Page 42 of Heir Of Sun And Moon
“Do you want to talk more about him?” he inquires softly. But this already feels more personal than I ever intended this night to go.
“Maybe another time,” I respond quietly. He nods as a different sort of tension thickens the air. It’s not fully uncomfortable but instead a mutual understanding that sometimes things are too complicated to talk about. Even if, deep down, we have the desire to do so.
“I know I’m in your debt question-wise then, but I do have one that I need to know the answer to desperately.”
“Okay,” I respond slowly, watching him. He pinches his lips together like he is fighting off a smile, and a small part of me dislikes that because his smile is like a beacon. I can’t help but be drawn to it, to indulge in it.
“Where does Bella go to the bathroom?”
“What?” I screech, rearing my head back.
He laughs as a true smile breaks across his face. And despite still feeling buried under the rubble of everything that has happened, starting with Alexi’s death, I smile a little too. His eyes immediately dart to my mouth, his own grin faltering for a moment before he looks back up to me. Magnets—it truly is like magnets how often I find myself wanting to get lost in the dark depths of his gaze. I am not sure what that says about me, or if this is a normal reaction, because I have never felt this way before. While Alexi’s presence was paternal and kind, Flynn’s is so muchmore.And as each layer of protection that I have placed around my heart starts to crack and shift at his nearness, I realize that he makes me feel a multitude of things. He gently bumps my knee again with his, and I remember I still haven’t answered him.
“She’s trained to use the toilet,” I say, nonchalantly lifting a shoulder. Flynn’s eyes grow wide before he looks at Bella.
“Truly? That’s incredible!” he exclaims, an almost childlike wonder crossing his handsome features.
I study his profile and the way the candlelight dances on each plane of his face. In the depths of my mind, I wonder what it would be like to drag my fingers over the smooth skin there. And then I shake my head at that thought because it’s so far-fetched. Not to mention forbidden. Completely and utterly forbidden.
He studies Bella for a minute longer before he sighs. “I should go,” he states, standing up and walking over to where his armor is.
I watch as he buckles the cuirass in place and secures his sheathed golden sword back around his waist. The metal gleams in the dancing firelight as I join him, the two of us walking beside each other to the door. He opens it and steps across the threshold, turning to face me.
“So, was my groveling enough?” he asks in a low voice, a teasing expression pulling on his brows and mouth. My heart skips a beat at his words and my perceived intention behind them. I must be misinterpreting something, but that look in his eye— Clearing my throat, I paste on a look of indifference that I definitely don’t feel.
“I suppose if Bella is happy with your apology, then I am as well,” I answer, gesturing towards her. We both look into the living area to find Bella sleeping peacefully on the floor.
“Then I will consider this a successful night. Goodnight, Sunshine.”
“I don’t know if I like that nickname,” I retort, watching as he walks to the stairs. He laughs, the sound tickling my ears until a grin of my own breaks free.
When I can’t hear his steps anymore, I close the door and take a moment to just stand there. I inhale a true deep breath for the first time inweeks.My mind whirls with indecision now on my plan to use Flynn for information, especially after how easily that excuse crumbled when he was near. The only thing I know for certain at this moment is that he will either be my downfall or my salvation.
Chapter Twenty-Two: Rhea
“LittleOne,youmustfocus,” he said as he placed the piece of paper back in front of me. He had written out math equations, and they might as well have been an ancient language. I couldn’t focus enough tobeginto solve them. Plus, even with the candles lit around the table, it was still so dark, and my attention kept drifting to the wiggling flames and the shadows they made.
“Why do I have to do this?” I pouted, throwing down the quill and slumping back against the couch. My head hurt, and I didn’t want to try anymore. I just wanted to go sit by the window and wait for the lanterns to float in the sky.
“Because it’s important,” he responded, taking a seat next to me and pointing to the paper. “Knowing basic math is helpful for understanding the world around you.”
I scoffed, looking at him from the corner of my eye. “Yes, very helpful from my tower to know how to do multiplication. For counting spider webs and dust bunnies,” I snarked and turned away.
I begged Alexi to take me down to the grass and the water just for a moment—just so I could feel them. But he said his blood oath to my uncle prevented him from doing so. He said that the cost would be his life, and the scar on his palm told me he wasn’t lying. Not that I ever thought he was. Alexi had been in my life for years now, and I never once believed him to be a liar. I only wished that there was a way to work around the oath so that I could leave for merely five minutes. I just wanted to step in the grass and drag my fingers across the wildflowers in the meadows surrounding the tower. Maybe dip my toes in the water.
I had asked my uncle why I couldn’t leave, and he just told me it was dangerous because the people that had killed my parents—and had tried to kill me—were still out there. He didn’t like it when I questioned him about my parents though. Often it resulted in him getting angry with me. He was scary when he got that mad.
“Rhea.” Alexi’s voice snapped me back to the present. The sun had just set, and the Summer Solstice celebration was about to begin. I wanted to go desperately, but as usual, I would be stuck watching from the tower. Well, that is if Alexi would let me skip doing this math stuff. “It’s important,” he said again, picking up the quill.
I groaned and threw my hands up in the air as I yelled, “Is it though? I don’t need to know this. I can’t even leave. You say it’s to help me understand the world around me, but I understand it well enough. It’s confined to the stones of this tower!” I waited for him to yell back, to get frustrated, as the king did. But his face just softened.
He dropped the quill on the tea table and stood. “Okay, that’s enough for tonight. Let’s go wait for the lanterns.”
Squealing, I followed him to the library, bouncing on the balls of my feet in excitement. He sat down on the bench, opening the window enough to let the fragrant summer air in. The full moon shone, and twinkling stars surrounded and waved their hello to me. Finally, the first tiny lantern dotted the sky over Vitour. Then another, and another, until the sky was full of them. They glowed like golden dots speckled against the pitch black. The silver light cast by the true stars above the lanterns completely transformed the sky, like another world had temporarily let us borrow their night. Lanterns were also released from the gardens near the front of the castle. From this angle, I could only see a few of them as they floated up higher and higher.
“I have a birthday gift for you.” Alexi’s words drew my attention from the window.
“Is it lemon loaf?” I asked, clapping my hands in anticipation.
