CHAPTER5
Iawoke with a gasp before I realized where I was. Eletta was already in my room busying herself with what looked like my breakfast against the small desk.
“Are you all right?”
“Yes, sorry.” I sat up in the bed and pushed my wayward hair out of my face. “I had forgotten where I was for a moment.”
I could see the pity in her eyes, and I swallowed it down quickly before I allowed myself to drown in it. Her pity would be no use to either of us.
“He is a great man, you know.” She lifted a lid off the tray before setting it aside. The smell of warm pastries and fruit hit me instantly and caused my stomach to growl.
Her words angered me because I had lost countless hours of sleep last night thinking of how he was no such thing.
“I do not believe him to be so.” I swung my legs off the bed and stood before grabbing the small throw and wrapping it around myself.
“But you hardly know him.” She softly shook her head. “I have worked in the palace for several years, and I have always known him to be noble even when situations require him to be ruthless.”
I couldn’t stop the small scoff that fell from my lips. Her gaze flew up to meet mine, and I actually felt bad.
“I do not mean to insult you, Eletta, as I have only known the prince since he arrived in Starless yesterday, but he seems to lack the decorum that you speak of.”
Her brows scrunched together as I made my way toward the desk. “The crowned prince came to Starless?”
Shit.She was talking of that prince. “Oh. No.” I quickly shook my head. “I thought you were referring to his brother.”
“You met Prince Evren?” Her voice held a touch of alarm.
“I did. He was the first fae I met at the cleave.”
She looked away from me, and her fingers clenched tightly against her skirts as she adjusted them.
“Please, Eletta. Tell me what you’re thinking. If this”—I motioned my hand back and forth between us—“is to work, then I need us to trust one another.”
“Of course, ma’am.” Her eyes slid to the door. “It’s only that I do not wish to speak ill of the Achlys family.”
I stepped closer to her and lowered my voice. “It’s just us here.”
She nodded even though she didn’t owe me an ounce of her trust. “You should stay away from Prince Evren.”
A chill ran down my spine at her warning.
“He is everything that his brother is not. Brutal and merciless. I hadn’t realized that he had yet come back from the Sidra border.”
“The Sidra border? The Achlyses send their prince to patrol the vampyre border?”
“We shouldn’t speak of this.” She pulled out the chair from the desk and motioned me forward. “You should eat. I’m not sure what the day holds for you.”
I sat even though my mind was racing with the information she had just given me. The way she described Evren was the opposite of what he had shown me yesterday. That was until I realized who he truly was.
“Am I to see the royal family today?” I took a bite of a sweet melon and moaned as the flavor hit my tongue. I hadn’t tasted fruit with such sweetness in years.
“They haven’t called upon you yet, but I would presume so.” Her voice shook, and she fidgeted behind me.
“Until then, could you give me a tour?” I hated how helpless I felt here, and not knowing the palace grounds only intensified that.
“Of course, ma’am.” She smiled, and I quickly ate my breakfast before she could change her mind.
She helped me dress in a long silk dress that was as beautiful as it was impractical, but she had balked when I had suggested wearing something of my own. She had at least allowed me to wear my hair down when she had seen how uncomfortable I was with even a sliver of my back exposed.