Page 46 of Death of a Mortal

“You’ll tell me when you’re ready, when you trust me to tell me. And I can wait for that.” He was a viper with a silver tongue, currently making my heart do acrobatics. It felt like he saw me, really saw and understood me. And though I knew I shouldn’t, I was beginning to trust him.

Gods, I was a fool, and I knew it. It just felt so good tofeel, to captivate someone.

“What is it you see when you look at me,Your Highness?”

He grinned at the formal title. Oh gods, was I flirting? With the prince?

“I see a beautiful and wild creature, so very different from everyone else around her. I see a woman with scars that don’t define her, a testament to her own resilience. She’s right here, now, looking back at me. She only needs the confidence to see it in herself.”

There weren’t words strong enough to tell him how much that meant to me. And how very much I wanted it all to be true.

When words finally came to me, I said, “You’re very kind, Varyn. Maybe one day I’ll see myself that way. And maybe one day you can take off your mask.”

He winked again. “How in the world would you recognize me then?” The grin was back, and as he raised my hand, still held in his, to his lips, I couldn’t help but think how complicated this male was.

Then he kissed my hand ever so gently, and I stopped thinking.

* **

After Varyn walkedme back, I slipped into the laundry ladies’ shared room. Nella was sitting on my bed, anxiously waiting for all the details.

I told her how he was charming, sarcastic, frustrating, and sweet all at once, to which she swooned—actually swooned.

“It means nothing, Nella. He’s aprince.” Gods, how I didn’t want that to be true.

And though I played it off, I laid in my bed that night replaying our walk over and over, trying to recall every detail of how he’d looked, reacted, spoken…smiled.

I was already letting my heart do the thinking, and I desperately needed to protect it. We were on a mission here in the castle. And so far, we hadn’t learned a damned thing. So I bottled up my feelings and thought through a plan.

* * *

The next morning,I held Nella back when the other ladies went to breakfast.

“I think it’s time we felt out Ott and Moe. But we need to be really careful about what we say. I’ve got a plan, and it requires your far superior acting skills.”

There was a glint in her eye, and I could see the hint of a proud smile. “Okay, I’m in. What should I do?”

I told her my plan and that we would do it after breakfast in the laundry room.

So we headed to our folding station without eating. I apologized profusely for making Nella miss breakfast—she missed the boy more than the food—and got to work folding the already enormous pile of linens.

The ladies came back from the dining hall, which meant it was go-time. I winked at Nella, and my stomach swooped, thinking of how the prince had winked at me twice the night before. Gods, I had been counting… I mentally shook myself. I needed to focus.

Nella gasped. “Oh, Naci, what an insane rumor!Whereverdid you hear it?”

She nailed it. That was sure to get the attention of the gossips at the next folding station over.

And it did. Ott looked over at us with a raised brow.

“Nella, keep it down, or someone will overhear,” I said in a loud whisper.

Both Ott and Moe had stopped folding.

Perfect.

“Ladies, I couldn’t help but overhear”—Sure you couldn’t—“but Moe and I know all the castle gossip. I’m sure we could shed some light on the nature of this rumor you’ve heard...if you wanted to share, of course. We swear we won’t tell,” Ott said as the two ladies walked over to our table hastily, looking greedy and ready to devour anything juicy, practically frothing at the mouth.

I gave Nella a pointed look to help sell the lie.