Page 44 of Heart of Winter
“Leif,” Tessa said, and at another time, Oliver might have laughed at the way the prince’s gaze snapped up to her. He was so tired he hadn’t even made note of her presence yet. “Birger says that Rune should make a full recovery. I’m very glad to hear it.”
Leif’s smile was an unsteady, painful thing, only a flicker, and then gone again. “That’s what Olaf says.”
“You must be so tired if you sat up with him all night. I’m so sorry.”
Another fleeting smile, this one even less steady. “Thanks.”
“I’ll go and get you some tea.”
Leif’s gaze followed her a moment, exhausted, wistful – hopeless – and then dropped to his plate again.
Oliver knew well the expression of a man who realized he was not the apple of an intended lover’s eye. It was yet another face he’d met in the mirror oftener than he ought to have.
~*~
“Ollie, I’m worried.”
Tessa expected his response, that dismissive little half-wave that was totally undermined by the pink in his cheeks and the glassy gaze. His movements weren’t as crisp as normal, he’d barely touched his breakfast, and when she’d pressed her fingers to his neck earlier, she’d found his skin over-warm.
“I’m fine,” he said.
“We’ve got to stop using that word so much,” she muttered.
“What was that?”
He wasn’t keeping up with conversation very well, either; she added that to her mental checklist. He might have caught a cold traipsing through the snow last night – or, she feared, his marsh fever might be flaring up.
“Nothing,” she said. They were climbing the grand stairs, and a darted look showed that Oliver was gripping the bannister tight, his brow furrowed. “I’m off to see Rune. Do you want to come?”
“No. I think I’ll – do some more reading. Maybe.”
Oh, he reallywasn’twell. She wanted to march him back to his chamber and force him into bed. Amelia could have done so, but Tessa doubted her own forcefulness.
“We can meet up for lunch later, then.”
“Sure.”
She watched him go into the library and lingered at the threshold, biting her lip, searching for further signs of weakness. He went straight to a shelf, as if familiar with it, and hovered a fingertip over the spines there, choosing a book.
With a sigh, she resigned herself to the fact that she could do nothing for him until he needed her help, and continued on.
The royal apartments were on the third floor, the same as her own room, but it was only now, as she passed her door, that she questioned the placement of their guest chambers. They were only just down the hall from where the king and his family slept, and that struck her as strange. At Drake Hold, guests were always housed in a separate wing, clear on the other side of the manor. Here, though, she passed their chambers, and through an open set of double doors flanked by guards who nodded pleasantly at her, and entered a wide chamber with a vaulted ceiling, and hallways branching off from it on three sides.
For all of its soaring ceilings and formidable stone walls, it was a cozy space, full of Southern sofas and armchairs, a fire crackling in a massive fireplace carved with wolves and reindeer. The tapestries on the walls were ornate and richly-detailed, scenes full of many people, all of which would require a closer inspection to understand, though the one above the fireplace clearly showed a coronation of some sort, a dark-headed man kneeling as a crown was placed on his head. There were bookshelves, and a table full of cups and decanters, pegs that held cloaks. She spotted a pair of boots by the hearth, and an open book on a tufted footstool. An abandoned mug on a side table; a small knife and a piece of half-finished whittling on another.
The branching hallways led doubtless to private chambers, bedrooms and wash rooms, but this was the place where the royal family spent cold evenings, reading together, sharing a drink, talking freely, out from under the scrutiny of court. Here they could truly be a family, and not a king, and a lady, and two princes.
Tessa felt suddenly that she was intruding.
But then Revna appeared at the mouth of one hallway, and smiled in welcome. “There you are. Right as rain this morning. Feeling better?”
“Much, thank you. Astrid’s been wonderful.”
“Glad to hear it. Are you here to see the patient?” Her smile took on a mischievous glint that reminded Tessa of Rune. “He’s past ready to be gallant and beg your forgiveness.”
“Oh, that won’t be–”
“Hush now. It’s high time my son learned to beg properly.” She held out a hand. “Come on, he’s just had breakfast.”
