Page 12 of Turret

“He’s my guard. It’s his duty.” Not to mention his favorite pastime.

“Do you really think his behavior issolelyfrom duty?” She gave me a challenging look, one that for some reason caused my pulse to palpitate.

“What do you mean?” My voice wavered.

She smirked as she returned to her sewing. “I’ve had a suspicion for quite a while that the man views you asmorethan a princess or even a woman to protect…” She lifted her gaze and met mine straight on. “The man is in love with you.”

I startled, even as my heart performed some rather interesting acrobatics in my chest at her words. A strange feeling settled over me, one that felt almost like…hope. But it vanished almost immediately, forced out by my disbelief.

“You think my guard is in love with me?” I kept my voice low considering the man in question was certainly standing guard outside my door, despite there being absolutely no chance of danger befalling me while confined to my room. The last thing I wanted was to risk him overhearing such a ridiculous suspicion from my handmaiden.

“I don’t think, Iknow. Not only have I spent years observing your guard’s behavior, but I’m in love myself and know how a man behaves when he’s in love in return.”

For a moment her look became wistful at the mention of her fiancé, Corbin, back at the Malvagarian Palace. The two had only been engaged for a few weeks before she’d become trapped with me, causing her to spend the past three years wondering whether or not he would still be there when she finally returned…if she ever did.

“He’s waiting for you.” It was an assurance I gave often, even though it was one I could only hope was true.

Her soberness cleared as she pushed her emotions away and returned her attention to me. “Of course he is.” But with each passing week, she sounded less certain. “But we’re not discussing me and my beau, but you andyours.”

She gave me an expectant look, awaiting my response, but I found I had no words. I was both stunned by her assessment and, admittedly, rather embarrassed. “You can’t be correct.”

Her eyebrows rose. “You doubt me?”

“I—it’s just that—this isQuinn. He’s my guard. He’s like…my brother.” But the word didn’t feel quite right, though I didn’t currently have a better one to describe our relationship.

She rolled her eyes. “Even if that’s what you feel towards him, he certainly doesn’t feel the same way towards you. You’re rather oblivious to the world around you, but try paying better attention and you’ll see that I’m right.”

Anxiety, never far away, rose, almost crowding out the strange warmth that came from the thought of Quinn caring for me in such a way, a pleasant feeling I was too afraid to analyze.

I forced myself to push it from my mind and lean my head back to take my long-awaited nap, but sleep wouldn’t come. Rather than my mind being filled with sleep or even the horrible images the tower had shown me, instead they were filled with Quinn—the fierce worry that often overshadowed his expression, his sweet longing for something more for me, his anger towards the tower for hurting me, his attentive nursing…couldthey stem from something deeper than devotion?

I gave my head a rigid shake. I was being ridiculous, forcing myself to connect dots that weren’t there. Why had Melina put such a foolish idea into my head? She couldn’t possibly be right. Quinn was my guard and thus only saw me as a sickly princess to protect and care for, and I was too afraid to even hope for the possibility that perhaps he’d be the first man to finally see somethingmore.

Chapter 5

Ishifted restlessly as I watched Melina and Quinn bustle about the kitchen preparing dinner, a meal that was certain to be meager considering the tower had yet to replenish the missing food supplies or the garden that had vanished without a trace.

“Are you certain I can’t help?” I asked for the dozenth time, unable to bear sitting about doingnothing, which as usual seemed to be my default state, one I’d grown to despise.

Melina gave a firm shake of her head. “We have it well in hand, Your Highness.”

“But—” I protested.

“You overexerted yourself earlier and must rest.” Her voice was firm, unrelenting. “Besides, kitchen tasks fall under the duties of a servant, not a princess.”

Without another word she turned back to her work, ending our argument as the usual victor. I silently cursed the walk I’d taken earlier, the first I’d been allowed since the day I’d discovered the mirror room. It had only been a short stroll through the tower corridors, a much-needed chance to escape the confines of my room, but it had left me slightly breathless.

My companions had wasted no time leading me to a kitchen chair, where I was currently trapped. My only consolation in being forced to sit in the kitchen was that at least this room provided much more interesting scenery than what could be found in my bedroom, including…

Once again my gaze was drawn to Quinn, one of the subjects I was finding increasingly diverting, only because he provided a puzzle I had yet to solve.

Try as I might, I couldn’t get Melina’s suspicions out of my mind. I’d been watching him rather obsessively the past several days, stealing several subtle glances so he wouldn’t notice. It was strange we’d been trapped together for so long but I’d paid him so little attention, treating his presence like any other tower feature.

But I was paying him more than a little attention now. It’d become a quest of sorts, a way to fight the monotony my life had become. I felt like an investigator gathering clues as to the mystery of my guard’s true feelings and whether they ran deeper than the loyalty of a faithful protector.

I wasn’t entirely sure what my purpose in such a venture was. Discovering he harbored romantic feelings towards me would lead to nothing. After all,Icertainly didn’t care for him in that way…didn’t I? The fact I had no ready answer was yet another impossible riddle to solve.

I sensed his gaze and glanced up to find that Quinn had paused in his task of chopping vegetables in order to watch me, his brow furrowed in concern. I offered him what I hoped was a reassuring smile, but by his deepening frown I could tell he wasn’t fooled. As usual the man knew me well, a fact that surely only came from his serving me for seven years rather than because he wanted to know me on a deeper level.

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