Rayne forced herself to keep a straight face and asked, “Fine then, what do you know is going on?”
“Oh, come on!” Elia snapped at her, and for a moment Rayne thought she might strike her with the butterfly net. She wafted it in the air between them before pointing it right at Rayne, “I know my daddy is in love with you!”
Absolutely gobsmacked by the little girl’s words, Rayne had to take a few moments to collect herself before responding, “What in all the fae gods’ names makes you think that?”
Still, her heart was beating faster than ever before as she thought of just how intuitive children appeared to be. She can’t possibly be right, can she?
It just didn’t seem possible to Rayne that a king could love someone like her. After all, she was nothing but the daughter of a criminal, and a woman who thought she was entitled to so much more than she deserved.
“I believe I’ve been reading you far too many fairy tales, princess Elia,” Rayne sighed, and pushed herself to her feet. “I think we’ve had quite enough of this nonsense. Let’s go down to the gardens.”
She wasn’t entirely sure who she was trying to convince, herself or the princess. All she knew for certain was she couldn’t allow herself to be drawn in by Elia’s words. At least not until she’d heard any such thing from the king himself.
Yeah right. As if that will ever happen.
She did her best not to think about it. Placing a hand on Elia’s shoulder, she began to lead the young princess from the nursery and down the tower steps, toward the main courtyard and the gardens beyond.
Chapter 16 - Asher
Why did I snap at her like that? the king asked himself when he thought of what had happened in the nursery that morning for the hundredth time since he’d sat down at his desk in his study. He hadn’t lied to either of them when he’d said he had a lot of work to do. The paperwork had piled up on his desk, and he’d seen several nobles in his quarters that morning to discuss this and that. Yet none of it seemed to occupy his mind as his conversation with his daughter did. The answer came to him all too easily. Because she was right.
It was more than a little frustrating to know a three-year-old had more sense than the two of them put together, and yet what was even more frustrating was the fact that he would talk to Rayne if she would only allow him to. He’d been prepared to do so the night before when he’d waited for hours for her to show up. Even after Paxton had given him the news that she wasn’t coming, he’d lingered in the gardens hoping she might change her mind and come to find him. She hadn’t. And when he’d seen her in the nursery that morning, she’d looked more than a little surprised to see him.
If he was being honest, he was surprised himself. He’d thought of taking Paxton’s advice to the extreme. He’d almost decided to stay away from Rayne entirely, but when he realized that would mean staying away from his daughter also, he realized he couldn’t put either of them through that again. The thought that Elia might run away again was too much to bear on top of everything else that had already happened.
“Is everything alright, Your Majesty?” Paxton’s voice caused Asher to flinch. The advisor had been sitting silently in the corner of the room at his own little desk, and Asher had been so deep in thought, he hadn’t noticed him turn to look at him. “You appear to be away with the pixies this afternoon.”
Afternoon? Asher thought. When he glanced at the window on the far side of the room, he realized his advisor was right. The sun was well past its highest point and looked as if it would be going down shortly. It wouldn’t be too long before it was time to go and tuck Elia in for the night. The thought of seeing Rayne again made his heart flutter.
“Your Majesty?” Paxton’s voice caused him to jump again, and he looked around to see the advisor staring at him with open concern.
“I’m sorry, Paxton, I was just thinking of something my daughter said to me this morning,” he admitted with a grunt. Placing the quill he’d been using to sign paperwork into the ink pot at the top of his desk, he sat back in his seat and took a deep inhale to try and clear his mind.
“Perhaps I can be of assistance on the matter, my lord?” Paxton suggested, but Asher quickly shook his head. He had already decided upon the matter. He was going to take his daughter’s advice. “Your Grace?”
Asher didn’t stop to tell the advisor where he was going as he stormed from the room, determination speeding him forward. He was practically flying by the time he reached the nursery and pushed the door open. A startled Elia and one of her handmaids looked around in surprise as he entered. Asher felt his heart sink. A single glance around the room told him all he needed to know. Rayne wasn’t there. He didn’t feel the usual sensations he felt whenever she was in a room. He didn’t feel the hair on the back of his neck begin to rise or the familiar butterflies in his stomach.
“Papa, it isn’t bedtime yet,” Elia pointed out, looking up from where she’d been busy sticking a dried butterfly wing to a piece of parchment for one of her scrapbooks, “is something wrong?”
Asher forced himself to smile and cross the room to press a kiss to her forehead. She was still looking up at him with concern darkening her little round eyes when he pulled back again.
“Nothing’s wrong,” he shook his head and added, “I was just looking for your governess. I need a word with her.”
Now Elia’s eyebrow rose with curiosity and her concern seemed to turn to excitement. Before she could question him on the matter, he turned to her handmaid and asked, “Where is Miss Rayne?”
The young handmaid, who couldn’t have been more than fifteen, had kept her head bowed the entire time he’d been in the room, but that didn’t stop her from knowing when she was being addressed.
“She said she needed to fetch something from her rooms, Your Majesty,” the girl explained, her voice trembling.
“I shall be back shortly,” Asher promised his daughter, offering her another kiss on the head before he turned and strode from the room. He was more than a little relieved when she didn’t question him, but part of him was sure she already knew what was going on. He’d always been sure his daughter was far too clever for her age.
The guards outside the nursery dipped their heads as they always did upon his entering and exiting, and he briefly returned the gesture before turning and heading down the hallway in the direction of Rayne’s chambers. He’d given her quarters close to the nursery to enable her to be on hand whenever Elia might need her, and he was more relieved than ever that he had. Drawing closer, he could feel himself being pulled toward her as though they were two magnets.
When he made it to the door, he barely stopped to knock before pushing his way into the antechamber. He was a king and only knocked as a courtesy. He could go anywhere he wished in his own palace, and yet, walking into Rayne’s private chambers felt risky. He was unsure why he did so, but he found himself tiptoeing toward her bedchamber when he didn’t find her in the antechamber. Perhaps it was the sound of voices he heard coming from within. Whatever it was, he felt the need to keep his presence unnoticed.
“Stop it! Stop saying that!” Rayne screamed, stopping Asher dead in his tracks. It was clear from the tone of her voice that she was in great distress.
“Why should I? I’m prouder of you than I’ve ever been.” The second voice was that of her mother, Egwene, and as it always did, it caused Asher’s teeth to set on edge. There was something about the woman Asher had never liked, and he couldn’t for the life of him imagine how someone so beautiful had come from someone so…so…he couldn’t quite put his finger on the right word.