Chapter 17 #2
She blinked, stunned. “Um…”
“Say yes, or I’ll stay here.”
“You wouldn’t.”
“Try me.”
“Fine,” she whispered, holding back her laughter. “Yes. Now fuck off.”
He kissed her other cheek. And then he left.
When Agathe came into the kitchen, Cherry was still sitting on the island like a damned fool. And she didn’t even mind.
Cherry didn’t know what she’d expected, but it wasn’t this.
She stood in the bright, January sun, wrapped up in a thousand and one layers—Ruben had insisted—and leaning against a huge maple tree.
If she raised a gloved hand to protect her eyes and squinted just a little, she could watch a gaggle of children running around on the white-frosted grass, laughing and screaming and chasing a football.
A gaggle of children, and Ruben.
In the car over, he’d told her that these kids were aged 9 to 12.
Some of them looked tiny; a few seemed huge for their age.
She’d worked in a school long enough to notice that some of them probably had learning difficulties, and one of the girls might be autistic.
But they were surrounded by staff members in matching purple jackets who made sure that everyone was involved, and that every child was comfortable.
It was as different from the Academy’s approach as anything she’d ever seen.
She remembered her first date with Ruben—their only date, she supposed, since lying in bed with your fake fiancée, whispering your feelings into the dark, didn’t count.
Ruben had seemed uncomfortable with the idea of sponsoring the Academy, had pushed for her opinion on the matter.
She, of course, hadn’t wanted to badmouth her place of employment.
But when she thought about education, this was her personal ideal.
Not that she knew shit. She was just HR.
The kids clearly loved it, though. And when they’d seen Ruben approaching, they’d all run to him like he was their long-lost-father.
It was disturbingly sweet.
“You are impressed? ”
Cherry jumped slightly, even though she recognised that impossibly deep voice. Hans. He was standing beside her, his arms folded, his eyes on Ruben and the kids. And his thin lips were tilted slightly into that half-smile he occasionally displayed.
“Yes,” she said, truthfully. “I didn’t expect him to…”
“To give a shit. I know. People are always surprised.” He leant back against the broad trunk of the maple, like her, as if they were friends.
At first, she’d thought he didn’t like her at all, but recently she’d realised that he was just a prickly guy.
She liked prickly people. She liked people who couldn’t be charmed.
“You and Ruben are close,” she said.
There was a slight pause, as if he were surprised. Then he said, slowly, “Yes…” And she knew he was surprised. “We haven’t been acting like it,” he added. “Since you came.”
“I know,” she said. “That’s why I noticed. Absence takes up a lot of space.”
He grunted.
“So what’s up? You’re still angry with him about… This?”
Hans sighed. “I am angry with him because he never looks out for himself. He thinks he can handle anything. He thinks if he can’t handle something, it’s a weakness and the end of the world, instead of a normal human limitation.”
“Always slaying dragons?” she suggested.
“And coming home half-dead, thinking no-one will care. ”
She digested that for a moment. Then she said, “Tell me about his brother.”
And Hans said, “No.”
Cherry nodded slowly. “So it’s bad?”
His voice became almost small, hesitant.“You understand, Ms. Neita, my loyalty is to the crown. If it weren’t, I would not be fit for this position. If it weren’t, I could not stay with him.”
Strange, the many ways that people could be trapped.
She turned away. Watched Ruben laughing in that cold, cold sunlight, letting the children foul him left and right, separating them when they got too rough or over-excited. He was beautiful. He was wonderful. He was perfect.
Oh, dear.
“I think this has gone on long enough.”
Ruben looked up from the stack of cones he was putting away. Hans was looming over him like a giant, his face serious as ever.
Ruben raised his brows. “ What’s gone on long enough?”
“Don’t be petulant.” Hans shifted slightly, the only sign of his discomfort. The sort of sign only Ruben would notice.
Still, he turned away, stacking the cones neatly. “Use your words, Hans. I believe in you. ”
His bodyguard released a sigh so loud, Cherry probably heard it from the classroom down the hall.
The classroom where she was currently getting to know the children while Ruben helped put away this morning’s sports equipment.
Every so often, he heard her laughter. Far more often, he heard the children’s.
“I think we should get over this… disagreement,” Hans finally said.
Ruben stood, dusting off his hands. “You want to kiss and make up? Already? Usually, you last longer than this.”
Hans shrugged. “You need me.”
“Oh, I do?”
“Yes. You want to talk to me. About her.”
Ruben grinned. “I do ?”
Hans rolled his eyes. “Fine.” He turned to leave, but Ruben grabbed his old friend’s arm in a move they’d executed countless times over the years. They were both too stubborn for this friendship to work, and yet, somehow, it did.
Sometimes, people were meant to be in each other’s lives, and nothing else really mattered.
“Stay. You’re right. I want to talk to you.”
Hans sighed again. He was a master of sighs. Then he shut the door of the little equipment room and leant back against a shelf. The shelf, sturdy as it was, creaked dangerously under his weight. Hans stood. “So talk.”
Funny. All of a sudden, Ruben had no idea what to say. But in the absence of certainty, his mind spit out a thought that seemed both ridiculous and true. “I don’t want her to leave. ”
“She’s not going to leave. You’ve got a year.”
“I never want her to leave.”
Hans looked slightly alarmed. “You’ve known her for—”
“Less than a fortnight. I’m aware.”
“Hm.” The rough-hewn lines of Hans’s face appeared blank as stone, which meant that he was thinking. “You know, your father once said he fell in love with your mother at first sight.”
Ruben arched a brow. “Have you been reading interviews?”
“Please. You know my mother is obsessed with yours. The beautiful and tragic Lady Freja.”
“Still?”
“Of course. The people loved her.”
“Thank God somebody did.” Ruben felt traitorous as soon as the words left his mouth.
Plenty of people had loved his mother. He had loved his mother, more than anything else in the world.
So had his father. “I don’t think emulating my father is a good thing, when it comes to love. Things turned out badly for him.”
“I don’t know about that,” Hans said slowly. “He got everything he ever wanted. He died, but everyone must die. And not all die happy.”
Ruben turned those words over in his mind, but couldn’t quite get a handle on them. They felt ephemeral, like something beautiful but impossible to hold. Something that didn’t apply to people like him. He put the problem away for later and focused on a more pressing issue .
“I don’t want her to meet my brother.”
Hans shrugged. “That is natural. I wouldn’t want Demetria to meet a python.”
“…Demetria?” Ruben frowned. “What does Demi have to—”
“You know, people you care about,” Hans said. “Would you want her to meet a python?”
“I—what?”
“Would you lock Demi in a room with a python?”
“What the fuck are you talking about?”
“No! You wouldn’t! No-one would. That’s all I’m saying.”
Ruben stared at his friend. Hans was almost… emoting. And right now, he looked panicked. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. Look, don’t worry about Cherry. You have a whole year to convince her that you’re the love of her life.”
“Well, I don’t know about love —”
“Shut up. A whole year, Ruben. If it’s meant to be…”
“I don’t know about meant to be —”
“Shut up.” Hans opened the door and strode out into the hall . “Come on. Let’s go.”
Ruben felt slightly dazed. He wasn’t entirely sure what that conversation had been about, or if they’d agreed on anything, or why Hans kept using words like love .
But he and his best friend were okay again. So he shrugged it off.