Page 127 of Enchanted Heir
She gave me a nod. “That is information for you to share with her, and I will be there for her when she needs it. I promise you that.”
“Stop crying, Jorah,” Silvia added, reaching in to pat my shoulder.
Flora patted at my eyes as she pulled away. “Yes. You’ll ruin your makeup.”
I choked on a laugh. “Well at least after today I’ll be back to just one of the two of you bossing me around.”
Silvia giggled.
Flora rubbed my shoulders and spun me toward my reflection in the long mirror in the bathroom. “This woman standing here has shook Wylan to its core. You didn’t just prove to the country that a Nerede woman was worthy of being in the castle,” she paused, her voice cracking, “You proved to the country that the castle isn’t worthy of her.”
My eyes were on Flora’s in the reflection, wondering for half a moment if Flora was a disloyal.
Silvia wiped at her own eyes. “Yep, okay. We will just redo the makeup later.”
I hugged Flora hard. “Stay safe. Thank you for the gown and your time here.”
She pulled back, smiling at me. “I’m sorry it was a rough time for you, but I had a blast creating something for all of Wylan to see. Keep fighting for a better world, Jorah.”
With one last hug, she was gone, back to Nerede.
I could be following in her footsteps in a few short weeks, or I could be embarking on a totally different journey with Krew.
I had shown up at this castle with only one goal: avoid the princes at all costs.
And now I’d wear a fancy crown, all the pompous gowns, or even a potato sack if I had to, if only it meant I’d have more time with Krew.
CHAPTER32
Fully dressed and ball-ready, I was waiting for Krew, somewhat forgetting that at balls I should go down alone. But I had attempted to use the paintbrush he’d somehow snagged this morning to go through another of his mother’s journals. I hadn’t found any new messages. It took me significantly longer than Krew to find the pages where the twins were mentioned because I hadn’t read them all multiple times.
Krew said there were about twenty journals too. This was going to be an arduous process of looking through the journals and going page by page for more messages from his mother.
I heard the door open and moved to put the waterglass and paintbrush away. Krew didn’t want The Six to know about this yet. The only other people who knew were Keir and Owen. So I didn’t want to leave anything out, going so far as to pick up the journal I was working on and placing it to dry on the footrest of the chair.
I heard Krew’s breath catch where he was taking off his tailcoat.
I smirked as I finished making my way to the footrest. “There is no need to look so aghast.”
He was before me in record speed. “On the contrary, there is every reason to look aghast.” He made all the space between us vanish.
But instead of his kiss being hurried like I had expected, it was instead slow and gentle. Which was possibly even more distracting than his rushed ones.
“Krew,” I warned as he moved to kiss my bare shoulder. “You will make us both late for the ball.”
“What ball?” he murmured against my skin.
I laughed and shoved at him. “Krew.”
“Hmm?”
“Go shower,” I offered. “I should probably head down, I just wanted to try one more journal passage while I waited for you.”
“Anything?”
I shook my head. “No, but we’ve been so busy today, I have only had time to check two spots.”
He kissed my other shoulder. “It is going to take some time. We have all day tomorrow. And then the following day we planned a trip to Nerede.” He paused. “Would you still like to go?”
