Series: Willow Winters
Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 72146 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 361(@200wpm)___ 289(@250wpm)___ 240(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72146 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 361(@200wpm)___ 289(@250wpm)___ 240(@300wpm)
I make a point of eating as normally as I can. Something must be done tonight. I must speak with the man in the shadows tonight. But if I appear to be ill, or tormented by a problem I will not speak about, the maidens will hover. The entire castle is already aware that plans for me to be wed are proceeding at a faster pace than they ever have, though no formal offer has been made.
It’s up to me to settle this. It was my choice to complicate matters, and it brings me some relief that I am the only one who can settle them.
For now.
That’s why it must be tonight, I decide at dinner. If I’m pregnant—
I quickly push that thought away. I do not know yet if I am pregnant. I could just as easily not be pregnant, and then I will have worried myself for nothing. Tonight is not about a possible child, it is about my possible future and being honest with all involved about which path I will take.
If the prince will have me, once he knows everything.
I think he will.
I hope he will.
I am thinking about him when I hear my father mention the prince.
“What did you say, Father?”
He blinks at me, looking away from his conversation with a nobleman who has taken the prince’s seat at his right hand for this evening’s dinner. “Pardon me, Cora?”
“What did you say about the prince? I thought I heard—” I blush, hoping to seem like a young woman with a crush on a handsome man and not a woman hiding a secret lover and a secret encounter with said prince. “I thought I heard you mention him.”
“No, daughter. I was telling Sir Davin about Prince Nathaniel from one of the western kingdoms and the dilemma he’s caused.”
“My apologies, Father. I shouldn’t have interrupted. I’ll excuse myself now.”
The two men at the table stand when I do. I bow my head in respect and take my leave. Alice and Blanche are at my side as soon as I step out of the great hall.
“I’ll retire early tonight,” I say, and I see them exchange worried looks out of the corner of my eye. “I am well. I just need to rest.”
Judging by their expressions and lack of further questions, they don’t believe a word I’ve said. Not only am I a liar, I’m a poor liar.
They fuss over me for quite some time. It is truly too early to go to bed—the sun has not even come close to setting—but I need silence to be able to think. I let them help me change for bed, then pace in slow circles around my rooms.
I have plenty of time before the man in the shadows arrives. He will not come to me before the sun has set—I know that for sure.
It seems as though I pace forever. I cannot focus on a book long enough for the time to pass. I try to write letters, but those, too, will not stick in my mind long enough to finish one. I try a few sketches, but lose my sense of what I am attempting to draw.
The sun sets more slowly than I’ve ever seen it.
Afterward, the castle seems to take even longer to quiet. It seems as if they are trying to draw me out with this noise or that one, and I admit that I am tempted, several times, to go out into the halls and find out what has caused so much chatter.
But it is only my mind trying to distract me. I am sure it is simply everyone enjoying the longer days. There will be a festival for the solstice soon, and as it gets closer, people get into a lighter mood. Usually I am one of them, but this year, there are too many situations at hand.
Situations that I have created.
This is what it feels like to be in control of my life, I suppose. It is exhilarating at first, and a woman could become intoxicated by that feeling.
But there are always consequences. Even if you are a princess.
This time, I go to the balcony as soon as it is dark out and wait there. I will not go to my bed. I will not fall asleep.
I wait for him for quite some time, but then there are footsteps inside my rooms.
I go in to find him already there, in the far corner. The first question that springs to my mind is how did you get in here?
He could have walked in through the door. He could have known I would try to find him on the balcony and walked in from the hall.
Were there enough shadows to stay hidden?
These are not the questions that most need to be answered. The shock doesn’t last long. My heart races and I swallow thickly knowing what must be done.