Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 100553 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 503(@200wpm)___ 402(@250wpm)___ 335(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100553 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 503(@200wpm)___ 402(@250wpm)___ 335(@300wpm)
When I returned to the office, the doors were shut again.
Thomas approached me. “He said he’ll see you in the dining hall shortly.”
“Why can’t he just meet me in his study?”
He stared without giving an answer.
“Fine.” I escorted myself out and headed upstairs to the dining hall. It held a long table that could easily accommodate dozens of people when hosting a dinner party for fifty guests, not that we ever did.
My father wasn’t a dinner party kind of guy.
I sat there and waited, and the servants came to offer me coffee and tea sandwiches. At the head of the table, I looked out the window to the city below, the summer sun causing a haze far into the distance. Outside the city gates were the fields we used to grow food and raise livestock, but most of the citizens lived within the gates. Others who preferred the wide-open spaces took their chances on their own. I could stare at the view all day, admiring the way the world just dropped off into nothing past the edge of the city.
He finally arrived, in his black breeches with a dark blue tunic on top. His cape remained on his back, held by the chain around his neck, and the symbol of the kingdom was woven into the fabric on his chest. Slightly flustered with his hair a little messy, he didn’t look pleased to see me. “What is it, Ivory?”
“Nice to see you too, Father.”
He lowered himself into the chair beside me, his arms immediately moving to the table, the scars on his left cheek on display in the brightness coming from the window on the hot summer day. His dark hair was the same color as mine, and he had the same green eyes too. But that was the extent of our similarities. “I’m very busy, so please get on with it.”
“Grouchy today, aren’t we?”
He turned his cold stare on me, barely able to contain his impatience.
“One of the guards is following me everywhere I go.”
“That’s their job, Ivory.”
“No, no, no.” I shook my head. “This is different. He stares at me like…he wants to rip me apart, piece by piece.”
“Perhaps his countenance is simply set that way.”
“No, it’s not. I went into town to help Roran, and once I was done, he was there again. I went to confront him, but he disappeared. The guards don’t follow me into town, so this was unusual.”
“Has he touched you?”
“Well…no.”
“Has he spoken to you?”
I shook my head.
“He could have been in town for his own business.”
“On his watch?”
“Could have been moderating a dispute between the civilians. Could have been doing any number of things, Ivory. I’m glad that you’re aware of your surroundings as I’ve taught you, but you’re pulling at strands of wheat here.”
“I’m telling you—I’ve got a bad feeling about him.”
He gave a sigh as if this was a waste of time, but he would still humor me. “Which one is he?”
“I…I don’t know. He has blue eyes. I’d know him if I saw him.”
“Not giving me much to work with, Ivory.”
“He was stationed at the front door when I left this morning.”
“I’ll ask Thomas to look into it, then. I’ll let you know.”
“Alright.”
“But I think you’re being paranoid.”
I shrugged. “I’d rather be paranoid than dead, right?”
After a long stare, he gave a subtle nod. He rose to his feet. “I must attend to business.”
“You can’t stay for lunch?”
He left without looking back. “I’m afraid not.”
I lay on the bed with the sheets pulled to my shoulder. The lamp on my nightstand was on, and the windows to my bedroom were open so the mild breeze could dissipate all the heat we’d just produced.
Quinn sat on the couch and secured his boots in place before he tightened them by the laces. Shirtless with his hair a mess, he still had a shine of sweat on his skin. A patch of dark hair was in the center of his hard chest. “Ivory?”
My eyes opened, and I realized I’d already dozed off. With a sigh, I pushed my hair out of my face and got out of bed. My robe was at the foot of the bed, so I pulled it on and wrapped myself up in the silk.
Quinn stopped focusing on his boots to stare.
“I’ll check if the coast is clear.”
“Ivory.” He got to his feet, the top of his breeches undone, showing the line of hair that went down and disappeared underneath the fabric.
I walked up to him, my head tilted back to meet his gaze.
“I don’t want to do this anymore.” His deep voice remained quiet, as if he was afraid a guard was right against the front door, listening.
“You’re right. It’s too risky.” My father hadn’t addressed my concerns about the mysterious guard with the blue eyes, and if he was watching me as intently as I believed, he would discover my affair. I might have to face some consequences, a really scalding lecture from my father, but Quinn would be beheaded right in the town square. “I haven’t seen that guard I told you about, but I’m sure he’s around.”