Page 17 of The Promised Prince
Trev spoke again, scattering her thoughts. “What about you? What’s your biggest fear?”
Renna bit her bottom lip. “Ending up like my mom.”
“Is your mother so bad?” He raised his eyebrows in surprise.
“No. She’s a good person, but she has a hard time with life.” Renna tried to find the right words. Her mother had been depressed for years, well before her father had died. Since marrying King Bryant and moving to the Government Center, she seemed happier, so Renna wouldn’t describe her as depressed anymore. “She spins everything negatively, and that leads to a lot of worry in her life. She always worries about what other people think about her. About us. I don’t want to be like that.”
“I don’t think you’re like that,” Trev said, his blue eyes sincere.
She rolled her eyes. “You don’t even know me.”
“I’ve seen enough of you to know that you radiate happiness. It’s one of the things that makes you so attractive.”
“You think I’m attractive?” She raised a questioning brow.
“What?” His face colored. “No, I just meant that...” He scrunched his nose as he bumped his shoulder into hers. “You’re all right, I guess.”
She thought the same thing about him, but she didn’t dare say it out loud. Since her father’s death, Renna had watched her life become an endless procession of people she didn’t care about and appointments that didn’t matter. She was stuck in a gray, dull life, despite all the colors surrounding her. But Trev had opened her eyes again. Nothing seemed muted anymore. Everything was bright and colorful, just the way it should be.
A summer breeze floated around them, and Renna’s entire body shivered.
“We better get you dressed.” Trev hopped to his feet, offering his hand to help pull her up. Her fingers touched his and her body shivered with chills. But this time, they didn’t have anything to do with the breeze.
Trev
Trev didn’t thinkthat Renna could have gotten any more interesting than the girl he’d met yesterday, but as he fastened the belt to his pants, he realized how wrong he was. Today she was adorable. At first, she’d been a nervous, self-conscious wreck. It was a completely new side of her, and he’d liked watching her squirm. Then in the pond, he found himself liking the realness of their conversation and the honest way they were able to talk to each other. She was fun and witty, bringing out the best in him.
She stepped from behind the tree, fully dressed again in her muddy clothes. Her blonde hair hung down wet and just as unruly as it had been yesterday. Water dampened her dress where her undergarments were, and a brown bag dangled from her shoulder.
“All dressed,” she said, throwing him his wet shirt.
“Thanks.” He wrung it out and pulled it over his head. “What’s in your bag?”
She patted the satchel’s soft leather and listed the contents. “Bread, granola, cheeses, and a blanket.”
“Really? I’m starving!” He reached for the bag.
Renna instinctively turned away, pulling it out of his reach. “What if I don’t want to share?” She smirked.
Trev reached even farther, trying to grab the handle of the bag. He missed. He raised his eyebrows, matching her playfulness. “I think you owe me. Since we met, you’ve pretended to drown and stolen my clothes.”
“Well, you threw me in the water today,” she challenged.
“You jumped in of your own free will.”
She puckered her lips together. “True. I guess I have to share then.” She reached into her bag, revealing a tattered brown blanket. They both took a corner of the fabric and pulled, spreading it out across the dirt and grass. She knelt down, laying out the food.
Trev lowered to the ground, ripping off a chunk of bread and throwing it into his mouth. “Tell me more about yourself,” he said between bites. He didn’t know why, but he wanted to know everything about this girl.
“More?” Renna put a slice of cheese in her mouth. “I can’t think of anything else to tell.”
“Do you sing?” he asked.
Her mouth stretched into a frown as she chewed. “Terribly.”
“Do you dance?”
“Flawlessly.” She sat up a little taller, an edge of pride coming through her voice.
