Page 93 of Slippers and Thorns
She looked away. “I wish your brother shared the sentiment.”
Justin sighed and patted her shoulder. “He does, he’s just…gotten distracted. We just have to get Axel to remove his annoying little sister so we can remind him.”
“That’s probably not the only problem at the moment,” Ella confessed. “Michael is convinced I’m running around with Charlie behind his back.”
“That’s absurd!” he protested. “Anyone who knows both of you knows that would never happen.”
“The rumor is all through the court,” she pointed out.
“And no one in the court knows Charlie, and most of them don’t know you,” he retorted. “My point stands.”
Ella just shook her head, not bothering to argue further.
Justin sat back on his heels. “So, any ideas on how to remind him he’s in love with you? I would suggest a ball, but the best excuse for that is the visiting delegation, and then Helena would be there.” He made a face.
“Well,” Ella began hesitantly, “there is something I tried before, but I don’t know if it actually worked or not. And I might need your help for part of it.”
“Anything. What do you need?”
Ella ran her gloved fingers over the bow next to her. “How much do you know about weapon quality?”
CHAPTER 39
Michael
M
ichael was feeling inclined to strangle his good friend, Prince Axel.
His better sense argued that he should be thanking Axel for removing temptation from his path. His current mindset didn’t care. He and Arabella were at odds again, and as long as Helena wasn’t railing about Arabella and Charlie, he truly enjoyed spending time with her. They had always been friends, after all.
Except thanks to Axel, Michael could practically count on one hand the number of words he had exchanged with Helena that day.
While his normal workload was lighter, now that his younger brother had taken on some of his duties, the visiting delegation meant more social events. At least they hadn’t been kept out to the early hours of the morning at a ball or other similar function, Michael thought grumpily as he lightly slammed his door behind him. But he was still exhausted, and the cold he’d caught at Reineggburg wasn’t helping.
He was halfway across his sitting room when he noticed something out of place.
Leaning up against his desk was a longbow and a quiver of arrows. Michael brought a candle closer to examine it. The leather grip was wrapped securely and evenly; the wood of the bow was a fine quality. Its notches at each end were perfectly spaced and sized. Next to it was a fine quiver with ten well-made arrows, and coiled on his desk was a sturdy string.
A smile spread across his face. He didn’t need a bow, of course; he had others, and he could always use one from the training fields or the armory. But it was a beautiful, quality weapon, and the thought behind the gift lifted him up after his frustrating day.
It had to have come from Helena, although he didn’t know when she could have snuck it in. He couldn’t think of anyone else bold enough to do it that would choose such a fine bow as a gift.
As he finished admiring it and set it back down, his eyes landed on his bookshelf. He hadn’t had too much time to clutter it up since returning from Reineggburg, but it certainly hadn’t been in Arabella-kept shape that morning.
Yet now, it was.
Michael frowned. Could Helena have done it when she dropped off the bow? She wasn’t known for keeping things in order; it didn’t seem like the kind of thing she would have thought of. Might he have mentioned his appreciation of Arabella doing it?
One might argue the obvious answer was that Arabella had done it. But aside from the unlikelihood of both women having slipped into his room the same evening, it was impossible for Arabella to have done it. After their fight… He shook his head. No one, not even Arabella, was that forgiving.
Although…the last time she cleaned his quarters…he had been ignoring her for weeks.
She’d left gifts then, too. Could she have—?
No, she hadn’t been doing archery long enough. She wouldn’t know the right things to look for in a bow. And that fool of a guard of hers wasn’t expert enough to have helped her. A bow was much more likely to have come from Helena.
But the bookshelf…
