Chapter 6 #3
Thinking practically—attempting to ignore her racing heart and the excited flush prickling her skin, the eager leap of her blood—Rose considered that this young royal could be good practice for her.
There might be princes, even kings in her future, if she ascended to the ambitious heights she hoped for.
She needed to learn how they thought about their lovers—and she desperately needed experience.
Since she actually liked his smell and the feel of him, Sebastien would be an ideal choice to test those waters. A practice lover.
Plus, he was so pretty. She wanted him. And who knew when she’d again find someone she actually wanted?
She hadn’t been able to shake the feel of his elegant fingers lightly clasping hers, the seductive press of his hand on her lower back.
He smelled appealingly of sunshine and hay, a light musk beneath that might come from horses and dogs, which she hadn’t expected to like, but did.
She and Sebastien would both inevitably move on, bound to different contracts that would likely take them far apart.
But they had this time at the academy, the few months she had left.
If he was sincere in his attraction. She could touch his dreams to verify his intentions, she supposed.
She’d learned how to do that, to find a specific dreamer within the Dream and examine their dreaming minds without altering them.
Of course, she’d also learned how to manipulate those dreams, even how to insert herself into the dreams of others.
Those were skills that could be valuable to future employers, especially those looking to subvert their enemies.
The subtler touch, however, allowed her to simply look, to sample without the person ever knowing.
She should possibly tell Sebastien she planned to do that, but that seemed like a bad foot to start with.
Nothing like telling a potential new lover—her very first—that she suspected his motivations and planned to invade the privacy of his mind to verify them.
She also didn’t want to explain she would trust him more for verifying that he pursued her for political reasons. But she definitely would look.
“What is the exquisitely beautiful Rose thinking, I wonder?” Sebastien asked wistfully of no one in particular. “Such deep thoughts lurk behind those liquid, dark eyes.”
With a soft laugh, she rolled those eyes, which felt like marbles in their sockets and not liquid at all. “Your flirtation is terribly over-the-top, Your Highness.”
“Sebastien,” he prompted, a teasing note in his voice. “Remember?”
“Sebastien,” she agreed after a moment of hesitation.
“Thank you,” he sighed happily. “I know my courtly behavior needs to be toned down. Consider it a defense mechanism I need to unlearn. I’ll learn from you. Or unlearn from you. That’s one of the many reasons I like you: I know you’ll always be honest with me.”
“How could you know that?” she asked, taken aback—and feeling a bit chagrined that she’d already been dishonest with him, at least in her mind. “You know nothing about me.”
“Not true. I’ve been paying attention to you. How you hold yourself apart, not pandering to anyone, always saying exactly and only what you mean.”
“Am I those things?” she asked, more bemused than anything.
“Yes. And I want to know more. Be my teacher, Rose. Introduction to Behaving Like a Normal Person.”
She suppressed a laugh. “Quite the challenge—and I only have so much time.”
“Make time,” he suggested. “And, in exchange, perhaps there are some things I can teach you?” He purred the question, insinuating all sorts of sensual knowledge that she suspected wasn’t bragging.
“We’re not allowed to form liaisons,” she informed him, in case no one had thought to tell the prince there was something he couldn’t do. “Even casual friendships are strongly discouraged.”
He twinkled at her, tsking. “Surely you’re not telling me you slavishly follow all of the silly, stultifying rules here at HASP? It’s not as if they’re going to expel you. You’re the prize pupil.”
True. She hadn’t thought of it that way.
“Still, I must insist upon discretion.” Her father wouldn’t like it.
He preferred that she focus on the ambitious goals he’d set for her.
Especially with only a few months left and Master Zoltan still holding off on teaching her to physically enter the Dream.
“And my studies must take priority. My career depends upon it.”
Sebastien laid a hand over his heart. “As my queen commands, so shall it be. I shall be the soul of discretion and subsist on whatever discarded petals my midnight rose cares to cast my way.”
She laughed aloud at that, unable to help herself. “First lesson: no more rose metaphors.”
He grinned. This was the real smile, she thought to herself. “I’ve wanted to make you laugh,” he said softly, with sincerity. “There’s only one sound I want to hear more.”
Catching her breath at the surge of desire, her face heating, she found herself breathless. “What … What would that be?” she dared to ask.
His expression intense, green eyes hot, he leaned in and she thought he might try to kiss her and she braced herself, unsure if she’d like it.
Instead he tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear, which she didn’t love, but didn’t hate either.
Interesting. He whispered, “The moment it happens, I’ll let you know. ”
“I look forward to it,” she replied. And she truly did.