Chapter 17
I wasn’t sure when, but at some point, I lost consciousness. The last thing I remembered was Aurelia, with that endearing blush tinting her cheeks, flirting with me.
The ruthless Summer Princess… flirting with me.
Surely, I was delusional.
When I woke, darkness surrounded me, save for a dying oil lamp in the corner of the room. With a groan, I sat up, blinking to allow my eyes to adjust. The mattress dipped from my movement, and I ran my hand along the fresh sheets. Someone had changed them while I was unconscious. Which was a good thing, since I had thoroughly stained them with my blood.
“Aurelia?”
From across the room, a soft grunt sounded, followed by shuffling and the creaking of floorboards. I squinted as a dark shape rose from the floor and hobbled toward me.
“You’re awake.” Aurelia’s voice was groggy from sleep.
I frowned. “Stars, Aurelia, were you sleeping on the floor ?”
She groaned and rubbed her face. Her hair looked burnt orange in the fading light, a tangled mess around her head. A blanket was wrapped around her shoulders. “I wasn’t about to climb into bed with you when you were unconscious from your injuries. What kind of person do you think I am?”
“I think you’re a princess who isn’t accustomed to sleeping on hard wood floors.”
She rolled her eyes. “You were the one who insisted we share a room. ”
I sat up, then instantly regretted it as a rush of dizziness clouded my mind. I raised a hand to my head to steady myself and closed my eyes.
“What are you doing?” Aurelia snapped, pressing down on my uninjured shoulder to guide me back down on the mattress. “You need to rest.”
“I’m fine. The healer sped up my recovery. It only aches a little bit.”
“Right,” Aurelia said doubtfully. “So, if you stand up right now, you won’t sway at all? I won’t have to catch you before you collapse into a pathetic heap on the floor?”
I let out a short laugh. “Gods, you really know how to flatter a man, Aurelia.”
“Go back to sleep, Fenn.”
“I can’t sleep if you’re just going to lie down on the floor. I’m a gentleman.”
She snorted. “Not from what I’ve heard.”
My eyes snapped to hers. “What have you heard?”
“The staff is whispering about you. They remember your… proclivities from the last time you were here.”
A crooked grin spread across my face. “Ah, yes. Well, we were not very quiet when we stayed here.”
Aurelia wrinkled her nose. “You are disgusting.”
“Hmm, that’s not what the barmaid thought.”
Aurelia tugged the blanket more securely around herself. “Well, if you’re all right, then I’m going back to sleep. Stay awake, if you must, but I’m tired.”
She turned away from me, but I caught her wrist. “I’m serious, Aurelia. Take the bed.”
“You can’t sleep on the floor!”
“Why not?”
“Because you’re injured.”
“ Was injured. Besides, you sustained injuries, too. I could make the same argument for you to take the bed.”
“You may call yourself a gentleman, but I am a lady, and I would never?—”
“Fine,” I said, scooting to the other side of the bed. “Then we’ll share. ”
Her mouth fell open. “I will not?—”
“The bed is big enough for us both.”
“Gods, do you ever stop? Does it ever exhaust you, this constant need to lure women into your bed?”
“I’m not trying to lure you. I’m in too much pain and far too tired to try, even if I wanted to seduce you.”
She shook her head. “This would be completely inappropriate.”
“Aurelia.”
She exhaled in exasperation. Even in the darkness, I could make out a faint blush creeping into her cheeks.
“We’re sharing a room,” I said slowly. “Everyone will presume we’ll be engaging in… certain activities. I’m not asking you to do anything with me tonight. Despite what you might think of me, I am a gentleman, and I would never try to coerce someone who wasn’t willing. We both need the rest. This will be completely innocent. I swear it.”
She hesitated, her lips pressing together tightly. After a long moment, she said softly, “Very well.”
I scooted farther until I was curled up on the edge of the bed. The mattress dipped as Aurelia sank onto it, still rolled up in her blanket. She positioned herself on the very edge, lying on her back and staring at the ceiling. The bed was so large that we didn’t even touch. I inched closer to the middle.
She stiffened. “What are you doing?”
“Ensuring I don’t fall off the edge in my sleep.”
She nodded, but her form didn’t relax. I looked her over, noting the set of her jaw and the way her arms were tucked tightly against her chest.
“You know I would never hurt you, right?” I asked. Something twisted in my gut at the sight of her like this, and I couldn’t bear it. This fierce, stubborn, infuriating princess seemed as helpless as a child right now.
She licked her lips. “I don’t know you, Fenn. So, no, I don’t know that.”
“I swore in a bargain.”
“Yes, well, that wouldn’t stop you from trying, would it?”
“Trying to hurt you?”
“Trying to…” She trailed off, her mouth clamping shut .
A knot formed in my throat. Oh, gods. “Aurelia, did someone?—”
“Good night, Fenn.”
“Aurelia.”
Her head whipped toward me, her eyes blazing. “I said good night. We don’t know each other. And I sure as hell don’t owe you any explanations. Now stop talking so I can fall asleep.”
Well then. The feisty princess had returned. In truth, it was a relief to see her like this because she seemed more like herself when she was angry with me.
“Did you know we have a glowing river in the Star Court?” I asked.
Aurelia’s brows furrowed. “What?” Her tone was still clipped.
“It’s called the Celestial River. It glows because over centuries, stardust has collected at the bottom. We’ve harvested much of it, but over the years, the substance has embedded itself in the rocks and soil within the ground.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
“Because the waterfall you took me to?—”
“Kellen Falls.”
