Chapter 30
Tell
Leo and Evelyn never left the library. They fell asleep together on the couch in front of the fire.
The next morning, Evelyn stirred when the door opened. She heard a few tentative footsteps, followed by a curse. Damien walked around the couch and crouched in front of her.
“There you are,” he whispered, looking unimpressed.
Evelyn blushed. “Hi, Damien.”
“You should be in your room,” he scolded.
She started to get up, but Leo’s hold on her tightened. He nuzzled his face against her neck.
“I think I’m stuck.”
“Useless fucking princesses.”
“Oh, shut up!”
“Leo,” Damien said in a louder voice.
Leo groaned but didn’t open his eyes.
Damien cursed again. “I need to move your princess upstairs.”
“No,” Leo growled.
“Someone will notice there aren’t any guards outside her room.”
“So post some fucking guards at her door.”
“Shockingly, that isn’t really the point.”
“Leo,” Evelyn said softly. “I should go before my father wakes up.”
He sighed and lifted his arm so Evelyn could stand. She tried to smooth out her wrinkled dress.
“Perfect! Time to go!” Damien declared.
Leo got off the couch, then took Evelyn’s hands and entwined their fingers. “Thank you for staying with me last night.”
She stood on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek. “I’ll see you later.”
“There is a deadline involved in saving your reputations!” Damien yelled.
Evelyn glared at Damien, then let go of Leo and headed to the door.
Five guards were lined up in the hallway to greet them, including Evelyn’s two night shift guards.
All of them stared at her. Evelyn waved awkwardly as she and Damien went to the stairs.
The guards assigned to her followed at a respectful distance.
“Nothing inappropriate happened,” she informed Damien. “We were just sleeping.”
“I know,” he said. “Leo can’t compartmentalize that well. No way he can get it up right after his father was murdered.”
“Damien!”
“What? It’s not a bad thing. And you might need that argument later to keep yourself out of a scandal. You have to be more careful, especially—”
They had nearly reached the third floor when they heard footsteps in the west hallway.
Damien pushed Evelyn against the wall and pressed his body to hers. Before she could react, he pinned her hands above her head. It was a compromising position if anyone saw them. Evelyn’s breath caught, but she refused to let herself think about how good it felt to be that close to him.
“I won’t hurt you,” Damien whispered in her ear. “Don’t fight and don’t burn me.”
Evelyn was about to do exactly those things, if only because he told her not to, when an amused voice reached them.
“Good morning.” Lord Nicolas chuckled from the top of the stairs.
Damien released Evelyn and jumped back. “It’s only you. Thank the gods.”
“What the hell, Damien?” Evelyn snapped.
“I worried it was my father in the hallway,” he explained. “Lord Stuart would love the opportunity to gossip about why you’re up at dawn in yesterday’s dress. It’s not as good a story if I’m involved.”
“It’s not like we’re alone!” Evelyn gestured to her two guards several steps below and Nicolas’s guard behind him.
“Yes, but the guards know I would have their heads if they revealed anything from their time on duty here,” Damien said harshly, making eye contact with each one in turn.
“Gods know you’ve done it before,” Nicolas mused. “I’ve always admired your willingness to threaten anyone in sight.”
“Oh, Nicolas,” Damien said innocently, like he had only just noticed the lord was there. “You’re up early.”
“I wouldn’t want to miss any of the fun around here,” Nicolas said before nodding to Evelyn. “Hello again, Princess.”
Damien addressed Evelyn’s guards. “Take her to her room and bring her back downstairs in time for breakfast.”
“Who put you in charge?” she snarled.
“You did.” Damien took a step toward her. “Stop asking for my help if you’re going to get mad when I help you.”
“Sending me to my room is your version of helping me?”
“This is not some childish punishment, Evelyn. I am trying to prevent a scandal. You cannot get caught fucking a king.”
Her cheeks burned. “I told you that’s not what happened!”
“The truth doesn’t matter if that’s what it looks like. There are too many people in this palace right now. Nicolas doesn’t give a shit what you do behind closed doors, but everyone else is watching. As far as everyone knows, Leo is courting Hannah.”
Evelyn shook her head. “Why does that matter? Leo can do what he wants now, right? All he has to do is say he changed his mind.”
“Don’t you think he would’ve done that by now?”
She blinked. Damien’s words landed like a bucket of cold water dumped over her head. “But—”
“You’ve been here over a week. He hasn’t announced that anything has changed.”
“Leo’s father just died! I highly doubt a betrothal was his main concern yesterday!”
“As a king going into a potential war, he is expected to be married for the additional magic. Everything is going to move quickly.”
“Damien is right,” Nicolas said carefully. “The lords are planning to talk to Alexander about that this morning.”
