Anybody But You

37

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Vibe: Where Do We Go From Here by Robyn Sherwell

Besides for Lucy's room and the path through the halls to get to it, Alice had been careful not to roam the palace in fear that she might bump into Narcisse.

Now she was heading to him purposely.

She felt her heart pick up speed in her chest as she clenched her hands—her fingernails threatening to bite into her palms at any moment. Controlling her breath she chanted that everything would be okay. She was terrified to feel those feelings that she had felt for him, and she prayed that they were part of her temporary lapse into insanity.

The guard at the door glanced at Alice as she stood shaking like a leaf at the door of Nercisse's study.

"Lady Arvel, is something the matter?" The hidden man in the suit asked, his voice in a whisper. Knights weren't supposed to speak to guests directly except for when sometimes exchanging pleasantries.

She smiled anxiously at the strange man, "It should be okay... I think."

The knight with the shiny mask revealing nothing but a pair of green eyes, hard jawline, and plump looking lips nodded, "Would you like me to announce your presence to his highness?" He asked, his quiet voice sounding unsure as his eyes kept darting towards the guard who stood at the opposite wall—as if asking for directions.

The other guard just shrugged, looking just as baffled as him.

Alice bit her lip, shaking her head suspiciously, "he gave you an odd order about me, didn't he?" She suspected, furrowing her brows.

Before the knight could respond to the accusation, Alice's brief annoyance gave her enough confidence to kick open the door. "Your highness, we need to talk."

Narcisse, sitting at his desk full of reading materials practically jumped out of his skin. His dark eyes stared in astonishment at Alice for a moment, as if making sure she wasn't a hallucination, before flickering annoyedly to the guard. "You..."

"Apologies, your highness. She came looking for you directly... I wasn't sure if I was supposed to send her away or warn you with her standing there." The knight kneeled on one knee, bowing his head on his arm.

"If I'm not wanted here, I can go." Alice scowled, feeling her heart tighten in her chest as she spun away angrily.

"N—no!" Narcisse quickly stood up with a clatter from his chair, his face warped into desperation. "That's not... I was just..." he kept failing as Alice shook her head with a laugh.

Why was she surprised? If she wouldn't let him touch her willingly and if he couldn't risk touching her by force, why would he keep her around? She was useless to him.

She was so stupid. How weak and—

The knight, still kneeling with his arm bent in front of him, lifted his bowed head, "Allow me to explain to the lady, your highness."

Narcisse waved his hand, his words seemingly stuck in his throat as Alice tried to calm herself down. Painfully rolling her eyes, she begrudgingly turned to the guard awaiting the excuse.

"The prince was worried you'd become upset over his presence. He had ordered his knights to keep an eye out for you if you happened across him so he could move to a different location." He spoke slowly, his words coming out clearly as Alice doubted them. "There was no specification for what we were to do if you came for him yourself."

Alice gave the knight a forced smile, "Thank for clearing up the misunderstanding." She lied through the smile—there was no misunderstanding, Narcisse just no longer had a use for her but couldn't risk getting rid of her himself.

Standing up quickly, the knight bowed, "I'll take my leave now so you may talk to the lady, your highness." He hurried out unprofessionally.

Alice turned around, glancing at the prince with contempt. He had sat back down with his elbow resting on the desk as he rubbed his hand over his flushed, stressed out face.

"It doesn't matter why you didn't want to see me, your highness." Alice spoke coldly as he finally looked at her after a long period of silence between them. "I'm only here because we need to talk about the assassination attempt that might still occur if we don't solve the issues."

Narcisse frowned, dropping his hand from his face. His dark eyes looked at her suspiciously, "Why are you so certain someone is going to kill me?"

Alice didn't want to waste anymore time on his doubts as she exhaled frustratedly,

"Because I've witnessed it."

~*~*~

A.N.

Okay, but that must have been so satisfying to see in her last life—her abuser being murdered.

Thanks for reading :)