WITHIN FIFTEEN MINUTES of Wyatt's departure, Alice had picked out over forty different books. By the time she hit her tenth book, she no longer had the strength to heave them around with her. So instead, she found a quiet little corner tucked away from the rest of the library on the second floor, hidden behind a row of shelves. There, she had set the books down on the small square side table before continuing her journey in scouring for more books to read.
She wasn't confident that she could finish that many titles within the few hours Wyatt would be working, of course. Even though it was just past sundown and the night was still young, reading forty books within five hours was definitely not an accomplishable feat. However, Alice had picked out those books on the assumption that she could borrow them just like she had often done back in Riverside Creek's public library. Wyatt, after all, had affiliations with the royal palace and the crown prince himself. Surely they wouldn't mind missing a few books out of possible millions for a short two weeks?
On the shelf, a book with a leather-bound dusty rose cover caught Alice's eye. She pulled it from the shelf, her index finger resting on the shimmery silver letterings that carved out the title of the book. By the edges, flowers were drawn onto the cover in the same ink, decorating the book just enough to add life to it. The book was fiction, Alice was sure, for that was the shelf she had picked it out of. It was classified under fictional romance stories, a genre that Alice had a particular taste for.
'Beyond the Peony Field,' that was all the title read. The author's name couldn't be found anywhere on the cover.
It didn't reveal much of what the story could possibly be. Nevertheless, she flipped it open, scanning through the contents of the plot summary only to find none. This book, unlike the others she had picked out, contained pages that weren't yellowing yet, still fresh and pristine as if it had just emerged from under the author's pen. The ink in the book was still jet-black, fresh and not yet ruined by time. In the center of the page were two simple words, written just to reiterate the title. Below it was a single line of symbols — the same ones found on a deck of poker cards — that was filled in with red and black ink respectively.
'Peony Field.' That was all the page said. Then, beneath those two words came the symbols of hearts, clovers, diamonds, and lastly, spades.
Alice was about to flip the page to glance through the chapters before a voice spoke up, causing her to jump and accidentally drop the book.
"That's a unique book you've got there. I didn't think anyone would find it."
"Ah!" She gasped. The cover slipped from her fingers, hovering in the air for a split second before descending.
"Careful there." Dipping down swiftly, the man caught the book right before it hit the floor, holding it securely between his fingers before holding it out for Alice to take. "My apologies, Miss. I didn't mean to frighten you."
When Alice finally looked up at the man that had stepped a little too close towards her, she found herself face-to-face with a pair of mesmerizing blue eyes that seemed all too familiar. They were a startling shade of sapphire, bright and almost luminescent. The man's eyes were the first things that Alice noticed about him. Only after taking a step back to create some distance between the two of them had she realized he was the spitting image of the prince drawn in the portrait she had seen earlier by the staircase landing. With a head of raven hair, a pair of luminous eyes, and skin as pale as snow, the second prince seemed like art even in real life. The artist had indeed captured his ethereal details perfectly.
"Are you alright, Miss?" He asked, taking a step forward so that the distance Alice had created between them was now gone once more.
The man — no, the prince — wore a gleeful smile on his face that was seemingly innocent on the surface. However, having been on the receiving end of Wyatt's cheeky grins every single day, Alice had seen her fair share of smiles to discern the fakes from the sincere ones. The one on the second prince's face was almost mocking and bemused as if he was waiting to see how Alice would react if he pushed her buttons a little too far.
YOU ARE READING
A Courtyard of Roses
Historical Fiction"And what if you, too, are unable to help?" Alice threw the question back. "What if helping would risk everything?" Spade didn't miss a beat. "You are everything." "Don't say things that you don't mean," Alice chided. "You'll leave a trail of broken...
