Under the Roses

Chapter 11

Only after he'd put the hoof back down and replaced the pick did he respond. "Yeah. Just had some stones stuck there. Nothing to worry about." With her placated, he took a brush off the nearby rack and picked up where I'd left off. Guess he wasn't taking any chances for me to get kicked in the stomach or something.

I bit my lip, wondering exactly how to bring this up. Well, might as well tell it to him straight. "Thank you for suggesting I take a day off."

"Oh." He paused in his brushing, seemingly taking a second to realize what I was talking about. "It was no big deal. You have to commit all your attention to your work, after all, so take a break if you need to." He straightened, giving the mare one last pat before putting away the brush.

"Well, thank you regardless." He just nodded, his expression serious, and I felt it was time to move on. But the offer that came out of my mouth next made me wonder why I thought that was a better alternative to an awkward silence. "Can you come along with me tomorrow?"

He stared at me for a long moment, and I felt my cheeks start to burn. I didn't even know why I asked, and now I was struggling to explain away his suspicious scowl.

"Giles said I couldn't go out of the palace alone, and I'm not sure exactly sure what I'm going to do but I'm probably not going to spend my day off inside although I'm not sure about spending it at the market with Leo with all that shopping and mental energy. On the other hand, I could also just hang out with Nico in the gardens or something, so in a way it's sort of a preparation thing for when I do decide, you know—"

"Sure, whatever," he cut me off mid-ramble. I blinked in surprise.

"Really?" I knew it was stupid to reiterate my lack of gracefulness, but it came out anyway.

"If Giles said I have to, then fine." His eyebrows knit together as he probably remembered the rest of my word storm. "You don't know what to do tomorrow?"

At my reluctant nod—I must have looked so stupid to be thanking him for a break when I didn't even have plans to spend it— he thought a bit before walking past me, shutting the stall door behind him.

He started for the exit, leaving behind a very perplexed princess. Then he glanced over his shoulder at me with a hint of an oddly mischievous grin. "See you tomorrow, Adelaine."

Even though it took almost fifteen hours, I finally got an answer to Alyn's cryptic salutation when he knocked on my bedroom door the next morning. After letting me sleep in an extra hour, Nico had woken me up so I could start getting ready, so I opened the door expecting him to have lugged a cart of tea over here or something.

The sight of his usual armor, cape, and sword replaced with plain civilian clothes threw me off long enough for him to start scowling. "What?"

"Nothing," I reflexively said. If all he wore around the palace was his uniform and his training clothes, I was bound to assume he owned no other outfits. "Uh, can I help you?"

"Are you almost ready?"

"For what?" My question was rewarded with a light flick on the forehead.

"It's your day off, isn't it? You asked me to come with you, so here I am." I had to laugh a little at his face, which suggested he thought I was kind of clueless. He frowned at that, but he just said, "Well?"

"Right. Um, yeah I guess I'm ready." Because my plans had been ambiguous until about five seconds ago, my attire had been versatile— just a top that was a sort of champagne color tucked into a knee-length black skirt (that was made of tulle!) and some simple flats. With a final scan of the room, I grabbed the bag I'd set out in case I did go shopping, and followed Alyn out the door.