Instead, he said, “I should allow you to get settled in. You have had a long journey.”
She glanced down at her gown, the hem damp and stuck with briars. “Yes, I suppose that’s so. I shall dress for our first dinner together, and resume your company then.”
When she glanced back up, he was already halfway to the door. He stopped at her words. A moment later, he turned back to face her. “Dinner?”
“We must have dinner together.”
“I am… Quite a bit occupies my time.”
“Very busy,” Noal added helpfully. “Barely an hour free for meals.”
The prince shot him a look that promised violence.
“You must have dinner with me,” Mireille said. “Every night.”
He stared at her, aghast.
“I’ve only a month to come to know you, to understand what becoming a part of your world will mean.” A mere month to uncover his secrets, to safeguard Norcliffe by whatever means necessary to prevent the villainous… villainess from folding it into her malevolent empire. “If you prefer, I could accompany you with whatever you’re about. It would be no trouble at all, as I’m to be idle here every moment of every day, unable to leave the palace and unable to plan visits from my friends. A guest must be entertained, after all.”
His eyes narrowed infinitesimally. Mireille gave him her most winsome smile. “Alder,” she started, and something seemed to roll through him at the word.
He held up a hand, as if to forestall her speaking it again. “Dinner. When it is feasible.”
“Every night.”
Thomas and Noal stood rapt, no attempt at hiding the looks they were darting between their prince and princess.
The prince’s mouth shifted, leaving no doubt he understood her challenge. “As you wish, Mireille. We will dine together, every night. Until the turn of the moon.”
CHAPTER2
Mireille and Thomas were led to their rooms, Mireille’s lovely and spacious with his smaller suite adjoining hers. Had she any doubt about the faithfulness of the prince to the laws of hospitality, they would have been thoroughly quashed. Even their wardrobes and chests had been filled with the finest garments, fine gowns for her and a variety of jackets for Thomas. She had a full sitting room, a sewing room, a bathing chamber, and a bed so wide she’d be hard pressed to find the edge of it when she woke in the dark.
There was one other door, which Noal discreetly explained could only be opened by magic, and never would, for it belonged to the prince. Essentials covered, Noal said, “I trust all is to your satisfaction. Should you find yourself wanting, you are only to call.”
“I am most appreciative. Thomas and I will try not to be much of a bother,” Mireille said.
Noal inclined his head. “After you’ve rested, I would be pleased to take you on a tour of the palace.”
“No.” She pressed her lips. “Of course it is generous of you to offer, but I would prefer to be shown by the prince.”
“The prince is?—”
“Very busy, I know.” Her finger slid over the gilt edge of a fine porcelain bowl. “Perhaps while the prince and I are occupied at dinner you could show Thomas the grounds. He will certainly want to find the lay of the land.”
Perhaps the pair of them could be kept busy while Mireille tried to make headway with the prince. Perhaps Thomas could gain information from the staff that Mireille could not from their sovereign. Thomas was, after all, an expert in securing delicate—and concealed—information. Despite that he betrayed not a tap of the finger, he was surely itching to discover as much as possible as soon as possible about the palace they’d found their way into.
“As you wish,” said Noal. “I will leave you to prepare for dinner.”
The moment the man was gone, Thomas and Mireille scoured the room, searching for any traps or trickery, checking beneath the bedclothes, testing the door locks, and peering beneath the rugs.
“I don’t see anything,” Mireille said, cheek pressed to the plaster as she gave a one-eyed survey of the wall behind a painting. “What if he doesn’t want to trick us at all? What if the prince truly is committed to their rules about guests?”
“Alder,” Thomas reminded her. “You need to get used to calling him by his name. You know the fae cannot tolerate that sort of thing. Did you see him all but twitch when you said it in the hall?”
It was true. But it was not the magic she had used in the forest. Summoning a prince by name only worked outside of his palace. While she was a guest in his home, she could not expect more than what hospitality required. He would not simply materialize with a word. He was not at her beck and call. “I think he hates it when I say his name.”
Thomas chuckled darkly where he was bent over examining the underside of a settee. “I think he does not know what to make of you. And what was with that look that passed between the pair of them regarding the orange blossom?”
