A Thousand Heartbeats

I knew I wouldn’t be caught, but I moved quickly all the same. Lennox’s legs were longer than mine, so he didn’t seem ruffled by my pace.

“Don’t let it bother you,” he said. “There are other things to concentrate on. I know you did your best to get the book, and I’m thankful.”

I rounded on him, smirking. “Are you still underestimating me, Lennox Au Sucrit?”

His stare was both amused and confused as I continued.

“I told you that Rhett taught me to pick locks. In fact, it’s become one of my favorite hobbies. But the ones holding down those books are heavy, so it’s going to take a little more than a hairpin to open them. So, I can either go scouring the palace to find the right tool . . . or I could just practice the other skill Rhett taught me . . .”

I lifted my hand to reveal a key dangling from my finger.

“Which is picking pockets.”

He stared at the key, dumbfounded. “How? When?”

I giggled. “When I took his hand. I just had to be close enough.”

Lennox looked so painfully impressed. I didn’t know what I was going to do when he chose the crown over me.

“You really are a spectacular woman.”

I tilted my head. “Ah. You’ve been good at appraising me since our childhood. You’re only getting better.”

He let out a chuckle as I turned to take us both up to the rooms I was using to work.

“You should hold on to the key,” I told him, handing it over. “If we go very late, we should be able to get in and out without him knowing the better. No one visits that library half so much as me, so he shouldn’t notice the key is gone. If for some reason I can’t go, perhaps you should go with Palmer. I’ll feel much better if you aren’t alone.”

He seemed amused by my concern. “If you insist.”

He trailed behind me like a shadow, quiet and steady, but I knew his thoughts had to be racing like a wildfire.

I told myself that this was only righting a wrong. And if Lennox and his army swept in and claimed the kingdom, my life would be easier, right? I wouldn’t have to marry Nickolas, for starters. And there was a lot of protocol, a lot of expectations. I didn’t always bear them gracefully, so maybe it would be good in some ways. . . .

But all I could think of was that the home I’d always known, the kingdom I’d always served, was not only going to be lost under my watch but at my own hands. And, most painfully, I would most certainly lose Lennox in the process.

As we moved down the hallway, I saw Nickolas emerging from my workroom, walking at a very quick pace himself. He took one glance at me, then kept walking. He didn’t even stop to either offer or demand an apology after the fiasco this morning.

“Halt!”

I stopped in my tracks, turning at Lennox’s voice. Shockingly enough, Nickolas did as well.

“Are you going to acknowledge your sovereign?” he asked, glaring at Nickolas.

Nickolas scoffed, looking between Lennox and me. “How dare you even speak to me without my permission?”

“Decorum demands that you, at the very least, tip your head to your princess. Instead, you walk past her as if she were a commoner. If that’s how you treat her, how do you act toward those without any rank at all?”

Lennox’s question pierced me. His assessment of Nickolas’s character was exactly what I hadn’t been able to put into words.

If Nickolas could so easily disrespect me when I was all but queen, how would he have treated those we were charged with caring for?

He would never consider their needs. I could see it now as clearly as a sunrise. Nickolas had always been a straight line, pointed like an arrow. And his attention was always aimed toward himself.

“Officer Au Sucrit, no need to trouble this gentleman,” I said, slightly dazed from figuring out something that ought to have been obvious.

But Nickolas was unfazed. “Seeing as you are without rank, I don’t need to give you an answer. And you should master a level of decorum yourself before daring to preach to me. Besides, she’s the one who’s forsaken me.” Nickolas moved back, sneering at Lennox. “Au Sucrit. What kind of a name is that?”

He shook his head and walked away.

He truly was everything I’d said no to in the first place.

As Nickolas disappeared into the distance, I placed a hand on Lennox’s arm. “You really didn’t need to do that. He doesn’t bother me.”

“He bothers me,” he replied. “Even if you weren’t engaged to him, which makes me hate him in ways I cannot express, I wouldn’t want that man anywhere near me. I really wish you’d let me kill him.”

I shook my head. “You need a new hobby.”