Page 16 of Hooked

“You were concentrating on something.”

I tried to think of a quick lie that he wouldn’t be able to see through. Why was he always asking me questions? In fact… “Never mind about me. I want to know about you.”

“Me?” he asked.

“Yes, you. I’ve told you a great deal about myself, but you’ve hardly told me anything of you.”

He pulled back a little, perhaps not used to being the interrogated instead of the interrogator. “What would you like to know?”

“Where did you grow up?”

“Dalthia.”

“Do you miss it?”

“I suppose, in some ways, sometimes.”

“That is vague indeed.”

He chuckled. “I serve Her Royal Highness, the princess of Dalthia. As such, I suppose I consider this place to be simply an extension of my home. The princess tends to bring Dalthia with her wherever she goes.”

My smile was tinged with sadness. “It’s nice that you have a home.”

His gaze fixed on my face. “Do you not?”

I shook my head. “I have been removed, tossed out of, or escaped from every place I have ever lived. I think home requires some permanence.”

He considered that for a moment. “Do you think you could find that permanence in a person?”

I brightened at this idea. “Yes, I suppose. And by that criteria, I would consider Beatrice and Emeline to be my home.” I grinned.

“And when you marry?” he asked. “I suppose your home will be wherever your husband is.”

A chill rushed into my chest, making me brace against the cold that his suggestion summoned. I just shook my head.

His head tilted in confusion. “Why not?”

“I won’t marry.” Some might have considered my decision to be a refusal to grow up. A longing to avoid the responsibilities of adulthood. And in some ways that was true. If growing up meant surrendering my will to another, then I wanted none of it.

“But why would—“

“And you cheated,” I cut him off. “You were supposed to be telling me about you. You grew up in Dalthia. What of your parents?” I asked, desperate for him to talk of himself. I couldn’t reveal any more of my thoughts right now. The mention of marriage left me feeling too fragile.

Falstone looked confused but acquiesced. “My mother loved me. We struggled, but she did the best she could. My father isn’t worth mentioning.”

“How did you come to be a member of the royal guard?” I asked, purposefully respecting his wish not to discuss his father.

“I grew up knowing that my father didn’t want me. Hadn’t wanted my mother. I was unwanted, a lost boy without a father. And because of that, I had something to prove. I set my sights on being a soldier and joining the palace guard. I trained hard every day starting when I was ten years old. Not just to prove that I didn’t need my father, but to claim my own place in the world, to be able to take care of my mother.”

“And you were able to do that.” My admiration grew. It was difficult not to like a man who wanted nothing more than to care for his mother.

“I was. We were never anything but poor, but at least we were not as desperately poor as we had been before. She married a few years ago.” He looked at me with a grin. I was happy to see that that news brought him joy. “So now that I’ve proven myself and my mother is taken care of, all that’s really left is to be the best at what I do.”

“And you are.”

“I wouldn’t say that.”

I looked at him askance. “Suddenly modest?”