The Heart of The Heir | completed

15: Crave

~Adalia~

My head was swarmed with thoughts of murder.

I want to murder him.

He wants to fake a courtship? Fake it?

What benefits would it bring? To me at least. We would probably have to stage a failure of our relationship at the end of the season, and lord knows I would be too attached by then to not care and my heart would be broken. Again.

There's no benefit in that.

But for him, his parents will obsess over our relationship for the rest of the season. And when it came time to end it, his parents will wait until spring to start his next courtship, in which he has an entire month between to figure out what his choices will be which are oh so limited if I think about it.

But what if he does fall in love with another lady. A viscountess, even a barons daughter. Raya, would be a suitable lady and wife for him even.

No.

He would never.

But then again, do I know anything?

I don't think any more of it and instead, I decide to explore the palace some more. One thing that I have missed about home, is the Grand Library. Full of old relics and new, possibly even newer now.

A few sharp turns and one long walk down a corridor that overlooked the gardens near the ball room.

The guards welcomed me and open the doors, where I am not met with rows of floor to ceiling shelves, full of books and old records.

Testaments old and new in every addition.

"Princess!" A woman sitting at the desk looks up at me. She smiles, "May I help you?"

"Just Adalia, please." I say. She nods and gestures to lead me inside.

"We weren't exactly expecting you today, we're not quite set up yet, I hope you don't mind!" The girl, whom I now know as Alix, leads the way.

"Set up?" I question.

She chuckles, "Oh, were you not informed? Queen Aurora wanted to dedicate a case to you and your family. It's been in the works for a little under two years but we should finish by the end of the week!"

I stop, "Alix, if it's supposed to be a surprise, I don't think I should be seeing it before it's complete." I smile at the girl. She had to be only twelve or thirteen.

She turned towards me and stopped as well. "Oh, right. Let's go back to the front then!"

"Actually! I would like your help with something."

She watches me with so much patience.

"My friend Ade, she sent me a letter not to long ago and I believe it may have a hidden message," I pull out the letter from the Captains Daughter and show it to Alix.

She reads the letter over and over then looks up at me. Then she reads it again.

"Can you tell me what it says?" I asked.

She looks at me again and gestures for me to follow her. She leads me to an old study with bookshelves embedded to the walls and a large oak wood desk in the middle.

She places the letter on the desk and turns to the shelves, "English is our kingdoms official language," she pulled the ladder on its wheels and dragged it across the shelf.

"Common knowledge, yes."

She steps on the ladder and reaches for an old book, "Yes, but it's not the first."