A Beast's Tale

Chapter 24

I was surprised to hear her humming the next morning. It was almost inaudible over the rain still pelting the windows, but it was there. She'd forgiven me, and she was humming. I'd resigned myself to never hearing that sound again, after what I'd done, and I lay still, savoring every note. At nine o'clock, the humming would stop when she opened the drapes and gave her standard greeting, and then she would start talking to try to annoy me into getting up. Little did she know that my reluctance to rise was because I looked forward to hearing her voice.

She held true to her normal routine, as I'd hoped.

"This is quite a storm," she started, pulling my clothes from the bureau. "I used an umbrella and a coat, and I still had to change when I got here this morning."

I pulled down the covers to look at her. It had slipped my mind to send a carriage to pick her up.

"Your hair is still wet," I mumbled. She turned around to look at me.

"It'll dry eventually," she replied, setting my clothes on the bench. "Speaking of which, your laundry from yesterday should be dry. I think I was able to save some of it, but I'm not sure about the cloak yet."

I pushed the blankets away and stretched. "I hope you don't plan to play out on the lawn again today."

"I had no such plans yesterday, your highness, and I've none today."

"Good," I said simply, sitting up and swinging my legs over the edge of the bed.

"Prince Chevalier," she said, and then she stopped. I met her green eyes briefly as she studied me, but I found my own gaze, and focus, wandering. The candlelight cast a soft glow across her face; her long, damp ponytail hung over her shoulder in a slightly tangled path to her waist.

"Ask your question," I said, irritated, forcing my eyes back up to her face. I needed to get away from her, and quickly.

"Perhaps it's best if I say nothing, your highness."

I smirked to maintain the illusion of control. "The little dove is finally learning."

Another cold bath this morning. I had a feeling I'd be taking a lot of those in the days to come.

For once, I had no idea what she wanted to ask me. She'd been working on managing her expressions better ever since she came here, and she was getting harder and harder to read. Although it hadn't helped that my thoughts were elsewhere. I made many mistakes yesterday. Holding her in my arms was one thing; embracing her curled up on my lap was one thing; pinning her underneath me in bed was another entirely. If she'd run away, like I'd intended, then it would all just be a memory. But now I had that memory, and she was still here, far too close for comfort.

And, even worse, Jin was right. She was safer with me than without me. Which meant I would have to manage myself much better than this. I'd always prided myself on my self-control, but I'd never had to worry about physical desire. Appearance was not something that drew my attention, not initially. Value, worth, usefulness, these were traits I found attractive. And she had all of them, plus so much more.

I still needed to get a new mirror. That had not been my highest priority yesterday. Somehow, she'd gotten the blood out of the cracks without hurting herself, I realized as I finished getting ready. The cuts on my hands had scabbed over nicely, and the doctor had sent ointment to my room last night for me to reapply. I did so then, but I would not be doing so this morning, since I'd be wearing my gloves again. Against doctor's orders, of course. But Ivetta didn't need to know that.

There were days when I wouldn't work at all, days when I would disappear into the gardens or the library and avoid everybody and everything. I wanted today to be one of those days, but the storm precluded the gardens, and Ivetta was in the library. Leon's room had potential. Nobody would look for me there. I was curious to explore his literary collection. He probably didn't have anything new to me, but he'd already surprised me just by having books.