Page 27 of Crowning His Innocent Assistant

For Violet did not love him.

Of course, she had fallen in love with Javier, who Livia had always known had a heart beating beneath that iron exterior.

Matteo’s brother was a warrior, openly. He had been a part of the battalion that had led devastation against her people. But she did not hate him for it. For he was a man driven by the burning belief in what he thought was truth. And once he had recognized the lies, he had gone in search of the truth, because he cared more about integrity than about any ideology.

There was a passion to that.

Whereas Matteo... He had always seemed so much colder. Cut off. Matteo was a different sort of thing altogether.

But he felt warm beneath her hands. There she could sense passion. There she could sense a man.

She moved her hand from his shoulders, down to the center of his chest, and beneath her palm she felt the beating of his heart. She closed her eyes for a moment and simply felt it.

For whatever he said about the presence of his heart, it was very clearly there. And she knew that he had meant it in a metaphorical sense, when he said he didn’t have one, but the incontrovertible evidence that it beat just like it would in the chest of any other...

It made her feel resolute in this.

“You have grown into quite a good dancer,” he said, his voice rough.

“You have never had occasion to know.”

“Other than our lesson, no. But you did always move with grace, even then.”

“Years of running and dodging foes in the streets, I would imagine.”

“Ah, perhaps that explains my skill at it. Years of dodging my father’s wrath.”

It was so rare he would ever speak of this pain in such a casual tone. She knew about his past. She’d seen him in the throes of his nightmares. But it wasn’t just...something to be spoken of plainly. Out in the middle of a dance floor.

She stared at the pulse pounding in his throat. “Probably,” she said.

“We are not so different.” His words were soft, and they wrapped themselves around her like a blanket.

She and a king, not so different?

Except she felt that sometimes. Like he might be the only person who matched the innermost part of her.

And it was foolish.

“No. Not so different. Only from different worlds. Might as well be different planets, honestly.”

“You know we are not.”

“Does it matter?”

He shook his head. “No. It is not about whether or not we are alike or different. But I believe you would be a good queen.”

“Well, I thank you for your confidence in me. It is truly flattering.”

“Am I not always?”

“Rarely. Never.”

“Such flattery coming from you, Mouse.”

She sniffed. “You know I never flatter.”

“No,” he said. “It’s true. At the same time, you’re the one who taught me to do it. Remember how you told me I needed to be human?”

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