Page 74 of Knight's End
Chapter Eighteen
Ihonestly had no idea where in the castle Blue would go, so I asked Quinn to help me find him.
He’s in the music room,Quinn’s answer surprised me.
I went to the second floor, to a room where noble ladies prattled on and pretended they were talented at harpsichord or singing. When I entered, I heard the most beautiful music.
I stopped in the doorway, enchanted.
Blue sat in the corner, strumming a lute. He held the wooden instrument on his lap. The sounds coming from it were plaintive and sad.
His thoughts were just as sad as they leaked across the room. Our faces flashed in his head. And then an image of Blue walking alone in the desert, living in a tent as the wind whipped at the walls, growing old in solitude with no life—no people, no trees, no happiness around him.
Shite.
I closed the door softly behind me, but Blue heard the click and looked up. His melody died.
I met his eyes and wrung my fingers. “I came to—”
“I’m sorry. I’ll go.” Blue was up and halfway across the room before I’d processed what he said.
“What? No!” I grabbed onto his sleeve.
He froze, torn between wanting to wrench himself away from me and desperately hopeful thoughts. He pictured me smiling and telling him that everything would be alright. And then my face morphed into his mother’s. And then he saw his mother hanging from the ceiling—
I tried to cut off that thought by pulling him into a hug. “I’m sorry, Blue.” I whispered into his neck. “I lashed out at you. And I’m sorry.”
His arms tentatively went around my waist. I could literally hear his panicked thoughts about where he should touch me.
I tried not to laugh as I reached back and set his hands on my lower back before pulling him into the hug again.
“The stress is no excuse,” I told him. “I shouldn’t have done that.”
“I shouldn’t have gone after him,” Blue murmured into my ear. Regret flashed through his thoughts, along with the fact that I somehow smelled a bit like lavender.
“I would have done the same,” I admitted. “Possibly worse. At least you have some skill as a soldier. I’d have had no chance—”
“That only makes it worse. I should have stayed.”
I leaned back. “Let’s agree that from now on, as your queen, everything’s my fault.”
Quinn popped into both our minds at that moment. I’m telling everyone. Knights! Knights! Everything is Bloss’s fault. By royal decree, anything we do is her fault. I’m off to steal all the lacy underthings of all the noblewomen in the castle and dangle them from the frozen courtiers. But just remember, that’s Bloss’s fault.
Blue and I both collapsed in laughter.
“Quinn, you’re a toad-spotted dunderhead!” I called aloud.
Our laughter dissolved into awkwardness as we realized we still held one another.
Blue cleared his throat and stepped back first.
The silence stretched out as we eyed one another. I’d known my other knights for years. Blue had been my friend as a bird. But I knew nothing about him as a man. I was attracted, he was attracted, but still, I felt myself at a loss.
“You play the lute,” I finally pulled out the one lame fact I knew about him.
“A bit. Something to pass time in the barracks. I wasn’t much of a drinker. So, I tended to sit in the corner and fiddle around with the musicians.”
“Fiddle around with them?” I raised my brows.
