Page 74 of House of Pawns
“No more anticipation,” Markov says. “And you will move onto the rest of your life.”
“The next great adventure,” Lillian says.
Slowly, very slowly, I feel my heartbeat slow. My anxiety ebbs. And that calm, unafraid demeanor I held such a good grasp on for so many weeks returns.
My eyes slide open.
“Thank you,” I breathe.
X TAKES HER TIME TOURING the House. She instructs Rath who will be put where. The King will be traveling with eight others, in addition to the three that are here now. She deems the room we set up for Cyrus adequate. Though, she warns me he will likely wish to share my room soon after my resurrection.
That makes my heart rate spike.
She keeps herself busy with Rath for hours with plans for food and banquets and snow removal.
I have to do nothing at all.
But sit and wait.
One o’clock.
Three o’clock.
Five o’clock.
I sit very calmly in the library, facing the portrait of my father. My eyes study his face. Our same eyebrows. Our similar lips. The dark hair. His stern eyes.
I wish he had some advice for me.
Then again, I suppose I do have some. Given in the form of a letter when I very first arrived.
Stay away from the Royals. Stay away from the King.
But how did he ever think I could accomplish that? Knowing I was a daughter. A son would possibly have been a different story. But nothing will keep the King away from his Queen.
I could never have run from this.
The grandfather clock strikes six o’clock.
And four seconds later, there is a heavy knock on the door.
My pulse skyrockets. My hands sweat as I stand, my House members rising with me. My heels click across the marble floorin the entryway.
I take one breath, calming myself with my hand rested on the doorknob. And then I open it.
A dark, handsome face with dark eyes, dressed in leather and grandeur stands outside in the dark and snow.
Our eyes meet.
“Hello, Alivia,” King Cyrus says.
Chapter
Twenty-Six
ISTAND THERE, ENCHANTED FOR a long moment.
I did not expect Cyrus to look so young. Or so striking.
