Page 5 of Legacy of Glass
His mind raced, trying to think how to salvage the situation. The thought of abandoning the encounter didn’t even cross his mind. Putting others at ease was his job, and he had always been excellent at it.
Luckily, she had a problem that he could help fix. The entire population of Sovar had an issue with losing shoes, but Julius alone possessed the opposite skill.
“Please wait a moment and allow me to look for your missing slipper.” He attempted his most charming smile. “I have something of a knack for finding them.”
“Find my shoe?” The girl stared at him as if he’d demanded she hand over all her coin instead of offering to help. She glanced back up the hill, her face turning red.
To Julius’s chagrin, the soft flush of color that warmed the girl’s cheeks only served to make her even more appealing, while apparently he was failing utterly at redeeming himself. He had seen plenty of beautiful women at court, but somehow this fresh-faced girl had turned him into a bumbling fool. It was a new experience.
“Yes, it will likely only take a moment,” he said, trying not to let his emotion show.
Her eyes widened. “No!” she said firmly. “Absolutely not.”
Julius’s jaw dropped.
“You don’t want me to find your shoe?” He could hear the grating note in his voice, so unlike his usual self, but he couldn’t seem to stop the words. “Why ever not? Is there something wrong with it?”
He bit back the addition,Is there something wrong with you?So far he seemed to be the one behaving all wrong.
The girl’s brows drew together, and she shot another look at the top of the hill, as if she already knew where her shoe could be found.
Julius drew back. Was she playing some sort of game with him? Was that why he couldn’t find his footing with her? Was it possible she did know his identity after all, and she had some sort of agenda?
He narrowed his eyes, scanning her face for some sign of calculation or duplicity. If she was trying to draw him in, she’d chosen a strange way to go about it. And yet he couldn’t deny that she’d already gotten under his skin. He couldn’t remember the last time he had participated in such an awkward conversation.
The girl straightened in response to his scrutiny, her expression turning haughty. “I have no desire to retrieve my shoe,” she said with formality. “And I don’t need assistance to reach my home. Have a good day, sir.”
It was clearly a dismissal. He stiffened instinctively. He’d never been dismissed in such a way in his life. But he fought the feeling back and merely inclined his head in her direction. Restraint was a familiar friend, and it was far better for him to utilize it now. The entire interaction had been a disaster from start to finish, and the best he could do was retreat as promptly as possible.
“I apologize for discommoding you,” he said stiffly. “I intended only to assist.”
Turning, he hurried in the opposite direction to the girl, walking almost blindly in his haste to get away. He had always prided himself on fulfilling his role to perfection and seeing himself fail so badly shook him to his core. He was the crown prince of Sovar, and he could not afford to behave more bumbling than a newborn fool.
“Stop! Wait!” the girl called suddenly from behind him, her voice tense.
He increased his pace. All he wanted was to get far away from her. He couldn’t imagine why she would want more stilted, awkward conversation, but he certainly didn’t. Just the memory of it made the itchy feeling beneath his skin flare back to full life. He sincerely hoped he would never run into her again.
“Stop!” she shouted again, but he powered on, his head facing forward although his mind was on the girl behind him.
When he heard running footsteps, he wavered. She must already have a poor impression of him. What was more likely to make it worse—further conversation or his obvious flight? The very question hurt his pride, and he couldn’t bring himself to turn and look back at the face that had managed to strip him of his most defining attribute.
He increased his speed. He just wanted to get away and forget the whole interaction had ever happened.
The girl’s cries turned into a scream as his next step landed on uneven ground and slipped away from him. He tried to pull back, one foot extended into empty air as he finally saw what was in front of his eyes. The land in front of him fell away abruptly into empty space, the gentle slope of the hill cutting off in a sheer cliff.
His whole body teetered dangerously as he tried to recover his balance. He tipped the wrong way.
Two small hands clamped around his arm and jerked sharply, pulling him backward. His center of balance shifted, and he collapsed away from the cliff, falling to the ground and taking the unseen person with him.
He gasped, his heart racing at his near escape. He was unfamiliar with the open ground behind Manor Row, and he should have been more cautious. He knew the treacherous nature of the Sovaran landscape.
The girl—no longer holding any flowers—scuttled away from him and scrambled to her feet. Dusting herself off, she stared down at him.
He rose more slowly, his mind struggling to think clearly. He knew he needed to thank her—without her quick intervention, he would likely have gone over the edge. But what explanation could he offer for walking straight off a cliff? Or for ignoring her shouts of warning? His face warmed, and for once in his life, he struggled to find any words.
“Unbelievable,” the girl pronounced slowly, shaking her head. She picked up steam. “You’re truly unbelievable! Do you have a death wish?”
“I—” he managed to say before she shook her head and cut him off.
