Page 38 of The Ice Prince's Fated Mate
I only smiled wider. “Must have taken quite a bit of force to move it like that.”
“Shut up, okay?” Anna whispered, begging for me to drop the subject.
“Everything okay?” Caz grunted in our direction, looking up from where he had been talking in low tones to Dirk.
I smiled at him. “It sounds like everything is fine. I was just …”
Anna laughed and put a hand over my mouth. “She was just stirring things up is what she was going to say.”
Caz stood up straight, his forehead creasing as he looked back and forth between us. When we didn’t offer anything more, he shrugged at Dirk and shook his head. The exasperated “women” went unspoken, but it was clear nonetheless.
Anna and I laughed.
“What’s so funny?” Milly said, coming down the stairs now, escorted by Durion.
“Nothing,” Anna said.
“I was just admiring the big, heavy desk in Caz’s private study,” I replied innocently. “And how it happens to be out of position.”
Milly frowned and looked down at the desk, then up at me, and then to Ella. A handful of seconds later her face lit up. “Yeah. It seems everything is big around here.”
I giggled again, trying to stifle it with a hand, but Milly joined in, and even Anna was forced to laugh about it.
Does Dirk have a study?
My laughter disappeared all at once at the image of Dirk, verynakedDirk, and me … moving a desk like this. Saliva disappeared, leaving my mouth, at least, very dry.
“Good, you’re here,” Caz said as Kolar trotted down the stairs, the last of our flight to arrive. “Kolar, go find Florian. Have him meet me in the throne room.”
“On it,” Kolar said, hurrying off in a blur of braided black hair and matching eyes.
“Dirk, you and Durion please get the women settled in quarters. Private wing, you know the deal. When you’re done, Dirk, join me in the throne room. We’ve got planning to do.”
Everyone started to move, but I clutched on to Anna’s arm. “I don’t want to leave you.”
“Same,” Milly said.
Anna smiled, patting my hand. “I have to go be all political with Caz. Ice Tyrantess. I can’t avoid that.”
“Oh. Right.” I let her go.
“They’ll put you in rooms very close, though. I won’t be busy all the time. We’ll go find the library tomorrow. Okay?”
Milly and I both brightened at the idea of spending a day in the library, trying to research what was going on with us and whether it could be applied to the other Clippys out there.
I walked beside Dirk, trying not to gape too hard at the trappings of the citadel, but it was a challenge. From the huge, arched hallways covered in fine carpets and the magnificent paintings, tapestries, and statues that lined them to the liberal use of stained glass, it was beautiful.
“My brother has worked hard to transform it since our father died,” Dirk explained as Durion and Milly stopped at her door. “It used to be dark, with only torches at intersections, and often even then they were extinguished. Now it is lit all the time, everywhere. A brighter future starts here.”
Despite the richness of it all, I still wasn’t prepared when Dirk opened the next door. “And these will be your quarters.”
I stared through the opening. “Dirk, you could fit houses in here.”
“This is just the foyer. You have two bedrooms, each with their own shower and bathroom. There’s also a sitting room if you have the girls over and a study. I’ll have some blank journals sent over, in case you want to write.”
“Uh-huh. Okay,” I said dreamily, still trying to grasp the size of the suite. It felt like half the chalet could fit inside, and my room there had been massive. This was just on another level.
“Is it adequate?”
