Page 52 of Caroline the Cruel
Breicher awoke with his hand still reaching for her, but she was gone. Had it been a dream? The winter sun and booming headache splitting his brain in two jolted him back to reality. That and the ruined towel on the nightstand. It was like he’d been dipped in a vat of shame, the way it coated his insides. He’d wanted her and let her see exactly how much.
He groaned, turning over. Why did it have to be this way? Couldn’t they have been two normal people who’d met in a chance encounter and fallen for each other naturally? Instead, here they were, historic enemies pitted against each other since birth. Maybe she was right—they were inevitable. The thought came and went in a flash, replaced by his brother’s voice.They were a betrayal. And he knew what Hollis did with traitors.
At least he’d been coherent enough to send the woman Hollis had sent away. Oh shit, that had been Caroline at his door. Did Hollis send her? Or had his future wife caught the woman traipsing the hallway toward his room? Dread released the soggy shame gripping him, the stale sensation replaced by a new, more foreboding feeling.
It took an effort of will to call for an attendant, eat his breakfast, clean up and make his way down to the study, where he’d agreed to meet Caroline to discuss the wedding.
The scene he happened on when he arrived rattled his already rattled nerves. Part of him wanted to burst into the room before the queen did any more damage, but the part that won out was Angus’s.You don’t know her at all.He wanted to see what she’d do, so Breicher tucked himself behind a bookshelf, peering over the neatly rowed volumes and observing.
Caroline knelt in front of his youngest niece, Cecily, fingering a bouncy auburn curl. Agnes had hoped to shield the girl from the queen for as long as possible. They’d been in the wrong place at the wrong time.
“Well, aren’t you precious? I remember when I was your age. Ten years old, if I’m not mistaken. My sister and I would… Well, never mind that. Do you know who I am?” Caroline asked.
The little girl’s blue eyes were bright with curiosity. Cecily put a finger to her lips. “You’re Queen Caroline, and I’m ten and a half.”
“You’re a clever young lady. What is your mother making you study?” she asked, eyeing the stack of books on the nearest table. Agnes shifted uncomfortably and placed a hand on top of the nearest one, obscuring the title. The other hand went to the top of Cecily’s head.
Before Agnes could quiet her daughter up, Cecily said, “Mother’s teaching me about the war where your daddy killed Grandpa.”
Caroline’s jaw clenched. She shot a glare up at the former queen. “What a dreadful thing to expose a child to. I sure hope that doesn’t give you nightmares. One day you and I can do a lesson and we can learn something fun. Have you ever heard of an octopus?”
Cecily’s eyes widened and her curls bounced as she shook her head.
“It’s a type of fish with a jelly head and eight legs called tentacles.” Caroline held up her fingers, wiggling them as she tickled the girl. Cecily burst into giggles, but Agnes pulled Cecily in closer to her side, glancing a warning shot at Caroline.
“One day, I’ll bring you a book from Everstal that shows you all the sea creatures we’ve ever identified. Pink and purple ones, yellow and blue. Would you like that?”
Cecily nodded vigorously. “Oh yes, please, Your Majesty.”
Agnes cleared her throat, clearly having had enough. “We’ll be going now.” She scooped the stack of books up and ushered her daughter out the door.
As Agnes and Cecily left, Breicher stepped out from the stacks and sauntered over to his intended, as if he hadn’t been spying on her. Papers from Agnes’s lesson were still scattered on one of the desks in the center of the library and she was eyeing them angrily.
“What’s got you all ruffled?” he asked, leaning against the edge of the desk, picking up a loose sheet looking over it as if he didn’t know.
“Oh, your sister-in-law is trying to mold the mind of a child against me. My future brother-in-law, who I so graciously spared, is trying to lure my future king into the arms of another woman. And honestly, will I sound crazy if I say I think your nephew, Prince Jaden, is spying on me? So, nothing has me ruffled, Breicher. Queens don’t get ruffled. My leniency is being blatantly disrespected and it’s making me angry.”
Well, at least she knew about Hollis’s attempted gift and didn’t seem upset at him about it. “I doubt Jaden is spying on you. Why would he do that?”
“My guess is your delightful brother has him up to it. He can’t just accept that I’m being reasonable.”
Caroline raised a hand to her pursed lips.Shhh, she mouthed. With a few long strides, she was rounding the corner to one of the furthest rows where Jaden was swiftly making his way around the corner.
“Jaden,” he called, letting his voice carry the authority of an older relative.
The young prince turned on his heel, and paced toward him and the simmering queen, as if he were merely looking for a good book. One of which he held in his hands and was mindlessly flipping the pages as he turned his gaze upward. “I’m not spying for my father.”
Breicher crossed his arms over his chest. “But you are spying?”
“I was looking for something to read.” Jaden’s smug face made him nervous. Did he not understand Caroline would compel him to tell the truth? Having that icy power shock through your veins wasn’t a sensation he’d wish on the young man, or the queasy sensation her grip on your will gave you.
Instead, Caroline shot Jaden an amused smile. “And what did you find, prince?”
“It’s an anthology of reasonable queens.” Jaden turned the book, more like a pamphlet, in his hands. “Surprisingly thin.”
Caroline snorted and Breicher caught the true name of the title Jaded had snagged off the shelf as he’d been caught:The Complete Handbook of Stone Masonry. He shook his head, hoping his nephew didn’t invoke the queen’s wrath. “Jaden, don’t you have some love-sick bed partner to be tormenting?”
Footsteps announced Angus’s presence. He walked a little too assertively for such a relative newcomer to their world, past the rows of books following their voices.Like Breicher was the only overconfident one.
