I Can't Eat Love

Part 3

"Your Highness."

I plastered a polite smile on my face, performing a perfect curtsy, but all the while my mind was racing, desperately trying to figure out how long he had been there, how much he had heard.

Even if I was planning to let the engagement be broken up like last time, I needed the three years to get my family back on track financially before that happened. If we broke up too soon... the debtors would come calling and my life would end very much like the first.

Fortunately, Ronan didn't seem upset or angry, he looked more bored than anything.

I let out a silent sigh of relief. He must not have heard the "temperamental child" comment I had made to my father. I wasn't too concerned If he had heard my blatant lies about the Queen managing accounts. He didn't know enough about how things worked in the palace to know if that was true or false.

"... We've come down to check out the horses." Ronan had been talking while I wasn't listening.

I blinked, realizing for the first time he wasn't alone. I was slightly shocked that I hadn't noticed the young man next to him, he stood a head taller than both myself and Ronan, with dark hair and eyes that contrasted with the prince's lighter coloring. Odder still, I came to the conclusion that I had never met him before, in this or the past lifetime.

Chastising myself, I was unsure if Ronan had introduced us properly while I wasn't listening, and if so, how I had responded. I could have performed a formal court greeting by sheer muscle memory, it wasn't outside the realm of possibility that I had done something odd.

Ronan's companion studied me with a curious expression, he stood neither too close or too far from the prince. Hopefully judging by his lack of confusion or disapproval, I had yet to humiliate myself.

Only 3 more years of keeping up this charade, and I'm already slipping. I must stay focused!

I forced myself to listen to Prince Ronan.

"The stupid stable master insists he is too wild to ride, but I think he is just too unskilled. If I were to ride him, he would be tamed in moments."

That at least provided me with the mental image of Ronan falling off his horse and injuring himself. My smile came much more naturally. "I'm sure your highness could manage even the wildest of horses. "

Ronan nodded distractedly, already losing interest now that he had finished his horse story. "Is Lady Edith here?"

Three. More. Years.

"No, Your Highness, I believe she is home today."

His gaze sharpened. "Is she ill?"

"Not that I know of." Years of royal court training kept my smile perfectly in place.

Ronan coughed, seeming to realize even with his denseness how out of place his question was. "I was just thinking, since you two are such close friends, if she was ill, you would be visiting her."

"Would I?" I could barely hear my voice.

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"Go to sleep." Angela tried to tuck me into bed, but I stubbornly refused, sweating profusely from the fever.

"No, with me being sick, surely someone will be by to visit?"

Her face was blank. "No one has come, miss."

"Prince Ronan? Edith? ... Mother?"

"No one."

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