A Beast's Tale

Chapter 10

“Good morning, Prince Chevalier,” she called the next morning at nine o’clock, as usual. “It looks like the weather’s going to be perfect for Rhodolite Foundation Day. Are you planning on attending the festivities?”

I pushed back the covers and stretched, watching her go to my bureau and start pulling clothes out of the drawers. This was new.

“Why would I do that?” I muttered sleepily.

“Oh, I don’t know, maybe just to have some fun, your highness.” She dropped the clothes on the bench at the foot of my bed as I sat up, rubbing my eyes.

“You and I have very different views of fun, it seems,” I said coolly.

“But of course. I’ll be back with your breakfast, your highness.”

I got out of bed, picking up the clothes on my way to the bathroom. She had found yet another way to improve her efficiency. And I didn’t mind her chatter at all. If this was to be part of our routine, I approved.

She had set the desk with breakfast and was making the bed when I finished up in the bathroom. I went to the desk, and she went to the bathroom. An added benefit of this pattern was the limited amount of time we spent in the same room. It was much easier to handle her if I wasn’t looking at her.

If I went to the festival today, she would be left alone here at the palace. Nokto never went. And he was far too interested in her for my liking.

“Are you going to the festival?” I asked when she emerged from the bathroom, turning in my chair to look at her.

“No, I’m not, your highness.” She stood still for just a moment, gauging me. All she had left to do was collect the dishes in front of me, and she had no reason to trust me. That wariness would work in her favor to keep her safe, whether out on the streets or alone in the palace. Maybe I didn’t have to worry about her so much.

“Because of your mother?”

“Partly,” she said, walking over to me. “I could go after I get her settled, but festivals aren’t much fun alone, and it’s not really safe for me to wander around at night, anyway.” Her green eyes were careful not to meet mine as she stacked the dirty dishes on the tray. “There will still be plenty to see on my walk home.” She headed for the door with the tray, but when her hand touched the doorknob, she hesitated. There was something she wanted to ask. She was probably debating if she should do so now or later.

“Now would be better,” I said, my curiosity piqued.

She sighed, and then she turned back to me. “Prince Chevalier, did you pay my mother’s doctor’s bill?”

“What reason would I have to do such a thing?” I scoffed. The weekly doctor's visit must have been last night. I should have known it would do no good to advise the doctor to keep my name out of it. She was too clever. And I saw the confirmation on her face. She hadn’t known for sure before, but now she did.

“I couldn’t presume to say, your highness, but thank you,” she said genuinely. “And please, don’t do that again,” she added quietly. She opened the door and left.

I had no intention of doing it again, but her pride was another interesting facet of her personality. Whatever she had, she worked for it, and she didn’t want any charity. A respectable, but potentially foolish, aspect of her. If I hadn’t paid that bill, she would have been in debt for the rest of her life. Depending upon how long her mother continued to cling to life, she may still end up with that fate.

She hadn’t made it far down the hallway when I left my room, and Leon was coming from the opposite direction.

“Hey, Ivetta!” he called cheerfully and with irritating familiarity. She stopped and turned around, her eyes meeting his, and he broke out into an easy smile.

“Good morning, Prince Leon,” she said politely.

“Ready to go to the festival?” he asked, passing me without so much as a glance. She met my gaze briefly, but Leon tousled her hair to get my attention.

“Prince Leon, you’re messing up my hair,” she protested, bracing the tray against herself with one hand so she could use the other to swat him away.

“It didn’t bother you last night,” he grinned.

Last night? What happened last night?

“I wasn’t at work last night, your highness. And in case you haven’t noticed, I am at work now, and I won’t be going anywhere,” she replied, trying her best to smooth her hair with one hand.

“You’re too serious, Ivetta.” He reached his hand toward her again teasingly, and she took a step back.

“No,” she said firmly, her free hand blocking his. “I’ve got to get back to work, Prince Leon.”

I started walking, needing to escape this. Leon may be a flirt, but he wouldn’t push the envelope like Nokto or Jin. And if I stayed any longer, we may be in for a fight.

