Elora clutched her book tighter, her face a flawless canvas without any emotion. “Yes. We were introduced yesterday.”
“Right. Of course. I just—” Kestrel suddenly felt awkward and didn’t know what to say. Her gaze kept flitting to the book in Elora’s arms. “What are you reading?”
Elora tucked the book under her arm. “What was it you wanted?”
“Nothing. I mean—” Sheepishly, Kestrel looked to the carpeted ground. Why did it feel like every interaction with this woman was wrong? Like no matter what, Kestrel couldn’t say or do the right thing. She wanted to change that. “I get the sense that we got off on the wrong foot. I’m Kestrel.” She thrust out a hand as a show of good faith, only to retract it. “Right. The no touching thing. Sorry.”
If Elora was offended, there was no way of knowing. Her face remained unchanged. Unflinching.
“So,” Kestrel tried changing subjects. “How long have you been at the castle?”
“Too many years to count.”
“Right. Leighton mentioned?—”
Elora’s eyes flashed brighter, the only indication that something was boiling inside her. “And do you make it a habit of speaking with my future husband often?”
Kestrel flushed. “No! I just—he and I, we?—”
Elora’s scrutiny of her deepened. But at least now Kestrel thought she finally understood where the tension between them stemmed. This was about Leighton. Maybe she already knew about their kiss. Knew that Kestrel had thrown herselfupon him in the alleyway and would’ve kept doing the same if it hadn’t been for everything that happened at the Fortress of Thirst. But maybe Elora hadn’t yet heard about that part.
The truth, Kestrel decided. The truth was the only way forward.
“Look, if this is about what happened in Mutiny Bay, I’m sorry. I didn’t know he was a prince, let alone betrothed to you. Otherwise I wouldn’t have ever kissed him.”
One of Elora’s brows shot up toward the silver crown embedded in her forehead. “You kissed him?”
Dragon’s fire, she was making this worse.
“No! I mean, yes—but there is nothing between us now! I had never met anyone before, and he was cute, and he rescued me from a crowd that almost swept me away like the tide, and I just…I went for it. It was stupid though. And that was all before—before I knew who he was. Before he shoved me into that castle and left me to die. Before?—”
The subtle shifts in Elora’s expression were impossible to decipher, especially for someone like Kestrel who had little to no experience reading other people’s cues. Regardless, she still knew she was ruining everything.
Kestrel buried her face in the palms of her hands.
“I’m sorry. You are only like the fifth person I’ve ever met, and I don’t want us to be on bad terms just because of…because of all that.”
Silence stretched between them. It lasted so long that Kestrel had to peek from behind her hands just to confirm the princess had left her standing there alone in the hall. When she showed her face though, Kestrel was surprised to find Elora was still there, still watching her.
Finally, Elora pulled the book out from under her arm and showed it to Kestrel.
“It’s a book on star-gazing. I figured I’d see if I recognize any of the constellations after all this time.”
A triumphant smile began to bloom between Kestrel’s cheeks and excitement bubbled within her to learn more about Elora’s star-gazing. But before she could ask any more questions, the princess bowed her head.
“Now, if you’ll excuse me, I hear you have some place to be.”
And with that, Elora spun around on her heels and Kestrel watched as she disappeared down the hall.
There was more pep in her step as she made her way back toward Marion.
“Everything turn out alright?” Marion asked.
“Better than expected.”
“I imagine so,” Marion said. Then she motioned for Kestrel to follow. “This way. We’re almost there now.”
At the end of the hall, Marion stopped at two double doors.
