Page 10 of Ruin
Wide-eyed, I looked from Zalia to him. “I’ve found you…” He paused when he saw Zalia. “Your highness.” He bowed. “Pardon the intrusion.”
“I am amid a conversation with my sister.”
He squinted under the light. “Sister? Wait, you’re a princess?”
Zalia rolled her eyes. “How do you know one another?”
I looked at Zalia. “I bumped into him in the gardens. That was all.”
“Well…” Zalia exhaled wearily. “Stay back in your room. If I found out you’ve left again for another midnight stroll, Father will rain his wrath down upon you.” She snapped her fingers at Caspian. “As you are a guest to the court, faery, you may leave us.”
He burned red, balling his fists at his sides.
“You must take my advice and stay away from this one,” she stated. “She is nothing but trouble.”
He unclenched his fists, then grinned, making me smile too. “I happen to like trouble, princess.” He spat the word like venom. He was growing on me.
Her eyebrows wrinkled. “Disgusting.” She shook her head, then pushed us apart. “I will have your chambers checked in an hour,” she warned as she walked away.
Once she was out of earshot, I let out a sigh of relief. “Thank you.”
“Princess.”
“Yes.” I flushed red.
“You left that out.”
“I’m not an important royal. I was locked away.”
“Why?”
I looked at him incredulously. “Look at me. I’m hideous.”
Confusion swept his features. “Evangeline, you are the most beautiful woman at this court. I couldn’t believe my luck when I spotted you alone, then you seemed to shy. It was surprising.”
“You must be joking. I’m a beast.” I ran my fingers over the bumps in my skin. “Every time I look in the mirror, I want to cry.”
His eyes widened, then he tapped his finger against his chin. “Have you always been, um, forgive me for using your words, hideous?”
I inhaled sharply. “No.”
“It just happened one day?”
I nodded.
“Ah. That makes sense.”
“What?” I asked.
He shot me an amused look. “I don’t see the ugliness you persist is there.”
“Don’t be kind.”
“Really. You’re beautiful.”
He paused, spending far too long staring at me. I looked away, feeling naked and vulnerable. I wished he would stop staring. “You must be cursed.” His tone was steady. Not a single shred of humor laced his words. He was being serious.
“I’m sorry?”