Leon sighed. “You taking Ivetta to the festival today?” he called after me.

I stopped and turned back, flashing him a glare. “No,” I said flatly. “And neither are you.”

“There, now you’ve heard it from me, and you’ve heard it from him. If you’ll excuse me, your highness, I’ll be going,” Ivetta said. She started walking, avoiding my gaze.

“You normally go for an hour or so, anyway, Chevalier,” Leon said, crossing his arms over his chest. “Give the lady a break for a change.”

“If you want to booze and dance the day away, that is your affair,” I said condescendingly. “I have better things to do with my time.”

“Like torture Ivetta?” His voice had descended into an angry growl, and her footsteps stopped behind me.

What had she told him?

“You’re wasting my time,” I responded with distinct annoyance.

“What kind of game are you playing with her, anyway?”

“Stop that,” she snapped. I turned slightly to see her, and her green eyes were flashing at us. “The only torture I’m enduring is listening to this conversation. I took this job of my own free will, and nobody is forcing me to do anything. So go to the festival, Prince Leon, and have a good time, and stop worrying about me.”

Leon’s amber eyes met hers and narrowed even further. She shook her head in disgust and turned to go, walking much more briskly than usual.

“I believe you heard her,” I said mockingly, more than a little satisfied by her response.

“Yeah, I heard her,” Leon muttered. “But I don’t trust you. If you do anything, anything to hurt her, you’ll have to answer to me.”

I didn’t dignify that with a response, turning on my heel and heading for my library. As it was a national holiday, there would be no work today, and many of my brothers would be out enjoying the festivities. I intended to take full advantage of the peace and quiet.

What had she been doing out last night? The possibility of her running into Yves and Licht on her way home hadn’t really bothered me. They were harmless enough. But the thought of her wandering the streets alone at night was upsetting. It was actually a relief that she ended up meeting Leon. Now he was hooked on her as much as everybody else, but she would come to no harm when he was around.

I’d have to talk to her about it. She’d said it wasn’t safe for her to be out at night alone. Why would she take such a foolish risk?

My book awaited me on the end table next to my chair, and I picked it up and opened it as I sat down. She probably wouldn’t be long in appearing. Ever since our first encounter, her habit was to clean in my library during the mornings before I arrived, and then spend the afternoons in the main library. A sensible arrangement, although she worked too quietly for me to complain that her noise was disturbing my reading. It was more for her benefit to avoid me as much as possible.

“Prince Chevalier, what are you doing here?” she asked when she walked in, too surprised to see me to think through her words.

“I don’t answer to Black, and I certainly don’t answer to a foolish little maid,” I said, looking up at her. “What happened to not walking around alone at night?”

She sighed and bit her lip lightly. “It was a mistake, your highness. I couldn’t sleep, and I wandered a bit further than I had intended - but not through the red-light district,” she added quickly as my eyes narrowed. “I’m not that careless. Although meeting an incognito prince was not on my list of things to watch out for.”

I smirked. Leon’s habit of sneaking out of the palace without any of his royal trappings was infamous. I couldn’t see the appeal in pretending to be a commoner, let alone mingling with them, but he thoroughly enjoyed both. Her surprise when she saw him was understandable.

“How long did your little rendezvous last?”

“It wasn’t a rendezvous, Prince Chevalier,” she protested, blushing. “He was as surprised to see me as I was to see him. We talked a little, and then he walked me home. End of story.”

“Except the story did not end there. It continued to my being accosted in the hallway outside my room by a love struck i***t,” I said bitingly.

Her blush deepened. “I don’t think that’s the case at all, your highness. It’s no secret that you and Prince Leon don’t get along, and you do have a history of violence. Prince Leon was just worried about me, that’s all. And he clearly didn’t believe me when I told him there was nothing to worry about.”

Either she hadn’t recognized Leon’s flirting for what it was, or she wasn’t interested, but she was obviously getting frustrated with this conversation. She was tense, her green eyes full of obvious irritation, her cheeks rosy with embarrassment.

