Ariella (Princesses Uncovered #3)

Chapter 15

Ari waited until she had an unsupervised moment to slip out of the kitchen. It was her break period and she had about a half-hour. She was determined to use that half hour to find Tobias if she could.

It turned out to be easy. He was hanging around the kitchen hoping to see her too. As soon as she passed him, he dragged her down the hall into a closet in an empty room. Before she could say anything, his lips were pressed on hers, desperate and sweet.

She let him kiss her, kissing him back, and tasting the saltiness of his tears as he began to cry softly. She hugged him when he stopped kissing her. “Shh… Tobias, it’s okay. We’ll get through this.” She whispered.

He shook his head, wiping his tears away. “I’m sorry. I just… I thought I’d lost you. I should’ve known you’d come looking for me too.”

She smiled, running her fingers along his high cheekbones. “Tobias… Sometimes you can be such an idiot.”

He laughed softly, his tears gone. “I spent all last night worrying about you and about us. And it took me most of the day to realize that I didn’t have to obey my father and stay away from you. I figured you wouldn’t either, but when you didn’t show up… I thought maybe…”

She pressed her mouth to his again, stopping the flow of words. “You silly man… Of course I wouldn’t listen to your father about it. He’s a terrible judge of people, so far as I can tell. And I love you. I won’t let anything get in between me and you.” She whispered against his mouth.

He put his arms around her waist, leaning back a bit so that he could see her brilliant smile. “I love you too, Ari.”

She looked at his face for a long while. “I only have a half hour, Tobias, so make it last.”

He grinned. “I wouldn’t dream of doing otherwise.” And he brought her face to his again, his lips against hers.

***

When Ari returned to the kitchens, she felt lighter. She wasn’t going to lose Tobias.

The kitchen maid next to her noticed her improved mood. “Where’ve you been? Ya sulked ‘bout the kitchen all mornin’ long. Then ya come back in ‘ere lookin’ like a ray o’ pure sunshine is all glowin’ out o’ yur face an’ everythin’!”

Ari struggled to return her face to a somber, noncommittal mask, but a smile insisted on fighting its way to the surface. She turned away from the kitchen maid, focusing on stacking oysters onto a tray. “Oh, I just realized where my priorities lay. That’s all.”

“What’s that supposed tuh mean, eh?” The maid asked, her face scrunched up.

Ari shook her head, sending her hair rippling in waves along the side of her face. “Nothing. Nothing at all.”

The maid gave her a suspicious look, but said nothing further.

***

She and Tobias had agreed during their time in the closet that they would meet each other at the place where they had first met every three days at twelve pm. And so they had for the last two weeks.

Ari could hardly wait as she lay on her pallet trying to sleep some before she had to get up again. She glanced at the little sandglass that told the time. It ran out ever six hours. Just one more hour before twelve and she could be with Tobias again.

She hated that they had to sneak about in order to have time together, but that was how their lives had gone for the last two weeks since she became a kitchen maid. So far, they hadn’t been caught going out at night. It was much harder for Tobias to get away, of course. Ari wasn’t guarded. He was.