“Yes, that place. I felt a sense of peace while I was there. Something I’ve only ever felt next to the Celestial River. I thought it was a connection between me and the land. My land. The home of my blood and my ancestors. It felt right to be bonded to the place of my heritage. But when I saw that waterfall, the river surrounding it, the canopy of trees, and the mountain… Well, it startled me how much it felt like home. Even though your court is completely different from mine.”
Aurelia was silent for a long moment, but I noted that her shoulders had relaxed and her breathing had slowed. After a long moment, she said, “Maybe you are just very fond of rivers.”
I laughed. “Maybe. But I wonder if you’ll feel something similar when you see the Celestial River.”
Her eyes turned contemplative, her gaze still fixed on the ceiling. “It does sound rather incredible,” she admitted. “A glowing river, I mean. I’ll bet it looks even more enchanting at night with all the stars.”
“Why do you think we have a weekly celebration? It’s our opportunity to express our love and gratitude for the land the gods have given us.”
She took a deep breath. “We don’t have anything like that.”
“You don’t?”
“No. We have the Summer Solstice ball, and the occasional festival, but that’s it.”
“Then however did you become such a terrific dancer?”
She laughed lightly. “So, you admit it? My skills are impressive?”
“Better than many of the ladies I’ve danced with,” I said. “Though still not quite as impressive as my own skills.”
She snorted. “Of course not.”
“If you don’t have very many balls or celebrations, then how did you learn to dance so well? And how have you maintained those skills?”
She shifted, nudging closer to the center of the bed. When her elbow brushed my arm, she sucked in a breath and drew her arms over her chest again. I hurried to think of a question to ask to distract her, but then she spoke. “My father wanted a son. He was a soldier, trained from birth to protect his kingdom and fight the enemy no matter the cost. He wanted to train a son in the same way, to teach him to wield his sword alongside his people. When he only had daughters, he sought to teach us in the same way, but it wasn’t what he expected. It was… difficult at first. For me and Gigi. We did not like the training exercises he put us through. And we often begged for Father to relent, to stop trying to mold us into the children he wanted us to be.”
She swallowed and took a shaky breath. “It was harder on my sister, I think. She so desperately wanted Father to love her. For me, though, I could tell Father would never love us the way we loved him. He is distant. Not unkind, but not affectionate either. Not like Mother.”
Aurelia shifted again, and her shoulder pressed into mine. But this time, she didn’t move. And neither did I. I held my breath, waiting for her to continue.
“Eventually, Mother stepped in,” she continued. “She urged us to find an aspect of training that we could enjoy. Gigi chose archery. She loves the bow and arrow, and Father couldn’t have been more proud. But I could never find a weapon I liked. So, I turned to dance. I found an instructor who taught me how to move my body with fluid grace, and then our trainer utilized those movements so I could use them in battle.
“Father wasn’t pleased at first. I think he was disappointed that I couldn’t share his interest in weaponry and military training. But, after a year, I showed him my skills, and we sparred.” A slow grin spread across her face. “And I bested him for the first time.”
I huffed in surprise. “You bested the king ?”
“I did,” she said smugly. “After that, he realized the benefit of my training. It caught him off guard, and it would likely do the same for my opponents in battle.”
I frowned and nodded. “That’s… rather admirable.”
She turned to look at me, her eyes glowing in the lamplight. “What is?”
“You. Finding something you love and incorporating it into what you’re expected to do. Knowing what I know about you, I would have predicted you would dig in your heels and downright refuse to train if it was something you didn’t want to. But instead, you found a different way. A unique way. Something that could please both sides. It’s… very diplomatic.”
Her eyebrows lifted, her lips parting in surprise. After a long moment, she forced a laugh and said, “Prince Fenn, are you saying I’ll make a good queen?”
I blew out a breath through my lips. “Well, let’s not entertain such outrageous thoughts. You are still a feral dragon keeper, after all.”
She chuckled, and a strange sense of warmth filled my chest at the sound.
“Can I ask you something?” I said.
“You just did.”
I barked out a laugh and rolled on my good side to face her. “You said to Dreya that we would be announcing ourselves to the Autumn Court.”
Aurelia sighed, her gaze still fixed on the ceiling, her hands clasped atop her stomach. Ever the demure princess, even when sharing a bed with her enemy after sustaining severe injuries from a goblin attack. “I don’t know why I said it,” she admitted. “It seemed like a good idea at the time. We need people to believe our engagement is real, and two neighboring royals traveling through a kingdom would announce themselves in other circumstances. I didn’t want Autumn to be offended if they found out we passed through their domain without paying respects.”
I hummed, my eyebrows raised. Impressive. “Like I said—very diplomatic. But we didn’t plan for this.”
“I know. But it will be good practice for us. For when we must put on a show for your court. We won’t know as many people here, so if we slip up, the consequences shouldn’t be too severe.”
I snorted. “You don’t know Autumn Court, then. Bunch of nasty gossips.”
“I know Autumn Court just fine,” Aurelia snapped, her tone icy.
I stilled, then looked her over. Her shoulders were rigid once more, her arms wrapped around her chest.
Oh, shit. What had happened to her? Had it been someone from the Autumn Court? “Aurelia…”
“Good night, Fenn.” She rolled on her side away from me.
“ Aurelia. ”
She switched off the oil lamp, plunging the room in complete darkness. I huffed in part amusement, part frustration. But the princess had blocked me out. After a few moments of tense silence, I rolled onto my back and muttered, “Good night.”