A Beast's Tale

Chapter 65

Ivetta and I finished eating and left my rowdy brothers behind in the round table room. She was still smiling when we left, but it wasn't long before that smile began to fade. I could guess what she was thinking about.

"I didn't tell you about Clavis because I didn't quite know what to make of his visit," she finally said.

"What did he want?" I asked quietly.

She sighed. "He wanted to know why we weren't sleeping together."

I should have killed him. It was bad enough Leon and Nokto pestered me occasionally about that. She didn't need that kind of pressure.

"You've already dealt with him, Chevalier," she reminded me, sensing my tension. "Besides, it actually worked out pretty well for you. He was telling me about how much you liked me right away, and that's why I asked you about that."

She was quite good at distracting me from my anger. Her words drew my attention back to those few minutes in my library when she - and I - nearly lost control, and then she rested her cheek against my arm, the physical contact cementing my focus on her.

Clavis was lucky.

"Chevalier, are we going to have separate rooms even after we're married?" she asked quietly.

"No," I said, without any hesitation.

"Good."

If only it would be this easy to talk to Sariel about that. He wouldn't be too hard to convince, actually; it was the idiotic court ministers that would present a problem. They had been given far too much leeway when my father was king.

"Where are we going?" Ivetta asked, looking up at me curiously.

I glanced down at her and smirked. "It's your turn."

She blushed and looked away. "Maybe that's not the best idea. After what happened before..."

I opened the door to the gardens, cold winter air striking my face. "Which is why we're going outside," I said, slipping my arm around her waist and pulling her to my side so my cloak wrapped around us both.

She giggled as I led her onto the frosty cobblestone path. "And we're supposed to stay cool this way?"

"If you get too hot, I'll push you into a snowbank," I teased. "So?"

"Hm." She was silent for a moment, thinking back. "Well, I thought you were rude, arrogant, and frightening at first. And your teasing was very confusing. I couldn't figure out what you were thinking."

I leaned in and kissed her neck.

"Chevalier!" she protested, blushing.

"I hope I'm not confusing you," I teased, kissing her again.

She giggled and pulled away from me, hugging herself in the cold. "Do you want to hear this or not?" she asked, smiling and shivering.

I stepped toward her, pulling her back into the warmth of my embrace. "Yes, I do," I murmured, kissing her again.

"You're not making this easy," she chided.

"Would you prefer I stop?" I replied with another light kiss.

"Well, I don't mind either way. If you'd rather I tell you later..."

I sighed and pulled back to kiss the top of her head. "Fine. Go on."

She took a deep breath and started again. "But I started to enjoy our back and forth. And as strange as your behavior could be, it was becoming increasingly obvious that you were concerned about me. I started to feel comfortable with you, and safe." She wrapped her arms around my waist and gave me a soft squeeze. "The festival was a lot of fun. So was reading in the gardens."