Chapter 7
Kaid took a cool bath, needing the icy water to free him of his nerves. After Asta had left the music room, he had found it rather difficult to focus on the song he had been teaching Maren.
The copper-haired princess picked up on the tune easily enough, but the music didn’t feel the same as when he and Asta played together. He hadn’t felt drawn to put his hands on hers, to breathe in her scent, to watch her every move. With Maren, he simply went through the motions.
Maybe that was because Maren was far more self-assured than her younger sister, Kaid thought. Her face didn’t heat when she hit the wrong key, she just corrected it and moved on. She was so proper that she often came off as stoic. Maren was certainly a king’s daughter.
Asta, however, was something completely different.
The youngest princess of the Enrathi line had a fire in her that Kaid wanted to continuously stoke, even if his only way of doing so was to rile her up. She had been challenging him constantly since his arrival—considerably more than Halsten ever had.
There was a knock on the door.
“What?” Kaid barked.
He heard Halsten laugh. “I’m retiring to my own suite, you grouchy old crone. Don’t know what got you all heated but make sure you sleep long enough to forget about it by tomorrow. I don’t want to deal with you having a pissing contest with everyone we encounter.”
Kaid simply grunted in response and heard his friend leave.
He rested his head back on the lip of the tub and closed his eyes.
He thought about how he found the music room accidentally while he was looking for the library.
This castle was so enormous and mazelike that he took one wrong turn and ended up in the complete opposite wing he was looking for.
But when he saw the disconnected tower, he had to look within.
To his surprise, he found a room with a vast array of instruments and he couldn’t help himself.
Kaid had always been drawn to music, whether he was listening to it or playing it himself.
A melody was the only place where he felt like he belonged.
Kaid had asked his father on multiple occasions to attend music lessons, but he was always refused.
So he resorted to teaching himself in secret at the playhouse in Haalberg, having to sneak in to do so.
Kaid found it incredibly easy to learn how to play a new instrument.
He could play the violin, the cello, the harp, even the trumpet.
But his favorite was the piano. The music came naturally to him, and he knew he was a fairly satisfactory player when it always seemed to put an observing Halsten in a trance.
But the trance he had seen with Asta today was something different.
Kaid felt it in return. It was like the music was a tether between them, yanking them closer with each note.
He knew Asta wanted to cut the rope, to will it to fray.
But Kaid hadn’t wanted that. He still hadn’t wanted that, even now as he reminisced.
He wanted to wrap his hands in the ties and hold them tightly, pulling her closer until his palms bled.
He was an idiot, and this whole situation was bad. He was engaged to a princess, hated by her sister, and hopelessly caught between the two of them.
Kaid lifted the pitcher and poured icy water on his face.
He pulled himself from the tub and dried off, dressing in a loose shirt and cotton pants for sleeping. Maybe Halsten was right. Maybe he just needed to sleep for a long while and then he would forget about whatever strange phenomena happened between him and Asta.
Kaid stepped into his room and went to pull the curtains closed when he, once again, saw a figure cascading down the castle walls with ease.
He wouldn’t lose them this time.
He threw on his boots and cloak, rushing out of his suite.
As he dashed through the halls, he stopped at a window that overlooked where the figure had just been and he could see them sneaking along the stone of the castle.
He sprinted, getting outside in time to see a horse galloping down the roadway in the distance, the cloaked figure atop it.
Kaid went for the stables. When he got there, he chose a well-tempered chestnut gelding and threw on tack as quickly as he ever had. Once he was sure the leather straps were secure, he swept his leg over the horse and took off.
He knew he was far behind the figure, but they were heading in the direction of the village below the castle, so Kaid headed that way. Maybe he would luck out and that would be the end of his search.
The gelding he selected was fast, and seemed to enjoy the freedom of the speed as much as Kaid did.
He hadn’t left the castle grounds in over a week and wondered how often the horses had an opportunity to leave, as well.
The only inconvenience was that his night clothes did nothing to block out the balmy chill in the air.
When they approached the outskirts of the village, Kaid slowed the horse to a walk and entered town.
Kaid slipped the hood of his cloak up over his head so he wouldn’t be recognized by anyone.
