Page 29 of The Princess's Chosen

10

Bryony

It occurred to me as I searched for him, that I didn't really know where Daniel had set himself up in the palace. Lady Prudence had a lovely suite I'd helped her pick out that overlooked the lake, but as I wandered the halls, I realized I had no idea where Daniel spent his days in the palace.

"Are you lost, Your Highness?"

I glanced behind me and found the young maid, Delilah, watching me from a sitting room doorway, her arms full of logs. It was getting cooler out, the temperature drop slowly finding its way into the palace, and I noticed recently that there was always a fire in my bedroom and sitting room by the time I woke. It wasn't entirely necessary, since I was usually nestled between a pair of human furnaces.

"A bit. Do you know where I might find Mr. Farraque?" I asked, offering her a smile. She shouldn't really have spoken to me, but I wasn't fond of the tradition of overlooking my staff.

"Oh! Yes, I think so. He tried to take a room in the servants' quarters, but we made him take a suite instead. He's in the east wing, just down at the very end of the next left hall," she said, taking three opportunities within her speech to curtsey.

My brows rose. Daniel had wanted a room with the servants?

"Thank you," I said, nodding my head and grinning as she started to bounce away before remembering I was meant to leave first.

I followed her directions into the east wing. I hadn't spent any time in this part of the palace, although Cosmo's studio was just one floor down. The evidence was apparent, some of the palace's new sheen of glamour and magic just a little duller in this wing, as if in all my adventures with my Chosen, we hadn't finished filling the building with the magic of the Hunger.

That's just more proof that Aric's overreacting, Cosmo voiced in my head, but I shook it away. I didn't want to think of Aric, of his anger or his absence. I especially didn't want to think of the clawing, snarling Hunger, or my throbbing headache that made me wince with every echoing step down the tile hallway floors. Rugs would be a great expense, but—

I nearly passed Daniel's door, even though it was hanging open. There was something very nondescript about the hall, so close to the servants' wing that it must've been saved for the less significant members of court. The dark oak door was parted, hanging into the room, and there was a soft shuffle of papers echoing inside. I found myself suddenly shy and aware of being alone, and then I glanced behind me.

I'd ordered Cresswell to take the day off and rest, but there was a glint of armor at the corner of the hall, a guard assigned to stay close but not crowd me.

If I thought of it, I could still remember the grip of Daniel's arm around my waist and the nervous pound of my heart in the moment where I wasn't sure how either of us would respond next. Now in the hall, the memory made my Hunger clench. I grunted out a soft complaint, hand resting against my side.

"Hello?"

Well, shit, I thought, my lips quirking at the realization that I was picking up some of Cosmo and Owen's language.

I stepped up to the door, pushing it further in and making a brief scan of the room—clean, but a little sparse, only one armchair near an unlit fireplace with a bare floor—until I found Daniel to the left, sitting behind a worn desk, another armchair in front it for any guest. He rose quickly, eyes only betraying his surprise for a moment.

"Your Highness, no one told me you needed to see me," he rushed, bowing low. Daniel was usually so impassive that it was reassuring to see him so obviously self-conscious, taking in his own space and starting to move around his desk.

"No, please sit. I am perfectly capable of coming to you," I said, moving to help myself to the spare chair at his desk. "I wanted to speak with you about Sam."

"I am looking for somewhere he might be sent," Daniel said, sinking back into his seat. "I can't decide if a sanatorium will do him any good."

"What? No! I only meant… He spoke to me just now in the library," I said, sitting up.

Daniel stiffened, hands clenching around stray papers on the desk. "He found you?"

"Found me? I wasn't in hiding."

Daniel cleared his throat, smoothing his pages and shaking his head. "I told him to keep away from you."

"That's not really necessary. He only wants an occupation," I said, shrugging and studying the man across from me.

I didn't understand Daniel for all the clues I had to work with. He was reticent, guarded, sometimes so expressionless he blended into the background, in spite of his otherwise imposing presence. But thereweresigns of life in him. His seduction in the training room had been more an act than genuine charm, but there were moments like this one when something appeared to be boiling just under the surface of that blank veneer.

"An occupation?" Daniel asked, words flat but gaze explosive.

"I suppose he doesn't have much to fill his mind that he'd like to dwell on, so it will have to be something that requires focus, but not much strength. Do you know if he's eating?" I asked.

Daniel's jaw worked briefly, short beard twitching with the words he must've been biting off. "I believe Prudence has taken on the role of mothering him, you needn't involve yourself. He shouldn't have bothered you at all."

"He didn'tbotherme," I said, frowning.Well, maybe a bit. "Honestly, with your sympathy for your school friend, I expected you to have some to spare for Sam too. We all saw the state he was in."

---