Page 38 of A Curse of Hope and Shadows: Part I
His mood darkened, and all the brightness she’d brought into his room vanished in an instant.
It was going to be a long day indeed.
Adeline returned the following day, bright and chipper as ever.
“Good morning!” she said, putting down her tray.
Dimitri muttered something back.
Adeline frowned as she dotted about the room, tidying things up, mumbling something about the state he’d managed to make it in a day.
He couldn’t quite remember how he’d filled the hours without her, only that they had taken forever to pass and he’d shown a complete disregard for everything else in the meantime.
“Did you have a nice day off?” he asked eventually.
“Alovelyday,” she replied, her smile stretching on forever. “We—”
“Good,” he snapped. “That’s good.”
Adeline paused in her folding and sat down on the bed he’d yet to vacate. “You’re in a mood today. What’s wrong? Talk to me.”
“It’s... it’s silly.”
“If it’s got you so worked up, I doubt it.”
He hated that, hated how patient and reasonable she was being, when he’d spent the past day being bitter and foul, thinking dark thoughts about this probable suitor of hers. Of course she wouldn’t mention it. It wasn’t like she was his friend, after all. Why would she?
He stared up at Adeline, who was still waiting for an answer. “It’s just... do you... do you have a sweetheart?”
Adeline’s cheeks reddened. “What?”
“A sweetheart, or a beau, or... you aren’t… you aren’t engaged, are you? You’ve never mentioned anything about—”
“Why on earth would you think—”
“I saw you with a boy the other day.”
“A boy? You mean... Elliott?”
“I guess? Who is he?”
Adeline burst out laughing. “Do you want to meet him?”
“What?”
“Elliott. Do you want to meet him?”
“Not if he’s your sweetheart, no.”
At this, Adeline laughed harder. “I don’t have a sweetheart, I assure you. No time for that nonsense. So, I repeat, want to go for a walk and see where I spent yesterday?”
“But what if he–”
“He won't, trust me. And neither will the others.”
“The others?”
“You’ll see.”
