Page 14 of A Sea So Cruel
“I mean it.”
She knew he meant it, and she was always cautious when she investigated. Maybe not as careful as a princess should be without her guards, but she still checked her surroundings.
Asta observed the crowd in her room, noticing that Linnea was only watching, but seemed relaxed. The princess cracked one finger.Nope.Another.Nope.Then another.Done.
She let out a long exhale in satisfaction, the pressure in her chest unfurling.
She had to figure something out tonight, even if it was small. Even if it didn’t make sense yet.
They just needed something to work with.
Chapter 7
Kaid took a cool bath, needing the icy water to free him of his nerves. After Asta had left the music room, he had found it rather difficult to focus on the song he had been teaching Maren.
The copper-haired princess picked up on the tune easily enough, but the music didn’t feel the same as when he and Asta played together. He hadn’t felt drawn to put his hands on hers, to breathe in her scent, to watch her every move. With Maren, he simply went through the motions.
Maybe that was because Maren was far more self-assured than her younger sister, Kaid thought. Her face didn’t heat whenshe hit the wrong key, she just corrected it and moved on. She was so proper that she often came off as stoic. Maren was certainly a king’s daughter.
Asta, however, was something completely different.
The youngest princess of the Enrathi line had a fire in her that Kaid wanted to continuously stoke, even if his only way of doing so was to rile her up. She had been challenging him constantly since his arrival—considerably more than Halsten ever had.
There was a knock on the door.
“What?” Kaid barked.
He heard Halsten laugh. “I’m retiring to my own suite, you grouchy old crone. Don’t know what got you all heated but make sure you sleep long enough to forget about it by tomorrow. I don’t want to deal with you having a pissing contest with everyone we encounter.”
Kaid simply grunted in response and heard his friend leave.
He rested his head back on the lip of the tub and closed his eyes. He thought about how he found the music room accidentally while he was looking for the library. This castle was so enormous and mazelike that he took one wrong turn and ended up in the complete opposite wing he was looking for. But when he saw the disconnected tower, he had to look within. To his surprise, he found a room with a vast array of instruments and he couldn’t help himself.
Kaid had always been drawn to music, whether he was listening to it or playing it himself. A melody was the only place where he felt like he belonged. Kaid had asked his father on multiple occasions to attend music lessons, but he was always refused. So he resorted to teaching himself in secret at the playhouse in Haalberg, having to sneak in to do so.
Kaid found it incredibly easy to learn how to play a new instrument. He could play the violin, the cello, the harp, eventhe trumpet. But his favorite was the piano. The music came naturally to him, and he knew he was a fairly satisfactory player when it always seemed to put an observing Halsten in a trance.
But the trance he had seen with Asta today was something different. Kaid felt it in return. It was like the music was a tether between them, yanking them closer with each note. He knew Asta wanted to cut the rope, to will it to fray. But Kaid hadn’t wanted that. Hestillhadn’t wanted that, even now as he reminisced. He wanted to wrap his hands in the ties and hold them tightly, pulling her closer until his palms bled.
He was an idiot, and this whole situation was bad. He was engaged to a princess, hated by her sister, and hopelessly caught between the two of them.
Kaid lifted the pitcher and poured icy water on his face.
He pulled himself from the tub and dried off, dressing in a loose shirt and cotton pants for sleeping. Maybe Halsten was right. Maybe he just needed to sleep for a long while and then he would forget about whatever strange phenomena happened between him and Asta.
Kaid stepped into his room and went to pull the curtains closed when he, once again, saw a figure cascading down the castle walls with ease.
He wouldn’t lose them this time.
He threw on his boots and cloak, rushing out of his suite. As he dashed through the halls, he stopped at a window that overlooked where the figure had just been and he could see them sneaking along the stone of the castle. He sprinted, getting outside in time to see a horse galloping down the roadway in the distance, the cloaked figure atop it.
Kaid went for the stables. When he got there, he chose a well-tempered chestnut gelding and threw on tack as quickly as he ever had. Once he was sure the leather straps were secure, he swept his leg over the horse and took off.
He knew he was far behind the figure, but they were heading in the direction of the village below the castle, so Kaid headed that way. Maybe he would luck out and that would be the end of his search.
The gelding he selected was fast, and seemed to enjoy the freedom of the speed as much as Kaid did. He hadn’t left the castle grounds in over a week and wondered how often the horses had an opportunity to leave, as well. The only inconvenience was that his night clothes did nothing to block out the balmy chill in the air.
When they approached the outskirts of the village, Kaid slowed the horse to a walk and entered town.
