her at all. Rather, I shall worry if my toes will hold up against you.”
Her eyes widened, and she backed away from me as if I had the plague. “Sorry!”
I laughed.
“Gale!”
Grabbing her hand, I spun her back into my arms and held her tightly. Instead of dancing, however, I moved us to the edge.
“This is my favorite garden in the palace,” I whispered into her ear. “They were given to my father by the Japanese emperor for his coronation. In the emperor’s letter to my father, he wrote, ‘may your reign see their full blossoming thrice over.’ My father would often bring me here to watch them. I was annoyed because they took so long to grow, so I stopped coming with him, and then one day, I was walking through the eastern garden and looked over. All I saw was a sea of pink petals. They were everywhere. And my father was standing with my mother, grinning and laughing with her because he’d seen the first full bloom after thirty years. It was wondrous, so wondrous, in fact, that I made sure no matter what happened, I’d always be home in time to see them bloom.”
She leaned back against me, rocking with me slightly. “That’s sweet. But I have to admit that it’s so strange to me.”
“What?”
“Coronation gifts from Japanese emperors. That type of stuff was only ever in history books, and now it’s in front of me.”
“Yeah, we are living history.”
“Have you thought about what they will give you?” she whispered.
I held on to her tighter, taking in the scent of her, and the cherry blossoms before shaking my head.
“You do not ever want to think of being king, do you?” she asked.
“Being king means my father is gone, and my brother is gone. Being king means something went wrong. The spare is supposed to be a spare. The heir is supposed to be the next king. I did not even want to think of the day Arthur would be king. It was hard enough for me when he was the Adelaar. But I did my best to obey, to not get jealous or resent him. Instead, I completely and utterly looked away. I left all the work for him and my father. Any time they would ask me, I would joke and tease and make my escape. I didn’t want to think about it. And now...”
“There is no escape.”
I nodded, kissing her shoulder. “It almost feels like some sort of twisted karma. Like, had I been greedier, more invested, had I wanted it more, Arthur would have lived.”
“Gale, nothing you could have done would have changed anything,” she said, gently turning around in my arms. “It is not your fault. I do not care what anyone says. Or how little you paid attention before. You are a good person. You are a good brother and a good—”
“And a good lover?”
She pinched my cheek. “And you will be a good king.”
“And you will be a good queen.”
“Ugh.” She hunched over and rested her head on my chest.
“What?” I laughed. “You can tell me, but I can’t you?”
“It’s just a big word. Queen. It makes all of me want to go hide.” Her shoulders tensed like she wished to hide back into her body.
“If you can find a place, let me know.” I laughed, brushing the free strands of hair from her face. Though it also reminded me. “Don’t think about the burdens only. You’ll have some freedoms too.”
“Like?”
“Wearing your hair as you choose?”
She paused for a moment before reaching up to brush the strands back herself. “You don’t like it this way? Everyone else says it looks better straight.”
“You could shave your head, and I’d still love you, Odette,” I replied, lifting her chin and forcing her to look at me. “I just want you to love you too.”
“You and your lines.”
“Romantic, aren’t I?”
She rolled her eyes. “If you were really romantic, you would have kissed me already.”
“Forgive me,” I said, and before she could reply, I brought her lips to mine, wrapping my arms around her.
Yes, it had been a hard day, but these moments made it all worthwhile. And slowly, what started as an innocent kiss became much more than that. I pressed her up against the columns, my hand rising to cup her breast through the material of her dress
“Gale,” she muttered against my lips.
“Bevilën,” I replied, wanting nothing more than to lift her dress.