He was now realizing how dangerous and stupid it had been to take off after this person while he was unarmed and alone.
He was to be the next prince of Salendron in a few weeks and was sure there was some small group of locals that didn’t agree with that, as there always was with any royal marriage.
Shaking off his nerves, Kaid dismounted the gelding and tied him to a post outside of a pub before walking down the main stretch of village.
Orntali was quaint, but had everything a town could need.
A pub, a church, a marketplace. There were some buildings tucked back from the main road that Kaid easily recognized, though he never utilized their services.
Brothels, opium dens, black market dealers.
Kaid knew these businesses were normal occurrences in any kingdom, but he hadn’t expected to find any quite so close to the castle.
As he searched the streets, weaving between the carts selling everything from flowers to fish to dried herbs, he spotted the black horse.
The tack was too expensive to belong to common villagers in a fishing town, so he knew this was the horse he had seen escaping the royal stables.
The dark mare was tied to a post outside of a building with no signs on it to indicate what it was.
Kaid remained in the shadows across the street, casually leaning against a wall. There was only a sliver of the sun over the horizon now, and soon the dark would hide him completely.
“Looking for some company?” A voice like honey slithered across Kaid’s skin.
He startled, turning to see a black-haired woman behind him. She reached out and gently stroked a hand down Kaid’s arm.
He shook his head. “Not tonight, I’m afraid.”
She held him in place with her nearly white irises as they bore into him. The courtesan brushed her fingertips along the deep vee of her blue velvet dress. “Honey, you look stressed. Let me help you. I know all sorts of tricks to release—”
“You’ll find no business here, miss. You’re wasting your working hours on me,” Kaid snapped.
Something about her was… off. It wasn’t simply her stunning beauty. Something about her felt wrong, like her existence clashed with his. Even if he did choose to pay for a courtesan, it certainly wouldn’t be this one despite her preternatural beauty.
She huffed. “Suit yourself, Bright Eyes. Come find me if you change your mind.” She pointed to the brothel down the alley before winking and sauntering back toward it, the hips of her hourglass figure swaying side-to-side as she walked.
From what Kaid could guess, another thirty minutes passed and the sun had set completely, leaving the town in a dark shadow aside from the lanterns in shop windows that were still open for business.
Kaid’s attention was drawn to the mysterious building when he saw a person in a dark cloak exit and mount the horse he had been watching. What was the business within? Why was someone from the castle sneaking out to go to an unmarked shop?
His mind raced as worry took over. Were they making dark dealings?
Was the royal family somehow involved in nefarious businesses?
He worried that maybe he made the wrong choice to marry a woman he had never met, but then he remembered his father.
Duke Aerik, the most genuine and respectable man he had ever met.
Kaid could endure whatever this was if it meant Haalberg would be saved and his father could know peace.
Kaid followed the slow walking horse down the road, making sure to stay several feet away so he blended in with the crowd.
The person atop the mare steered toward another unmarked establishment and hopped off, leading the horse around the back of the building.
When the person came back around the side, he could see that they were cracking their knuckles.
He had seen this habit before. But that person would certainly have no need to sneak out of the castle in the dark, would they?
They approached an angled basement entrance and heaved the dense metal door open, stepping down into the ground.
Kaid made a run for it, hoping to catch a glimpse inside before the door closed.
He poked the top of his head over the angled door enough to see the person tap the door frame before stepping into the well-lit basement, then the solid door at the bottom of the stairs slammed shut behind them.
Now, he most certainly knew who this cloaked figure was.
Asta. But what in the world was she doing?
Kaid needed to learn more. He was desperate to. He circled the building and saw a whisper of light behind a large stack of grass at the base of the building. Ah, a window. Exactly what he needed.
He dove down and spread the fronds enough to see what was happening within when he heard a sound behind him. When he turned, he found the dark-haired courtesan from earlier guiding two men down a forest path and out of sight. Guess she doesn’t mind dirt and bugs, Kaid concluded.
He faced back to the basement window and his heart thumped so strongly that he could feel it in his fingertips as he watched a blonde-haired, sage-eyed princess duel with a full-grown man, wielding a sword with such familiarity that she could be mistaken for a warrior.