“It was. I was counting.”
“There’s no way.”
“It’s my turn, pet.” I huff. “Why did you have me threaten your father?”
“Oh…” I shift on the saddle. Why is it every time he asks me a question it feels like I’m having the Shroud removed all over again? “I wanted to make sure Syra didn’t get reprimanded in any way for me switching places with her.”
“Reprimanded?” he murmurs. “What does that normally consist of?”
“Nothing too serious,” I say, carefully dodging that question. “But still, I didn’t want her to take the blame, especially when she tried to stop me.” I work a swallow, my throat suddenly hard and tight.
“Is she in love with a woman?”
That question catches me off guard, and a laugh bubbles out of me. “What?”
“You said she had someone she cared for…but you’re not allowed around men, so…“
“Oh, no. As princesses, me and Syra had guards stationed at our doors, and Syra and her guard…they formed a relationship.”
“What about your guard?”
I snort. “Geralt didn’t speak to me.”
“Your loss, Geralt.”
I crinkle my nose with a laugh. “Nor did I want him to. He’s old….Did you have someone you wanted to marry?”
“No.”
Short, sweet to the point.No.“Not at all?”
“Not at all,” he says briskly.
Right. Not a tied to one person kind of man. “What do you do every day?”
“Pass,” he says immediately. I don’t even know why I bothered to ask.
“When’s your birthday?” he shoots back.
“Pass,” I say haughtily.
“Oh, come on.”
“You made the rules, not me.”
“If you don’t tell me your birthday I won’t be able to get you a gift.”
“I haven’t had a birthday gift in twelve years. I think I’ll live.”
“That only makes it that more crucial,” he complains. He leans forward until his mouth hovers an inch from my ear. “Tell me.”
I jump. “Tell me,” he says, breath tickling my ear, and I gasp, cringing away from him. He presses his face right into my neck, and I careen sideways, nearly launching myself off the saddle in my attempt to escape him. He straightens me with a hand on my hip.
“Why are you like this? You’re going to make me fall off the horse.”
“You’re doing that to yourself.”
“Please tell me your birthday. I will feel like a very bad—“ He breaks off. “I will feel very bad if you don’t get anything for your birthday.”
