Page 26 of North Queen
“But I won’t let that happen,” he assured her.
She nodded. She hoped so.
He caught her arm. “Hey”—he called her eyes to his—“I would never let anyone hurt you. Ever.”
The promise in his voice… It was personal, beyond duty, beyond sworn loyalty.
He let go of her and continued walking through the library. “Thousands of years of work are kept within these walls. We spent many hours here when we were young, reading, studying.” He stopped, growing somber, and touched a leather-bound book on the shelf. “This one you loved.”
“What is it?”
“A story—told in a collection of poems.” He pulled it from its place and held it for her. The darker dye of the leather had been worn through to the tanned softness underneath; the evidence of many readings. “It holds your favorite poem.”
“Do you know which one?” Silly question—of course he wouldn’t.
Alexander grew quiet, looking down at the book. Then he slowly opened its laced pages. He selected the passage, its final stanza, but his eyes found hers as he spoke the words.
“Sleep now, love, and wait for me
For in time, it will come to pass
That I will follow after, wrapped in rest beneath the earth—”
“Together, my darling, at last,”she whispered, finishing. Emotion rippled through her—a familiar longing, an ache deep within. She knew it. She knew this, knew the words and the feeling and meaning. She knew the story.
Alexander stood frozen, staring. His lips parted. He stepped closer. “You remember?” he breathed.
She nodded with a shaky breath. “I know it.”
“What else?” he asked, eager now. “Anything?”
But her excitement fizzled.No.Nothing else had come. No memories, not even the memory of actually reading the book, only the knowledge of it. Slowly, she shook her head.
He swallowed, straightening and stepping back, as if collecting his fallen hope. “It’s all right,” he said. “It will come.”
“Unless it doesn’t.”
Now she could see it—the sorrow. But then he snatched it back quickly, hiding it behind a wall. “It will,” he said with a face of perfect reassurance.
She looked through his words. What was he hiding behind that wall? Then she paused. “You know my favorite poem by memory?”
The countenance of perfection fell, and he swallowed. His lips parted, and his breath quickened. “Norah, I—”
The doors of the library swung open behind them, and she turned to see a man step inside. When his eyes found them, a large smile split across his lips, and he started toward them. His height, coupled with the shape of his face and jawline, gave him away almost immediately: Alexander’s brother. Adrian.
Alexander had said they’d been close. Act close… smile, she told herself.
And she smiled.
“Norah!” he called with a hearty laugh. His pace didn’t slow as he drew closer, and her heart beat faster. He moved to embrace her, but Alexander’s hand snaked out and caught him with a friendly clasp on the shoulder, halting the young man under the guise of affection.
“Adrian,” Alexander said as he pulled his brother closer to him and looked at Norah. It was a subtle effort to introduce him.
Adrian looked at Alexander, clearly confused. Then he found a bit of formality, no doubt from his brother’s chastising eye. He smiled awkwardly as he bowed. “Princess Norah,” he said with a slight stiffness.
She wasn’t sure how to respond. “Lord Adrian.”
Adrian’s brow creased. Her words felt wrong as soon as they rolled off her lips. But he was a lord, wasn’t he? Too formal, maybe?Damn it.
