Page 33 of Bride of the Midnight Prince

“You’re back!” she cries, and sweeps a hasty, awkward bow. “Would you like a towel?”

“Please.” I sit cross-legged on a cushion beside the table and toss my wet shirt at the girl. She catches it—at least she’s somewhat coordinated—and takes it to the bathing chamber. When she returns, she has a thick towel in her arms. She holds it out to me, hiding behind it like it’s a wall between us.

There’s no chance she is a spy.

I take the towel, hiding my smirk, and dry myself. When I hand it back to her, she blinks rapidly, averting her gaze from my chest. I sigh. Has she never seen a man’s torso before? I turn that thought over. Actually, she probably hasn’t. Humans are far more modest than we are.

“I’ve got your clothes!” Nat cries desperately, pointing at them laid out on the bed. “What else can I do for you?”

She wants me to leave the breakfast I’m serving myself, which grows colder by the second, so I can dress? Am I not allowed to eat while shirtless, as my comfort dictates?

I study her. She wrings her hands anxiously, shifting her weight between her feet. Her face is bright red by now, hiding her freckles. The longer I study her, the more she squirms and avoids my gaze.

I might pity her and relent––if she wasn’t actively trying to deceive me.

I know you’re a woman,I say to her in my mind as I hold her gaze. She won’t look at me.And you’re going to tell me the reason behind this disguise.

She looks so miserable that I’m tempted once more to relent. Instead, I push harder. “Come sit beside me.”

“No, Master!” she blurts back. When I raise my brow, her lips part as she realizes what she’s done. If she were a slave in the Nothril Court, she would already be dead. She tries to recover herself. “That is, if you would like me to, I will. But I wish to serve you! How may I serve you?”

“You can serve me by sitting beside me while I eat,” I reply coolly.

She looks like she is racking her mind for any excuse to keep from obeying. In the end, a muscle jerks in her neck, and she plops down on the ground three paces from me. She’s so far away she’s not even sitting at the table.

An inkling of impatience rises in my chest. My words come out firm. “Come closer. I won’t bite you. If you’re to serve me, you must overcome that hesitancy written on your face. Come. Closer.”

She scoots forward. Not enough. I narrow my gaze at her. She scoots one more inch and then stares stubbornly back at me.

She wants to test me? Very well. I’ll test her back. I take a swig of hot tea and return the teacup to its saucer. “If I threatened to punish you, would you obey me then?”

She has already planted herself at the table before I finish speaking, every visible inch of her skin a bright, flaming red.

My lip curls in amusement. “Good.”

She sits still, a slight shiver working down her spine. She looks at the cushion she sits on—avoiding my gaze.

I eat slowly and watch her. She chews her bottom lip.Trying to decide if she should break the silence. I let the silence linger, curious to see what she might do or say to relieve her own discomfort. She’s not difficult to read, and I watch as she waffles back and forth between keeping her mouth shut and saying something.

After several minutes, I decide to put her out of her misery. It’s time to get her storyout of her. “Tell me about yourself.”

“Myself?” she blurts.

“You showed up dirty in ill-fitting clothes and said you’d been promised a job. And then we find you’re not as skilled as your sister supposedly said.”

“I will work on my skills!” she insists quickly. “I will master everything! Just please give me time. I will do it.”

I take another sip of tea. It’s not good, but it’s not bad either. “Did I say I wasn’t going to give you time?”

“Well—”

“You’re talkative for a young boy,” I interrupt, taking care not to let a single shred of my enjoyment show on my face. “If you work elsewhere after working for me, you might consider talking less.”

She swallows hard and says determinedly, “I will talk less.”

I am forced to wipe my mouth to cover the way a smile almost breaks free of my control. This is too easy. It is a good thing I have the Ivy Mask to challenge me. I clear my throat and put down the napkin. “I don’t mind. But other masters might, so I tell you. Now, tell me about yourself.”

She draws in a deep breath, bracing her shoulders. I lean back, more than ready to witness this phenomenon of a human lying without consequence.

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