“Nothing you need to worry about.”
She gives me a skeptical look, but she gathers her skirt and begins to climb. I follow behind her, impressed at how quickly she mounts the steep, narrow stairs. Behind us, the door scrapes closed. Elsie pauses, listening.
“You’re safe with me.”
“I’m not supposed to be alone with men.”
“You’re remembering this now?”
She huffs and continues to climb. I shouldn’t have said that. I’ve never had to put an effort into winning a woman’s favor before. The title of prince was enough.
I like knowing that she’s responsive tome, Alex, not Prince Alistair.
“I told you I didn’t come here to meet the prince,” she says tartly as we go around the unending curve.
“You said you came looking for me. Yet I am no one, Elsie. Tell me the truth.”
The temperature drops precipitously as we near the top of the tower.
“I wanted to feel like a lady for one night.” She mounts the final few steps and spins around to watch me emerge from the well.
“Are you bastard-born?”
She said she had a stepsister, but that could have been a fabrication to cover up her illegitimacy. Being born on the wrong side of the blanket would also explain why she wants to feel like a lady, whatever that means, yet didn’t want to dance with the prince.
“No.”
So much for that theory.
“What is this place?”
“Prince Alistair’s private observatory.” I go to the telescope and begin unfastening its coverings. “No one knows about it but me.”
Technically true. I am the one who brought the tripod and telescope up. The one other person who knew about the secret passageway was Killian, and he’s been gone for months.
“Are you his astronomer?” Elsie asks. She’s clearly trying to figure out who I am, just as I have been trying to suss out the truth of her identity. What an interesting game.
“Kind of.” I make an adjustment. The sky is clear tonight. A few wispy clouds trail across the night sky. “Self-taught.”
“Is that why the library scribe knew you?”
“You ask a lot of questions, Elsie.” I adjust the angle of the telescope, searching for the sparkling fae cloud formation. She offered me a plausible explanation. Why am I not leaping for it?
For the first time in my life, I feel hemmed in by my own untruths. I want to be honest with her, and yet, I have the distinct impression that my mystery girl would run the instant she found out I am the prince. Tonight is about seducing Elsie into the idea of becoming the next queen of Belterre.
“I spend almost as much time in the library as they do.” This is true, if I confine my statement to the months since Killian betrayed me. The Caldrithonians’ gift gave me a distraction from my bruised pride. “Come, take a look.”
Elsie clutches her bare upper arms, shivering. I welcomed the chill after being in the stuffy ballroom, but her skin is exposed and prickling with gooseflesh. I shrug out of my borrowed jacket and drape it around her shoulders.
“Better?”
She smiles up at me. My heart twists. Interesting. A few days ago, I’d have said I didn’t have one.
“It smells like you,” she says. Envy bursts through me like a cannonball. That’s not my jacket, and it’s not me she’s sniffing. I can’t rip it off her shoulders without inviting unwanted questions, though. I am forced to swallow my ire.
I place one hand on the small of her back and gently guide her to the telescope.
“How does it work?”
