Page 89 of Acedia

I hadn’t known what I’d been giving up when I gave him up, and now I was in love with him and I had no idea what to do about it.

Then again, maybe I didn’t need to worry about it right this second. Things were going well. I could just…go with the flow, as they say. Focus on the present. Not worry about the future.

I could do that. I could bechill. I wouldsochill.

“I need to go make arrangements for the first feeding trip back to the human realm,” Damen whispered, gently rolling me off his chest and back to my side of the bed before tucking the blankets in tightly around me. “I’ll open the outside door for Tilly. Keep sleeping, princess.”

“Okay,” I mumbled into the pillow, burrowing down further in the blankets to ward off the chill without Damen’s body wrapped around me.

I gave up on sleeping not long after he left, climbing out of bed to get ready for the day. The process was much more seamless since he’d rearranged my room and had the drapes taken off the bed. There was a little flutter in my chest every time I reached out and found them gone, followed by a slightly panicky feeling because being in love was a lot more frightening than I predicted it would be.

Relax, I reminded myself.You’re going to relax. You’re focusing on the present. You’re enjoying this moment.

“Knock, knock,” Hela called, bustling in with my breakfast. “You’ve got visitors. I’ll return downstairs for more tea and food.”

“Oh, you don’t have to do that,” Cora said hurriedly. “We don’t want to put you out. It’s Cora, Iris. And Jade is here too. Have we caught you at a bad time? We can come back later—”

“Not at all. Please, sit. There are enough floor cushions for all of us, right?”

“There are,” Hela agreed in a no-nonsense voice. “And I’ll be back shortly with more breakfast.”

I made my way over, hearing them sit down, and Cora immediately guided me to the free cushion. Tilly wriggled between me and her, resting her jaw on my leg, sniffing wildly in the direction of the breakfast tray.

“You’ve become very spoiled since we’ve moved here,” I told her with mock sternness.

“There’s a little bowl of plain meat over here,” Jade said, tapping the side with her nail. “Is this for Tilly?”

“Probably,” I admitted ruefully. “She’s quite the pampered princess now. Would you mind setting it down on the floor for her?”

“No problem,” Jade replied. Tilly’s head vanished from my leg like it had never been there as she clumsily rushed behind me to get to her prize.

“What brings you to the palace so early this morning?” I asked as Hela quietly set down a second tray of items and excused herself.

“We camebecauseit was early,” Jade replied. “I’m trying to get out and explore more. Get used to the place, you know? But I find it easier to do when the corridors aren’t crowded.”

“Very understandable,” I said sympathetically. For the most part, I preferred the hustle and bustle because it was so different from the silence of the attic. But I understood that we all handled change differently, and I could absolutely understand how it might be overwhelming.

“We were wondering whether or not to visit,” Cora began, her voice deceptively light. “We suspected you might be awake since you already had a visitor this morning.”

Jade laughed. “Don’t be coy, Cora. Iris, we saw the prince leaving your room this morning. Or at least leaving the corridor, and apparently you’re the only one staying down here.”

My face felt unusually warm. “Yes. Damen stayed here last night.”

“Get it, girl,” Cora replied, impressed. “You’re courting the prince?”

“Umm.” My cheeks grew even hotter. Someone whistled, probably Jade. “He’s my… boyfriend? I don’t know if that means we’re courting or not. He proposed quite early on when I moved here.” I swallowed thickly. “I said no.”

“Badass,” Jade muttered.

“Why?” Cora asked curiously. “I mean, it seems like you like him at least a little bit if you’re having sleepovers.”

“I like him a lot.A lot. At the time, marriage felt like a bit too much of a leap to take—we’d just met.”

“Yeah, rookie move proposing right away,” Jade agreed, which did make me feel slightly better about saying no. I hadn’t brought the topic up with the others because I was worried that I’d acted strangely with no frame of reference to go by, and they would think less of me for it.

“Romantic, though,” Cora sighed.

Jade snorted. “Let’s not normalize proposing to strangers.”

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