Evelyn wanted to punch them both for the pity in their eyes. “No. He doesn’t want to marry Hannah.”
“He hasn’t told her yet, Evelyn,” Damien warned.
“He will!”
“Listen to me,” Damien whispered, closing the gap between them. “I won’t lie to you, and I can’t promise everything will be okay. So I need you to forget where you were last night. Get dressed and go about your morning like nothing happened.”
Compassion filled Damien’s eyes, but Evelyn walked away from him with anger, despair, and fear roiling in her gut.
Of course Leo will end things with Hannah. There’s barely anything between them in the first place.
She returned to her room without acknowledging the guards following her.
Leo wants to be with me. He said so yesterday. He kissed me!
Evelyn prepared a bath.
Except… he didn’t kiss me. I kissed him.
She could still smell Leo on her dress.
He held me all night and didn’t want to let me go this morning. He trusts me.
Evelyn’s curls were a mess from Leo’s tears and sleeping on a couch.
But I’m the one who took him to the library. He never asked for my help.
She slid into the hot water.
He held my hand only until we were back at the palace. He went to the patio with Hannah, not me. Did he even glance at me during dinner?
Evelyn remembered teenage Hannah pulling petals off flowers one by one. He loves me, he loves me not. If the last petal was going to be a He loves me, Evelyn would burn the rest of the flower just to make Hannah mad.
I don’t think I like this game anymore.
“Good morning, Your Highness,” Rory said when Evelyn opened her door.
“Am I the last one up?” she asked.
“I believe Lord Robert is still sleeping,” Simon said. “His snores are… impressive.”
Rory elbowed his partner in the ribs.
Sure enough, the dining room was busy when Evelyn arrived. King Tristan, Hannah, Lord Nicolas, Lord Stuart, and Lord Grégory were chatting while they ate. Leo and Damien were missing, and Queen Camille remained in her room. Evelyn claimed the empty seat beside Nicolas.
“Good morning, sweetheart,” King Tristan said. “You just missed General Savatier. We received word from Lochmatten that Councilor Moeller should arrive tomorrow.”
“Why him?” Evelyn asked.
“Moeller is the councilor we’ve traditionally worked with,” Lord Grégory explained. “He’s quite knowledgeable and trains fae in Lochmatten on how to use their magic.”
“Not everyone on the isle is willing to collaborate with outsiders,” Lord Nicolas added.
“I’ll give up drinking the day Wendell steps foot on the continent,” Lord Robert said, slumping into the chair on Evelyn’s other side.
“And Ritter is too young to be especially helpful,” Lord Stuart said.
A shiver went up Evelyn’s spine at the mention of Haydn.
The night of the ball, he told me, “I haven’t lied to you. Can you say that about everyone else here?” That was before I found out the truth about Leo.
Haydn asked me to go to Lochmatten and marry him. I won’t, obviously. I barely know him. But at least Haydn knows what he wants.
Evelyn shook the thought out of her head. “What about the fourth councilor?”
“Heinrich,” Lord Grégory said. “He’s… I don’t know. Robert?”
“No one bloody knows what Heinrich does,” Lord Robert grumbled through a mouthful of food. “They never gave us any explanation after he blew up that ship.”
“He destroyed a ship?” Hannah asked. “Whose was it?”
“One of King Nolan’s, actually,” King Tristan said. “It was centuries ago. Lochmatten swore up and down that it was an accident, some experiment gone wrong, but wouldn’t say anything more than that.”
“Where did it happen?” Evelyn asked.
“The ship was docked near Darstellen, Lochmatten’s capital. Thankfully, only a couple people were on board at the time.”
Evelyn gasped. “Heinrich killed two people?”
“That’s why the Kennedys didn’t work with Lochmatten much after that.”
“So how do we know they will help us now and not blow up the palace?”
“We trust Councilor Moeller,” Lord Grégory said kindly. “Many of his former students live and work in Gryon, like the Spell Breakers who have been helping us already.”
Leo walked into the room.
“Good morning!” Hannah’s voice was sickly sweet.
Leo gave her a small smile and Evelyn’s anxiety made another appearance.
He doesn’t want to be with her. He wants me.
“Are you hungry?” Evelyn asked. “Lord Robert ate all the bacon, but there’s still plenty of food.”
Lord Robert snorted unapologetically and cleaned bacon grease off his fingers with a cloth napkin.
“No, I’m fine,” Leo said.
Why won’t he look at me?
Lord Grégory cleared his throat. “There’s something we should all discuss. Do you have some spare time this morning?”
Leo sighed. “Sure.”
“Great! Let’s go upstairs,” King Tristan suggested. “Girls, you can keep yourselves busy for an hour, right?”
“Of course, Father,” Hannah agreed.
Evelyn crossed her arms. “Women aren’t allowed in your secret meeting?”