The Snow Prince - Raleigh Ruebins Page 0,14

and dropping them on the table.

“Goodness! All four—”

“Only the best for you, Princess Emma. But something’s come up, and I’d like to leave, now.”

“Oh,” Emma said, surprised. She smiled as she picked up her four small canvases, though. “Thank you so, so very much. And your work is beautiful,” she told the artist before we walked away.

I needed to get home. I needed to be alone in my wing of the castle, with a hefty glass of scotch, to calm the storm that had been kicked up inside me. I strode toward the far edge of the lot where Xavier had been holding my car, tucked away safely at the side of the parking lot. I ripped my leather gloves from my hands, suddenly feeling like I was boiling in my winter clothes.

As I approached the car, my chest tightened.

There was someone standing near the car.

Not near it. Leaning on it. Someone dressed in flannel, someone who couldn’t have been Henry but definitely was Henry.

I really was going to lose my mind today.

“Sir. Sir,” Xavier was saying as he got out of the driver’s side of the car and stormed over to the opposite side.

It was him. Leaning on the side of my car with his arms crossed, frowning down at the ground as he kicked a rock with his boot. The car had cost more money than any house in the village, and Henry was casually leaning on it like it was nothing more than a stack of dusty boxes.

He didn’t move an inch as Xavier started flailing, cursing at him and threatening to call various authorities.

And I felt an electricity inside me that I hadn’t felt in eleven years.

I loved it.

I loved that the expensive car didn’t mean shit to Henry. I loved that he was ignoring my driver.

I loved that as I walked over, Henry’s gaze glanced upward, and he met my eyes completely unwaveringly.

“Sebastian,” he said as I approached the car.

“That is no way to speak to the Prince,” Xavier spat. Henry didn’t even notice.

“Henry,” I said.

“You know this man?” Xavier said, and I managed to muster a nod. He rolled his eyes and begrudgingly turned and made his way back inside the car.

“Why are you here?” I asked.

“My mom died,” Henry said, staring at me like he wanted a challenge.

“Oh,” I said, deflating slightly. “I’m so sorry to hear that.”

“It was a peaceful death, in her sleep,” he said. “I’m here to fix up her house and sell it as fast as I can.”

I nodded. “Right. Well, I meant, why are you leaning against four hundred thousand dollars worth of luxury vehicle?”

His eyes narrowed for a split second.

“You into cars now, huh, Sebastian?” he asked, looking me up and down, his gaze so searing it felt like he might roast me alive.

“Just wanted you to know what you were doing,” I said, challenging him right back.

“I’m here, leaning on your precious luxury vehicle, because as soon as I saw you, I knew you were going to try to avoid me,” Henry said, his eyes never leaving mine, pure emerald-green fire. “I just wanted to make you do it straight to my face.”

I breathed in sharp, chilly air through my nostrils.

“I’ve never avoided—”

He puffed out a bitter laugh. “Quit the bullshit while you’re ahead.”

My jaw clenched. His words stung in a way I hadn’t felt in a long time.

“Fine,” I said, lifting an eyebrow. “Then get in the car.”

I knew he wouldn’t do it.

I held his gaze long enough to see the brief flash of shock that even Henry couldn’t hide. I had no idea what Henry had been expecting confronting me at my car, but it clearly wasn’t an invitation.

I looped around to the other side of the car, sliding into the long, leather back seat. Genoveve was already in the front passenger seat, and Princess Emma followed me, sitting at my left.

He wouldn’t do it. There was no way Henry would get in this car.

But then the door on the right of me swung open, and Henry landed on the far side of the seat, closing the door after him.

He smelled like pine and clean sweat and the promise of everything that had been missing from my life for eleven agonizingly long years. His body was all bulk, fitting in the back seat of the car awkwardly. He stretched out his legs, then pulled them back in again, like he didn’t quite know where to put them. I was so aware of how close