“Oh, no! I’m supposed to be meeting Mistress Loralei for a lesson! I’ll see you later!” Jasper darted for the door, but only made it halfway across the library before he backtracked to the sofa where we’d been sitting. He scooped up Master Binx, stuffed him into the hidden pocket, gave me a final wave, and ran out the door.
Life at the Academy was going to be an adventure for him.
I almost felt sorry for his new teachers. They were going to have their hands full.
In the meantime, maybe I should go hunt down my prince. This longing wasn’t going away, and I needed to steal as much time with him as I could.
Chapter 33
My Prince
I didn’t get far from the library when a familiar voice called out behind me.
“There’s my precious one.”
Just as I was turning toward the speaker, arms wrapped my waist and a chin rested on my shoulder.
A low chuckle escaped me, and I shook my head. “Your brother might care a lot about you, but I don’t think he’s going to tolerate this kind of closeness, Prince Orian.”
The arms holding me stiffened for a heartbeat and then slid loose so Orian could move to stand in front of me. “How? My father struggles to tell us apart sometimes.”
It was only during a visit to Orian with Nylian that it had occurred to me they were supposed to be identical twins. “Supposed to be,” because I could tell them apart with a mere glance. How could I not? So much was different between them, from their voice tones to the tiny crinkles at the corners of their eyes when they smiled. There was even something different in the way they smelled.
While I’d been caught off guard at first, I’d known instantly who was holding me the second I’d felt those arms. The soft soap they both used smelled different on Nylian’s skin, and I’d always recognize it because of the number of times I’d buried my face in the warm crook of his throat.
“Ever been in love?”
Orian’s smirk shifted to something devilish and even that was off from Nylian’s. “I have loved a lot of people in my lifetime.”
“Not what I was talking about,” I muttered with a roll of my eyes. “I know with only a peek that it’s Nylian. It’s in his eyes and the way he looks at me with his whole heart. I can hear it in his voice, and the way his tongue wraps those two words: precious one. And I know it in his smell. He is heaven to me, and there’s no mistaking it. It’s too easy for me to tell you two apart.”
“Orian knows you can tell us apart. He’s just jealous,” Nylian declared as he walked up behind me. This time when arms closed around me, my entire body relaxed, knowing that I was being held by the one person in the world who could be this close to me. “My dear brother also knows that he will pray for poisoning if I catch him attempting to touch you again.” Nylian turned his face into the side of my head and kissed my earlobe. “And you need to stop finding new ways for me to love you more.”
“Has loving me become so painful?” I teased.
“This is becoming sickening for me,” Orian chimed in.
I turned my gaze to the elf brother and smiled, willing to put aside the silly flirting until I could get Nylian alone. “It’s good to see they released you from your imprisonment, Prince Orian.”
He snorted. “I’m still waiting to hear if I’ve been released permanently, or if this is a temporary reprieve for the special event.”
“Special event? What’s happening?”
Nylian let go of me so he could move to stand next to his brother. “We’ve been summoned before the king.”
“We as in, you two?”
“We as in us three,” he corrected.
“When? Crap. I need to make sure I have something proper to wear.” I tried to turn toward a nearby set of stairs, intending to return to my room to go through my new wardrobe. Jasper wasn’t the only one who’d been treated very well the past several days. I’d also received several visits from tailors, cobblers, glove makers, and more. The first of the new garments had arrived yesterday, but I wasn’t sure I had anything formal enough to be worn to see the king.
Nylian grabbed my hand and pulled me back. “The summons is for right now. We were coming to fetch you.”
“But—”
He stopped my arguments with a sharp kiss that was more teeth than anything, thanks to his wide grin. “You look perfect.”
Why did he have to say things like that? It made it so hard to argue with him, and that evil elf knew it.