Page 126 of Tall, Royal and Grumpy

“I think he would really like that,” I said, already picturing it in my head.

She huffed. “The arrogant man would be so smug about it. But he deserves it after everything he’s done for me. And maybe I’m also trying to make up for the fact I asked him to hide our relationship for longer than I should have.

“I thought I was waiting for the right moment to tell Sher, knowing how he felt about his father, but I think I was also a little bit scared of what people would say about me too.” Her lips tipped to one side in a gentle smile. “It’s not the easiest fear to get over, is it?”

“No, it’s not.”

“But. It’s also very liberating to take what you want too.” She raised her brows in question. “So, my dearest—what do you want?”

The answer was simple.

I wanted Kai.

Chapter Thirty-Six

ESMERALDA

Kai hadn’t returned to the palace by dinner, but Fay told me he was still at Trevor’s house with Pierre. I was relieved to know he was with his friends and not by himself, but despite wanting to, I hadn’t messaged him to ask when he would be back. I chose to wait for him instead.

I was sitting up against the headboard of my bed, the black t-shirt I’d taken from Kai in my lap, when the first, light patter of rain started. The curtains were drawn over the windows and balcony doors, but my gaze immediately jumped between them.

As the quickening drum of the droplets hit the glass, something in my gut clicked into place, flashing a symphony of lights through me.

I had been waiting for the right moment. This had to be it.

I swiftly moved to the edge of the mattress and pulled Kai’s T-shirt over my head. It fell down over my pyjama shorts as I stood up. Not bothering to waste a second more with slippers, I left.

I didn’t rush as I walked down to the garden doors, but I didn’t exactly take my time either. The same way I wasn’t nervous, but there was a restless jitter in my hands I couldn’t seem to stop. But when the arched doors came into sight, a calm certainty settled over me.

I was in the right place.

The night guard I’d seen most nights, Raj, wasn’t there. It was a young black man who looked at me as if I had told him to hit me when I asked him to open the garden doors.

“Your Highness, I, uh…without seeming to overstep, Touma’s winter showers are cold and you’re, uh…” His eyes dipped down my bare legs to the white socks on my feet and back up to my face. “A coat might be better to, uh—I mean if, Ma’am, you’re sure you want to go outside.”

“I’ll be fine without a coat.”

“Uh…okay.” He unhooked the keys from the belt loop of his crisp black slacks and unlocked both sides of the arched doors.

The cold, wet air flew across my bare skin when he pulled one side open for me. He shuddered as I stepped straight into the light shower.

Goosebumps sparked all over my arms and legs when the raindrops splattered against me, soaking into the soles of my socks, and sucking the anxious heat right out me. I made my way over to the tall, black lamp lighting up the bench beneath it. The same one Kai had found me sitting on that second sleepless night.

“You shouldn’t be out here.”

My ribcage exploded upon hearing the deep, clear voice behind me, giving my heart the freedom to clatter around my body.

The wet undersides of my socks were glued to the gravel path and yet I spun around so easily as if I was skating on ice to face the man of my dreams. Maybe if he forgave me, the man of my future.

Kai had the hood of his jumper pulled up over his hair, but there was enough light for me to see the wide-eyed expression of hope and longing behind his glasses. My heart ached and sobbed and leapt out of my chest and right into his hands.

He was here. There in the rain and cold he hated so much. For exactly the same reason I was.

Despite everything, I felt my lips curl into a small smile. “I think I should be the one saying that considering you hate the rain, Mr Perfect Prince.”

His shoulders dropped instantly, the relief almost palpable as his expression melted and twisted before his head fell forward. For a man so big and sturdy, he suddenly looked so small and fragile. A ceramic doll who’d only just teetered away from a fall that might have shattered him.

All because of me.

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