Page 89 of Trick

Potential falsehoods cluttered my tongue until I remembered this was still the Royal wing. Fortunately, we weren’t far from my mother’s room.

With that arsenal at my disposal, I conjured the most appropriate alibi, then furnished the man with a humble smile. “I confess, you’ve caught me. It is rather childish, but I find myself unable to rest. I seek the company of my mother.”

The watchman frowned, drew the obvious conclusion, and smirked like a Spring native would. “You seem to have misplaced your guards.”

“Nonsense,” I replied. “To the contrary, I gave them no choice.”

“Shall I escort you?” he offered, stepping forward.

Condemnation. “Thank you, but if there’s one route I’ve committed to memory, it’s the one to my mother’s suite. If anything, so that I might avoid it when she’s vexed with me. As for night prowlers, legend says I have a face sharper than a sword—” or a thorn, I thought, “—and I need only to scowl to bring the enemy to his knees. You wouldn’t deprive me of such a triumph, would you?”

A chuckle rumbled from his chest. Without further ado, the watchman stepped aside. “Your Highness.”

Humor has its merits, after all.

Confidence bolstered, I glided past him, aware of his eyes following me. Around the first bend, my footfalls lightened, and a weight rose from my shoulders.

Instead of venturing to my mother’s room like an honest princess, I veered in the opposite direction. More distance grew between myself and the Royal wing until I abandoned that area. Renewed energy flowed through my veins. My limbs quickened and darted through the channels. I gripped a column, looped myself around it, spilled into another outlet—and skittered to a halt.

In one of the coves, Posy and Vale moaned and ground their bodies together while plastered against a wall. The former lady had one thigh hooked over Vale’s waist. Their mouths clutched, and their bodies rutted in tandem to the kiss.

It lasted half a second before they registered me. Their glazed eyes flew open, and they sprang apart.

“Your Highness,” they peeped.

“Seasons,” I exclaimed. “I’m so sorry.”

Blood raced up their complexions, less from embarrassment and more from arousal. The assignation had left their garments in shambles. The porcelain laces of Vale’s bodice swung open, revealing the crescent of a dark breast.

They made a show of restoring their appearance, fiddling with white linen and gilded silk. Vale tucked her left breast with its dusky nipple back into the bodice, then combed through her mussed hair.

I caught myself gawking. Belatedly, I spun away to give them a moment. While they put themselves to rights, I feigned interest in a stained glass representation of the castle’s checkered tulip lawn, the design embedded into a nearby window. I had witnessed their coy touches before, but I’d had no idea it went beyond that.

They came from the same background and kingdom, so they had no cause to hide their affections. I’d happened upon an accepted dalliance, not a taboo indiscretion.

I reinspected the shell in which they’d concealed themselves and wondered what it was like to be so bold at court. To meet someone there—in a different manner from the way I met Eliot—and fling myself into the shadows with him. I’d done so in the forest, except this was much closer to prying eyes.

When the ladies were finished, I faced them and cleared my throat. “I-I beg your pardon. I did not mean to—”

“Our apologies,” Vale professed.

“I’m disturbing you.”

“Hardly,” Posy lied, still fighting to catch her breath. “Are you lost, Your Highness?”

I wavered. Typical Briar would have replied that it was none of their concern. Typical Briar wouldn’t have been caught, because she would be in her suite, having never left.

My presence surprised them. And what had years of acquaintance taught us about one another?

My efforts to know these ladies had not exceeded the surface. Vale’s overbite and her burgundy irises and hair. Posy’s diminutive nose, the blossoms inked along her collarbone, and her enviably curvaceous form. Their flirtatious innuendos and buoyant kinships. Their hair decorated with floral buds that eventually went lopsided due to a constant habit of throwing their heads back in laughter. It was hardly an omniscient impression of who they were.

I confessed, “I’m exploring.”

Posy’s face alighted. “Truly?”

“You?” Vale questioned, her disbelief reflecting Posy’s.

“Me,” I answered. “Would you … that is …” I folded my hands behind my back. “I would like some company, if you’d care to join me.”

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