would you be opposed if we did it with something warm to drink and a blanket?"
"No, I suppose not."
"Then why don't you take a seat, and I'll get them?" He gestures over to a bench under a low tree. I can hear the sound of the brook babbling away beside it.
I nod and head over, relieved that I don't have to go inside already. After so much noise and colour at the ball, it's hard to imagine going back to reality.
The bench is a little cold, and I have to rearrange my skirts so that I can sit down without ruining them. While I'm not going to admit it to anyone, I'm kind of glad that I'm going to be undercover as a maid tomorrow, because I don't think I'd be able to stand multiple days in dresses like this.
I reach up and start pulling the pins out of my hair, wincing when I realise that one of them is stuck. And it's even worse by the time Fen reappears from the inn with a blanket over his arm and two mugs in his hand.
"What are you doing?" he asks when he's close enough for me to hear him.
"I was trying to take out my hair so the pins would stop pinching."
He chuckles. "I see."
"I've made a mess of it, haven't I?"
"A little bit," he responds. "But I can help." He sets the mugs down on the bench and gestures for me to turn before he sits down.
A shiver runs through me as his fingers brush through my hair, and he misinterprets the response as me being cold, so wraps the blanket around my shoulders.
I don't have the words to tell him otherwise.
He pulls out the pins, carefully setting them down on the bench. "I don't know what you did, but this is a mess."
I grimace. "Is it that bad?"
"I can fix it," he promises. "I've had my fair share of tangles to deal with."
"Pfft. You haven't had a bad hair day in your life."
He chuckles. "I can assure you that I have, I've just gotten good at pretending otherwise." He manages to move one of the pins that's been digging into my head for the past few hours, and I let out a relieved sigh.
His hands are deft and sure as he continues to untangle the rest of the pins, until my hair is flowing down my back. I'm sure it looks a little frazzled from having it tied up in such a complicated manner.
"Do you want anything doing with it now?" he asks, his voice low and full of something I can't name.
"Erm, I normally braid it."
"Do you have a ribbon?" he asks.
I nod and hold out one of the ribbons I rescued from my hair earlier.
He rakes his fingers through my hair, the touch both firm and tender at the same time. I'm not sure what makes him decide that my hair is ready to braid, but the slight tug on the strands tells me what he's doing, until he gets to the end and ties the ribbon around the bottom of my hair.
"There you go," he says.
"Thank you." I turn around, not realising until I do that it's brought us closer together than I expected it to.
I meet his gaze, not entirely sure what I want to say, or what I want to do, other than knowing the answer is something.
He clears his throat and pulls away, leaving me with a feeling of disappointment.
"The only thing the inn had was some spiced ale," he says, handing me a tankard. "I know it isn't your favourite."
"It's better than nothing." I take it from him, my fingers brushing against his as I do. My heart skips a beat and I tell it that it has to calm. "Did you manage to talk to Lord Alfson?"
"Yes," he responds. "And it should be very easy to get him to agree to the plan. I think you'll be out of the castle in a week at the most."
"That's faster than expected."
"From what I've learned from the spies we've had working here, Lady Eyre has been rather vocal in her desire not to marry someone she doesn't know."
"She seemed more scared than vocal to me," I say, thinking back to the woman I briefly talked to earlier.
"Maybe you'll feel differently after seeing her when she's not in front of hundreds of strangers," he points out.
"True." I take a sip of the ale, which is actually fairly tasty even if it's not my thing. "I feel for her. I can't imagine getting married to someone I didn't know."
He gives me a strange look. "I thought you couldn't imagine getting married at all?"
"What gave you that idea?" I lean back against the bench and look at the twinkling stars above us.
"You said you didn't want to get married to the miller's daughter. It was literally four days ago."
I sigh. "Yes, I didn't want to get married to her. She expected me to marry her in a couple of months' time, and that's just not enough. If I get married, I want it to be to someone whom I know well. I'm sure there'll still be surprises, but I want to feel like I know them."
"I see."
"What about you?" I ask despite knowing that it's a dangerous question to put to him when I'm not sure how I'm going to feel about the answer.
"I think I'd like to know the person too," he says. "My parents had known one another for years before they got married. They flew together in the Emperor's guard."
"Your mother was a member of the guard?" I ask, a little surprised by that.
He nods. "Dragons are rare. They'll pretend that they're only going to take the men, and that they won't take anyone from the lower classes, but that's not how it works. They needed her."
"Why didn't they stay in Huolong?" I ask. "Surely that's the kind of job that would pay well. Raising a family there would probably be better than at our castle."
"I don't know," he admits. "They always change the subject when I ask. I've tried asking my cousin when he visits too, but he doesn't know either."
"That's the prince, right?"
"I suppose Lijun is technically a prince, yes."
"I don't really understand the technicality," I respond.
"He's the son of one of the Emperor's concubines. He doesn't hold the same rank as a prince born from the Empress, but he could, in theory, inherit."
"Ah. I see." I frown. "If he's a prince, how come you're not?"
"Disappointed?" he asks with a knowing smile.
"Not at all," I respond. "If you were a prince, you'd think even more of yourself than you already do."
"I don't think that would be possible." He leans back and takes a sip of his ale. "I'm not a prince because our mothers are sisters. There's no royal blood in my veins."
"It's a shame, you'd make a fine prince," I say. "Arrogance aside."
"I call it confidence." He grins. "But tell me, Ingrid, what makes you say that? Is it the eyes?" Gold flashes across them even as he says it.
I gasp. "You're doing it on purpose."
He chuckles, the sound rich and deep. "Only this time."
"So you didn't mean to let the gold show when we were dancing?"
I know the answer as soon as I see his face. He has no idea what I'm talking about.
"I didn't realise that happened," he says softly.
"Oh." I look away, not really knowing how to respond.
"I'm sorry if it made you uncomfortable."
"What? No, of course not." I reach out to put a hand on his. "I meant what I said earlier. I think your eyes are beautiful." I meet his gaze as I say the words, not realising how intensely he's looking at me until I do.
"Thank you," he whispers.
I offer him a hesitant smile, not really knowing what's happening between us, other than it's something.
He tears his gaze away and clears his throat. "We should head in. You've got an early start in the morning."
"I know."
"Be safe," he says.
"You too," I respond, getting to my feet and pulling the blanket from around me. I hold it out to him, and he takes it along with our mugs.
"If you need a moment away from the castle..."
"I know where you are, Fen," I promise him.
"And I'll come if I need to." I'm not sure what might cause me to leave, especially when my cover is going to be important for the mission ahead.
But it's reassuring to know he's here, and that as a maid, I won't be watched too closely and should be able to sneak out to see him if I need to.