“Prince Chevalier, I know I’ve probably said too much, and I know it’s not my place to end a conversation with you, but I’d really like to drop this and get back to work.”

Every vivid expression of hers was frustratingly attractive.

“And if I refuse?”

She pursed her lips. “Then I’ll continue to discuss whatever you would like, your highness.”

It was tempting to keep her here, keep her talking. But such an endeavor would be useless, a waste of time. And potentially dangerous.

“Today is a national holiday, so I will not be working,” I said flatly, answering the question she’d accidentally asked earlier. “You are dismissed.”

“Thank you, your highness. I usually clean in here during the morning. Will that be okay, or would you rather I stay in the main library?” She had her tone back under control and spoke calmly, as if this were the start of our conversation, not the end.

“Do what you like,” I said dismissively, turning back to my book.

“Yes, your highness.”

I should have told her to stay in the main library. It was unusually hard to concentrate on reading with her near, but I kept my eyes glued to the pages, and I didn’t speak to her. Finally, noon came, and she left for lunch.

If I didn’t go to the festival, I’d miss out on the bookstall. There was usually a good selection of foreign and rare titles there. And it would be good for me to get away from her. I put my book down and got up at about fifteen past, heading for my own lunch. A slight movement caught my attention from the corner of my eye as I crossed the library. She was sitting in the alcove reading, her shoes on the floor beside her, her knees tucked up in front of her and to the side so she was angled toward the window. I’d guessed she spent her lunch breaks reading there, but there was something very charming about seeing it for myself. She looked like she belonged there. I smiled to myself and left.

But I couldn’t stop thinking of her over lunch. I felt a strange pang of guilt, realizing how much she would enjoy the festival, in particular, the bookstall. As long as I kept her here, she wouldn’t get to see any of it, except in passing on her way home. Would it really be so much trouble to take her with me? It wouldn’t be for long, maybe an hour, certainly no more than two. I could handle her presence for that long.

She was still reading a little after one o’clock, completely immersed in the story. I stood over her, trying not to pay too much attention to the extra few inches of thigh exposed by her skirt due to her position. If I couldn’t control myself now, then I had no business taking her to the festival. I poked her in the forehead. She looked up, startled.

“Your lunch break is over,” I said condescendingly, smirking at her surprise.

“Oh, sorry, Prince Chevalier. I just got to the climax.” She closed the book and slid her shapely legs back down to the floor, reaching over to get her shoes. This would be harder than I thought.

“Do you want to go to the festival?”

She looked up at me quickly, trying to judge if my question was genuine. I wasn’t smirking anymore, careful to hide any evidence of interest.

“I’d better get back to work, your highness,” she said carefully, looking back down to finish getting her shoes on.

“Answer the question.”

This time, she didn’t look up. “If it wouldn’t be too much trouble, I would like to go, Prince Chevalier,” she said quietly.

“Then come.”

I turned to go, not waiting for a response. She would follow. She was always obedient. I led her through the palace to the front gates, where we boarded a carriage, sitting across from each other. Her hands wrung nervously in her lap as she kept her eyes fixed on the view outside. Our proximity in this enclosed space was undoubtedly frightening her, and, though that helped to temper any unruly thoughts I was having, her fear was unnecessary. She nearly jumped out of her skin when I reached over and caught her chin, turning her to face me.

“I’m not going to eat you,” I said quietly, unable to restrain a teasing smirk. “A little dove like you would hardly be worth the effort.”

She swallowed hard and pushed my hand away. “Sorry, your highness. I’ll try to relax.”

“Do that,” I said, leaning back in my seat. “I don’t need Black on my case again.”

That brought a small smile to her face. “No, of course not, your highness. And I don’t want him following me around all the time, either.”

This was already worth it, if only for that smile. She’d never genuinely smiled for me before, only for others. The rest of the carriage ride was silent, but she was much more comfortable.