Page 6 of Beautiful Beast

CHAPTER THREE

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KATALENA

Prince Andaros came forward with a smile. He didn’t ask permission to climb the stairs and approach me, which was my own fault. If I hadn’t needed to fetch the ingredients from Taia, I would have been on time and had a shred more control over the interaction taking place.

He took my hand and gallantly kissed the back of it. “It is wonderful to finally meet you, Princess Katalena. The reports of your beauty were not exaggerated.”

I held in my sigh. “Thank you.”

His eyes flickered over my visible skin, noticing the absence of my wedding marks. “I’m sure you have much to attend to before tomorrow, so we won’t keep you. Forgive me, I very much wanted to meet my bride before we reached the altar.”

Somewhere I found a smile. I wasn’t sure how to respond, because if the truth were told, I hadn’t wanted to meet him. Could have pushed it off as long as possible. But here we were. “I appreciate your thoughtfulness.”

Andaros smiled, but something simmered in his eyes. “Your father has indulged my whims long enough, I think. I too have things to prepare.” Then he smiled wider, speaking more to the rest of the room than to me. “I wouldn’t want to keep my bride up late. I want her well rested.”

My cheeks heated at the chuckles rolling through the room. I knew exactly why he wanted me rested, despite my father’s and the rest of the court’s efforts to hide it from me or obscure reality. It was the reason I’d gone to Taia in desperation.

I bowed again. “Then I shall not keep you, my lord.”

The way he bowed before me, so deep he was nearly bent in half, sent more whispers running through the room before Andaros strode for the exit, his father and retinue in tow.

The doors to the throne room closed behind them with an echoing boom.

Pressing my lips together, I turned to face my father, who silently seethed even as he addressed the court. “We look forward to the festivities tomorrow. Court is dismissed.”

The volume rose in the room, courtiers chatting as they departed. My father summoned me closer with a subtle shift of his finger. “I don’t know what you were doing today, nor do I care.”

“I was?—”

“Do not lie again. I know you were not in the garden. Whatever thing you told yourself was more important than this, it is your last act of defiance, understood? King Edwan was nearly beside himself. You are lucky this little introduction went as well as it did.”

I said nothing. It didn’t matter, because he wouldn’t listen anyway.

“You will not be late tomorrow, Katalena. Do I need to send guards to monitor you in your chamber?”

“No, Father.”

He stared me down, assessing if I was telling the truth or not. I was. Despite my dread, I knew there was no way to avoid tomorrow, and I would not be late. The only thing he was wrong about was today being my last act of defiance. I would do what I could, no matter where I lived and no matter whose bed I slept in.

Finally, he nodded once. “Then get on with it. See to your preparations. And make no mistake, there will be guards to escort you at the proper time. You will be there.”

“Yes, Father.”

Silence hung between us, and in these rare moments, I sometimes imagined he wanted to say more to me. It felt like he wanted to say something more. Possibly something more fatherly and closer to the man he’d been when I was a child and my mother was still alive.

But he said nothing, instead looking away in dismissal. I took that as my cue and returned through the door I entered, relieved I wouldn’t be stuck in the throne room for hours entertaining the Craisos delegation.

My guards fell in with me, only to be stopped by a word. “Princess.”

Prince Andaros leaned against the wall in the dim hall, arms crossed, looking at me far more openly than he had in the throne room.

“Prince.”

“I wished to speak to you without the audience.” He looked pointedly at the guards at my side.

I allowed a faint smile. “I do believe it would be improper to speak to you alone before our wedding, Your Highness.”

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