Page 30 of Forbidden Noble
And now she was all covered up….he rubbed the back of his neck. “You can sleep as late as you want.”
She stood and glanced right past him like he was in the way and tilted her head as she peered into the open closet. “Is that another outfit?”
He stepped back and opened the door wider so she could see the ten or so new outfits hanging up. “The staff wants to see you in our house color it seems.”
She flitted past him and her pink silk robe floated behind her as she studied the options. “Olive green is an army color.”
He pushed his hand in his pocket. The last thing he’d do was make Clara feel guilty or beholden to wearing these things. “We take defense seriously around here. You can buy whatever color you want.”
She picked up a white-and-olive green striped skirt and a matching pattern button-down shirt with a peter pan collar. She wiggled into it as she said, “No, I’m happy to wear these. It makes me feel like I’m part of your life here.”
He zipped her skirt in the back as she worked on her front buttons. He said, “I’m not sure I want this life.”
She turned toward him and straightened a would-be wrinkle from his shirt. “Do you get a choice?”
He needed to breathe. He texted his staff to set up breakfast on the balcony. At least in the back there were green trees out of sight of the small town. “Not really. Are you ready to go outside?”
She held up one finger and ran into the bathroom as she said, “Give me two minutes, and what do you mean outside?”
She’d taken a shower in the middle of the night, so he knew she wouldn’t need long.
He placed his phone in his back pocket. “I’d like to have breakfast on the balcony overlooking the green woods behind the castle. We burn the trees down during times of war.”
She finished brushing her teeth and came to join him as she asked, “Seriously?”
He placed his hand on her back and opened the door for them. “It’s been our way for thousands of years.”
She stalled at the door and then closed it. She turned around and shook slightly as she said, “Astorre… maybe now isn’t a good time, but I’d like to see the library today.”
He lifted his palms. “I never want to go there. I’d rather lock the place up.”
She licked her lip but reached for his hands. “You don’t have to come in with me. I don’t want to make you. I’ve been walking through my own past that was always a blank slate to me, and honestly I didn’t live your life. So it’s easier for me, but I don't want to be afraid of a room.”
If seeing the library strengthened her, he wouldn't stop her.
He nodded. "I'm still not going in."
“Agreed, so I’d like to check it out. Also, why haven’t we seen more of your sister around?”
“Guess she’s giving us space.” Astorre hadn’t thought about Olivia’s presence as anything off, but he hadn’t stayed here much. Either way he opened the door and they headed into the hall. They were silent until they made it downstairs and Clara said, “Better to give me a minute and then we’ll have breakfast.”
His heart thundered in his chest, faster than a speeding train. She released his hand and reached for the door. "Wait," he said, despite how his pulse raced, “I’ll go.”
She held the door and shook her head, “You don’t-”
“I’m an adult," he said. "I wasn’t there that day.”
He walked inside the library. His mother was often hidden behind a stack of books just as there were stacks here today. His mother would have been reading as she always did that morning. Images of his mother wearing her glasses with a book in her hand besieged his mind. “It looks the same. Of course it's been cleaned up.”
Clara crossed her arms and walked right in the middle, spinning to face him with an empathetic smile. “It’s just a room, Astorre.”
Another memory of his mom reading a story to him while he was in bed rocked him. He placed his hands in his pockets and wished he could disappear into a wall. Love had transformed his father into a traitor and killer when he’d been exposed. Love had been why his quiet mother had died. He said quietly, “But I still miss my mother.”
Clara crossed the small room to check out the first bookshelf. “At least you knew her, and you know she loved you. I didn’t have that, until yesterday. You'll always have her in your heart.”
He stood next to Clara and stared at her, feeling like she belonged here with him. “She’d have liked you.”
Her eyebrow lifted as she asked, “Why?”
