Page 96 of Crowned By the Fae King

Cass kept up his exercise, too, taking an hour a day to fly so that he could burn off some of the emotional tension. Even when the breakers had to pack it in for the winter, we occasionally stayed up for a couple days at a time, using the nights to practice meditation or work on research. Because Cass' tolerance for courtliness was low and because physical movement worked so well to soothe both of us, we also got in the habit of going for a walk in the mornings and evenings, moseying through the woods for thirty minutes or so.

We usually had courtiers tagging along for those walks, but the rules were strict: no more than three other people could come, no talking unless you were pointing out interesting wildlife, and anyone who made themselves annoying was barred. People still came, of course; being near royalty looked good, even if you were there in silence, but at least we could mostly ignore them.

Every couple of days, Cass found a new way to leave me flowers, and never in person. Kat found me a vase, and my collection slowly grew: long sprigs of dried lavender, a purple iris made of colored glass, a slender stiletto dagger with an enameled hilt depicting a cluster of violets, a bearded iris cast in pewter, an ivory fan carved with wisteria, a spiky flower I didn't recognize made with amethyst petals. I even walked into the bathroom one morning to discover that an entire wall of the room had been replaced with a vertical garden laden with blooming orchids and some sort of little white star-shaped flower that smelled like honey.

I had no idea how to thank him. The couple times I brought it up, trying to express my gratitude, Cass told me I deserved far more than flowers, but that he was glad to have made me smile.

It got me thinking of how I might make him smile. Even though he was giving me flowers, I got the sense that Cass wasn't a particularly materialistic person. His hobbies were primarily movement-based, he didn't go in for fancy jewelry or clothes, and, if anything, he could use an escape from the endless luxury.

Escapes were in short supply. Even as we started to fill empty positions, we were short-staffed, and there was so much to be done. Nobody turned down our assistance, even when we had to be told what to do like children. Endless meetings, endless work…

He needs a vacation, I thought one evening, watching Cass methodically demolish dinner while reading through a sheaf of papers. Most of our days were like this, colocated and entirely absorbed with tasks. It was important, but he was important, too—we were. If we could only get a little time together… if there could be a way we could get our heads above the water, be alone and without any responsibilities for even an hour…

Well, why not? I thought, an idea starting to percolate. We have a schedule. I just have to figure out how to clear it.

Hot Springs

"Ready for our next appointment?" I asked Cass brightly, setting my hand on the wall to make a door.

Cass gave me a weary look. "You know how much I delight in architecture," he said drily, rolling one shoulder. "If we're lucky, maybe they'll spend the whole time arguing about drainage again, and I won't even have to try to say anything clever."

I grabbed my surprise out of the shadows and kept it out of his eyeline, fizzing with anticipation. "Maybe so," I said in a comforting voice. "If you're lucky, maybe you won't have to say anything kingly all day. You can just look pretty and I can admire you."

"If only," he grumbled, but he gave me a half-smile and tilted his head towards the door. "Let's go. No need to let the anticipation build."

I stepped through the dark doorway into a snowy glade. Pools of water steamed, the ground next to them bare of snow and all the nearby trees laden with ice from the mist. I looked up at Cass as he stepped through the doorway behind me, and grinned.

He frowned at me, looking puzzled. "Where are we? What is this?"

"We're about eighty miles north of the border with Stag Court, at what is identified on a map I found as Tazajah Hot Springs, and this," I said in a lilt, stepping backwards with my hands behind my back, "is a date."

His brows furrowed. "A date? But what about the meeting with the architects, and the one for the review of the granary stores, and that thing with the Serpent Court ambassador?"

"Handled." I did a little wiggle. "I called in Vad and Dani. The Archangels are on it. Your schedule is clear, your splendor."

"You're serious," he said with disbelieving hope, sounding like a prisoner who'd just been told he'd been pardoned.

"Very much so," I assured him. "You have no responsibilities until tonight's dinner with Kettekh. Cross my heart."

One corner of his mouth slanted up. "And you're taking me on a date."

"That's the plan," I said. The corners of my eyes crinkled as I grinned up at him. "Kingliness is forbidden for the rest of the day. It's you, me, some nudity, and…" I took my hands out from behind my back with a flourish, revealing an old-looking wine bottle and a pair of champagne flutes. "Bubbly goodness, for refreshment."

Cass breathed a laugh. Delighted disbelief roused like a flurry of butterflies, as effervescent as the champagne. "You remembered."

"I did. Memory like a steel trap." I walked backwards a few steps, luring him out into the snow and cold. It bit at me, colder than air had any right to be, but I didn't shiver. I had Cass. "Come on," I said with a teasing lilt. The fizzing pleasure behind my ribs approached giddiness. "No need to linger. It's fucking cold."

"Yet you expect me to get naked," he said, teasing me right back. He started unbuttoning his shirt as he sauntered across the open ground. "Don't you know that the cold does terrible things to a man's pride?"

That startled me into laughter. I couldn't seem to stop smiling, sunlit joy flooding my veins. I set the two glasses down on a flattish stone next to the hot spring and stuck the champagne in the snow next to it. "Does lovely things for a lady, though." I shrugged off my jacket and draped it across a branch. "Besides, you're the one who wanted a venue with nudity," I said, grinning at him. "Is it my fault it happens to be cold as a witch's tits out here?"

He shook his head, laughing at me. "Maybe I need an excuse to be naked," he said. He tugged off his doublet and hung it over a branch of his own. "Maybe I'm shy about my body."

I added my shirt and bra to the branch and started wiggling out of my pants. "I'm not."

He let out a breathy laugh. "I can see that."

Warmth coiled in my belly and tingled at the base of my spine. I bit my lip as my cheeks warmed, basking in the sensation of my soulmate wanting me. "I really like that," I said, a little shyly, stripping the rest of the way out of my clothes before looking back up at him.

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