Feeling utterly defeated, he dropped back down onto the stone wall and again placed his head in his hands. His entire body was tense to the point that he felt like he might never relax again.
“What am I going to do?” he said aloud, although he didn’t really expect an answer. “How am I supposed to fix this?”
He was surprised when he felt Paxton sit down beside him, and when the advisor cleared his throat, Asher forced himself to remove his face from his hands to look at the other fae.
“May I offer some advice, Your Grace?” The usually nervy advisor who barely ever managed to look Asher in the eye, was finally doing just that. It appeared that when it came to affairs of the heart, the advisor wasn’t worried of what the king’s reaction might be to his advice.
“You’re my advisor, aren’t you?” Asher pointed out through gritted teeth. A part of him wanted to blame the advisor for all of this. If it hadn’t been for Paxton insisting he take the kingdom’s offering in the first place, he might not have been so reluctant. Maybe he might have accepted it off his own back if he hadn’t felt as though he were being forced by every single person in his court and beyond.
This is nobody’s fault but my own. Asher forced himself to remember that he was king and only he could force himself to do anything. If only he’d listened to the advice of others, he wouldn’t be in this mess right now.
“Your Grace, you rarely take my advice on such matters,” Paxton pointed out, and Asher was about to offer a protest when the advisor continued, “but if you were to this time, I would tell you to simply give her time and a little space. Miss Rayne will come around eventually.”
There was sympathy in Paxton’s gaze, and Asher struggled not to lash out at him. He hated for anybody to look at him like that. It was exactly how his family had looked at him when Elia’s mother had run away. He’d been determined not to see that look on anybody’s face again, at least not directed at him. And yet here he was.
“And what if that doesn’t work? How will I know when to give up?” Asher asked, his heart sinking into his stomach at the thought of having to wait at all to hold Rayne in his arms again. Why couldn’t she simply have come to meet him? Then he could’ve been on his way to fixing things already.
“Your Majesty, if you feel about Miss Rayne the way I believe you feel, you will never give up.” Paxton was still gazing at him with pity in his eyes when his words caused Asher to rush to his feet. The advisor was right. Deep down in his gut he knew he could never give up. He had to keep going, keep pushing on, until Rayne was forced to give him the chance to fix things.
“Thank you, Paxton,” he said even as he began to walk away from the scene of his rejection.
Chapter 15 - Rayne
Looking after princess Elia always left Rayne exhausted, but never so exhausted that she couldn’t remember falling asleep. Yet that was how she woke one morning, still fully clothed on top of the covers with a piece of parchment clasped in her hand. Her eyes were sore, reminding her that she’d been weeping the night before, but when she lifted her free hand to her face, she found that it was dry. It had to have been hours since she’d fallen asleep. Lifting the parchment in her other hand, she suddenly remembered the invitation Paxton had delivered from the king.
Her eyes skimmed over the words again.
Dearest Rayne,
If you believe there is any hope of us mending what is broken between us, please meet me in the gardens this evening. I have a surprise for you.
Warmest regards
King Asher
Her stomach clenched as she read the name at the bottom of the note. How could she possibly have rejected the invitation of a king? Part of her expected to have been woken by the pounding of an armored fist on her chamber doors. After all, a king could arrest his subjects for just about any crime and she’d certainly done enough to annoy him over the last few days. Yet all appear quiet. Not even her mother had come to bother her yet, and she continued to lie there, scared to breathe in case her mother realized she was awake.
She ran her fingers over the words on the parchment and tried to imagine the hand that had written it, the hand that had touched her in places too private to say out loud. Her insides melted at the mere thought of it, and she closed her eyes in an attempt to center herself. How was she ever supposed to guard herself against him when the mere thought of him made her weak at the knees?
Just get on with your job, she scolded herself, screwing up the parchment and throwing it away from the bed. That’s what you’re here for, to care for the princess and nothing else.
With those thoughts in mind, she pushed herself up from the bed, stripped out of her uniform and used a cloth and cool water to wash before putting on a fresh one. Then she hurried from the room, hoping to avoid her mother as she tried to do every morning. It was better for Elia if she didn’t turn up at the nursery in a foul mood after listening to her mother going on about what she needed to do to get the king to eat out of the palm of her hand.
I don’t want him to eat out of the palm of my hand, Rayne assured herself even as she managed to make it all the way down the corridor in the direction of the nursery. But the thoughts her assurance conjured up were far from convincing her that she wasn’t lying to herself. If she closed her eyes, she could imagine herself sitting in the king’s chambers with the man himself crouching at her feet, her hand in his as he kissed first her palm, then the back of her hand and finally all the way up her arm before finally landing his lips upon hers. It was an image that caused her entire body to tremble, and by the time she reached the guards outside the nursery, she was so breathless she had to take a moment to steady herself.
“Is all well, Miss Rayne?” one of the guards asked her, and she quickly brushed hair back from her face and attempted to straighten herself up.
“Yes, all is well,” she assured him before quickly making her way into the nursery. The last thing she wanted was to give the guards a chance to guess what was wrong with her.
The door had barely closed behind her when her jaw practically hit the floor. She’d been so focused on getting ready and getting on with her job that she hadn’t even thought of what might be awaiting her in the nursery.
“Your Majesty!” she gasped, dropping into a low curtsey the moment she saw the king sitting at the dining table opposite his daughter. The two of them appeared to have been in deep conversation, though they had both grown silent the moment she entered.
What is he doing here? she asked herself, wondering why he was not avoiding her after her rejection the night before. She expected him to be cold, and maybe even cruel. She half expected him to call the guards and have her escorted from the room, and his sight. Yet the way he reacted to her presence was entirely the opposite.
“Miss Rayne, I’m glad you could join us,” he smiled at her, pushing himself to his feet. “I was just getting ready to leave.”
He gestured for her to come forward and take his seat opposite the princess, but Rayne was too dumbstruck to move.