Page 10 of Enamored
Quickly, I studied each tiny mark on the sword, attempting to memorize them in the few remaining seconds. As the case closed, I knew Rasmus would expect me to translate without seeing the engraving again. His expectations had always been high. When I was but a boy, I’d rarely been able to accomplish the lofty goals he established for me.
But now? I’d show him I was beyond failure—that I could do everything I set my mind to, no matter how difficult it might be. In doing so, would I finally gain his respect?
He placed the cedar container on his writing table and rolled up the scroll he’d been studying. He tied a piece of soft twine around it, then handed it to me.
Even as I took it and retrieved my candle, I didn’t move to depart. He hadn’t dismissed me, and until he did, I had to remain rooted to my spot. Was there more he had to say? Or was he planning to have me stand for another hour to reduce the amount of time I had for learning the new language, making the task infinitely more difficult?
The true riddle was why Rasmus was showing me this ancient relic in the first place. What did it have to do with me? And my return to Vordinberg? It was becoming clearer by the minute that everything was intertwined.
“You must befriend her.”
His words were so unexpected that I fumbled with my candle, tipping wax so that it dropped against my thumb and seared my flesh.
Thankfully, Rasmus had his back turned as he made his way to his writing desk and didn’t witness my reaction. By the time he seated himself, I’d regained my composure.
I didn’t need to ask who he was referring to. ’Twas clear we were talking about the princess again.
He unraveled another scroll. “You have behaved coldly toward her thus far.” He paused in the unrolling, a sign that he expected me to respond.
“I am but a simple Sagacite. A man of my lowly position doesn’t deserve, and certainly wouldn’t assume, to have any contact with the princess.”
“A simple Sagacite of a lowly position would not be invited to the princess’s ball.”
He was right. I scrambled to find another excuse. “I was invited because of the queen’s fondness for me.” I was aware I’d been like a son to the queen for many years. She’d favored me and given me privileges most children never had. Even last night, when we spoke briefly at the ball, she’d invited me to accompany her on the upcoming hunt.
Rasmus finished laying out the scroll, smoothing it gently into place before anchoring it with the crystal paperweights. The longer he dragged out the silence, the more my muscles tightened with dread.
This was why I’d crumpled his missive commanding my return. This was why I’d neglected it for so long. This was why I’d even considered sailing in the opposite direction, to St. Olaf’s Abbey in the Frozen Wilds. Because I loathed every second of every minute I was with Rasmus.
I focused on the stub of my candle, not daring to look at him lest he see the loathing in my eyes and find a subtle means of punishing me.
“From now on, you must enamor her.”
“Yes, Your Excellency.” I would avoid her at all costs and thus have no occasion to worry about how I treated her.
“You will seek her out at every opportunity you have.”
My respectful acquiescence stuck in my throat. Maybe he did have the capability of reading minds after all. While rumors abounded regarding Sages and magic, such a thing wasn’t truly possible. Rasmus had perfected the art of reading faces and body language, and he’d clearly done so with me.
“Your task is to make her fall in love with you.” His tone contained finality.
Make her fall in love? My rebuttal fell entirely away. I couldn’t respond even if I’d wanted to. All I could do was stare at Rasmus. His cold eyes surveyed me in return, victory glinting in their dark depths. He’d gotten what he’d wanted. He’d turned me speechless.
“If you’d arrived on time, you would have had a week for the task. Now you have two days.” He dropped his attention back to the scroll in front of him. “You may go.”
Though I wanted to figure out something to say, some means of extricating myself from the situation, I had to leave while I could, before he changed his mind and came up with another reason to make me stand there longer.
I bowed my head. As I turned and crossed to the door, I waited for him to tell me he was mistaken, that he was merely testing me.
But only silence followed, even after I stepped into the corridor and closed the door behind me.
I retired to my chambers, the same few rooms that had been mine when I’d lived in the royal residence early in my life. Tucked away in a corner of the wing belonging to the Royal Sages, it was a solitary place with sparse furnishings, unchanged from my boyhood, almost as if Rasmus had decided long ago that I would return and have need of my rooms again.
I would have preferred to lodge at the school or even an inn. But when I’d first arrived, I’d been given little choice in the matter. Now I knew why—because Rasmus wanted me to be close to the princess.
But what could come of such closeness? Of making the princess fall in love with me?
My silly childish dreams and aspirations toward the princess had caused my misfortune to begin with, were why I’d been sent away. Now that I was back, I didn’t want to get into trouble again. But it was possible Rasmus was endeavoring to do just that: disgrace me.
