A Thousand Heartbeats

I finally, truly slept. With Annika a heartbeat away, it was easy. She’d rolled over in the night, and I was now staring at the most angelic face in history, her cheek on my arm. She was warm and, most important, alive, and this gave me rest I hadn’t had since we’d fallen asleep together in the cave.

To be fair, she also had the most wonderful bed, and I fully intended to keep it when I . . .

When I what? Was I really going to attempt to take her kingdom now?

She let out a long breath in her sleep. She’d done this in the cave; I remembered it. I liked how her hair managed to twist up above her head, little ringlets of hazy gold. Looking at Annika made me think I’d wasted all my talent on a sword. I should have picked up a paintbrush instead. I should have known how to take this face and put it on canvas for the world. They had no idea what they were missing.

A little frown appeared between her eyebrows and she curled in closer, her knees wrapping up into my stomach, her head coming down to my chest, her hands crossed between us. How could someone so small have such a presence?

She inhaled deeply, and I knew she was waking up. I smiled, so happy I already knew this about her, and I wondered how many more of her little habits I could learn over a lifetime.

“You’re here,” she said groggily.

“I told you I would be. I’ve done many terrible things, Annika, but I’ve never lied to you.”

She looked up, her sweet, sleepy face pleased. “True.”

“I don’t know when you need to start your day, but I certainly wasn’t going to wake you.”

She pushed herself up, hair messy, dress wrinkled. “It never really stops, so it never really starts.”

“Oh,” I said, wrapping an arm around her waist. “Then you can stay.”

I gave a gentle tug, and she came back down with a giggle. If she’d been even the tiniest bit louder, we might not have heard the commotion by the door.

“Sir, I’m sorry. Her Highness isn’t awake yet.” Palmer’s voice was clear as a bell, and Annika and I both bolted upright.

“I will see my bride this moment,” someone replied. And seeing as I was already in her arms, I could only assume it was Dear Nickolas standing outside.

“Under the bed,” Annika whispered urgently.

I hopped off the bed and rolled beneath it. I couldn’t see much due to the copious ruffles hanging down, but I hoped that it would also keep anyone from seeing me. It wasn’t the slightest bit dusty under here. Even her corners were perfectly tidy. And when I looked up, I saw two pegs strategically built into her frame, and upon it, her sword. I smiled, feeling almost giddy. Annika was hiding all her secrets in the same place now.

I saw Annika’s dress hit the floor in a heap and caught the hem of her robe being scooped up.

“Ah!” she said suddenly, and a second later my bag, coat, and cape were hurled at my face. I clutched them, dragging them and myself deeper beneath the frame. A second later, my sword was slid across the ground, and I grabbed it, too, removing the very end from the sheath, so I’d be ready if the need arose.

“Please, sir. Her Highness has been pushing herself far too hard in the last few days especially. You of all people ought to be looking out for her welfare,” Palmer insisted.

I liked that man more and more by the minute.

“How dare you? Do you have any idea—”

“You may let him in, Officer Palmer,” Annika called, effectively ending the argument.

I heard the door open and the sound of shoes. “Forgive me, Your Highness. I didn’t mean to wake you,” Palmer said.

“Not at all,” she replied. The cool tone in her voice was strange, so different from the girl I knew. But it wasn’t completely unfamiliar; I’d heard her speak that way when I marched her into Vosino.

“When you’re finished giving the duke an audience, I have a parcel for you. I was instructed to give it to you privately.”

“Thank you. I will tend to it shortly.”

A single pair of feet moved from the room. I straightened my head and closed my eyes, taking silent, calming breaths. If I was somehow found out, I had to be ready to strike.

Dear Nickolas huffed. “There’s an apple on your floor.”

I could sense Annika’s anger in her silence. After a painfully long time, she breathed out a long sigh.

“I appreciate your care, Nickolas, but I prefer not to be awakened by shouts outside my door.”

“The shouts were that insolent guard’s doing,” he replied calmly. “I had no such intentions until he refused me.”

I heard her bare feet walking over to the basin. “Officer Palmer is trying to keep me safe; we can’t be too cross with him.”

“But safe from what?” he asked. “He has given me no insight as to what we’re supposed to be looking out for. How can I protect you if I don’t know? Why are there so many secrets around you these days? Unknown threats. Strange parcels. Is there anything else I don’t know about?”

She let out a bubble of a laugh, which she tried to quickly cover with a cough. I bit my lips, trying not to laugh myself.

Ah, Nickolas, you’re an idiot.

“I hate to disappoint you,” she began, “but there will always be things you can’t know. It’s simply the nature of my life.”

Bravo, my girl.

There was another charged silence.

“Then shall I keep what I know from you? Is that how a husband and wife behave?” Nickolas asked, his tone still measured.

Then shall I murder you? Talk like that one more time . . .

“I will ask you to please check your misguided anger. This sounds very close to a threat, and I will remind you that you are my subject. Whatever issues you take with the nature of my work, my position deserves some level of respect.”

“I . . . why do you keep picking fights with me, Annika?”

I rolled my eyes at the accusation. He was the one instigating here.

“I came to tell you something urgent,” he went on. “You scold me for showing up, keep me at arm’s length, and then belittle me? What man could tolerate such treatment?”

First, you’re twisting this entire situation. Second, I’d be on my knee before Annika Vedette every morning given the chance.

“There isn’t such a man,” he insisted, answering his own pathetic question. “With everything that’s going on, with how badly this monarchy has been hit, what happens if I walk away, Annika?”

Personally? I’d throw a festival. But I don’t currently have the funds.

“Nickolas, you are not welcome in my chambers, either private or professional. Do not come into my presence again until you receive an invitation.”

“What?!”

Yes!

“You may see yourself out,” she instructed. “And as for what happens if I don’t marry you? I’ll marry someone else. Someone who loves me; someone who wants me.”

Someone conveniently hidden under her bed.

I could hear the coldness in his voice as he answered her. “No one could ever want you more than I do.”

I heard her sigh as he walked away, the door closing behind him.

I poked my head out from under the bed. “He’s incredibly manipulative.”

“Is he?” she asked, still looking at the door. “Sometimes I wonder if I let my emotions get the better of me. We were both pushed into this, after all.”

“No. You were perfect.” She still wasn’t looking at me. “Do you want me to kill him?”

“No,” she sighed, crossing her arms.

I huffed. “Well, can I kill him anyway?”

“No!” she insisted, finally turning to look at me.

I smiled, showing I mostly meant no harm, and the tension around her melted. My Annika was back.

“You’re in a rather playful mood today,” she commented.

“I spent the night in the arms of the woman I love. What’s there to be unhappy about?”

She was beaming at that, shaking her head. There was another knock at the door, and I quickly dashed back under the bed.

“Come in.”

“Just me,” Palmer announced, and I popped my head back out in relief. “Your Highness, I’m so sorry. I tried to be loud, to give you time. I have this for Lennox,” he said, tossing a parcel on the ground by the bed. “I took a guess at what your plan might be, Highness. If I’m wrong, I can return these.”

I crawled out and opened the package. Inside were clothes that looked identical to what Palmer was wearing.

“You guessed well. Of course, it’s up to Lennox.”

She understood I’d have reservations, but I knew there was no better way to stay by her side. Only Annika, Palmer, and Nickolas knew my face for certain. The first two were allies, and the third had just been banished, so I’d be as anonymous as I could hope to be. Besides, by now, Blythe had certainly wound up Kawan, and we were all in danger. I had to be by Annika’s side no matter what.

“What do you say?” Palmer asked. “Will you wear it?”

I looked up at him from the ground. “Happily.”