by Peak, Renna
Where is he taking me? I wonder again as he leads me through the gardens. Why couldn’t he say whatever he needed to say back in my suite? I want to ask him that. And ask him why he keeps refusing me.
I want to ask him what he wants, too, but I’m afraid of the answer.
He leads me to the stables. The stableyard is silent, and empty except for a chubby orange cat that eyes us warily before scurrying behind a shed. Nick goes over to the stable itself and pulls open the door, holding it aside for me.
A few horses stir when they hear us enter, but for the most part, the barn is as quiet as the yard outside. A handful of dim lamps cast hazy circles of golden light on the straw-covered floor, but most of the stalls are shadowed in darkness.
“Why are we here?” I ask him finally, unable to hold in my questions any longer.
“You’ll see.” He takes me by the hand and pulls me down the row of stalls. Two or three horses poke out their heads, curious as we pass.
He leads me all the way down to the back of the stable. I’ve never been back here—the few times I’ve visited the stable, the stablehands have left me waiting by the entrance—but it looks similar to the rest of the building. I still don’t understand why Nick has brought me here.
But then he stops in front of one of the stalls.
“Recognize anyone you know?” he asks.
“What?” I’m just as confused as before.
He jerks a thumb toward the stall, and for the first time, I turn and peer into the shadows. The horse inside moves, then pokes her head out of the stall.
“Pom!” I squeal, lunging toward her.
I’d like to think that Pomegranate is as excited to see me as I am to see her, but I’m still learning how to read horses. In any case, she doesn’t object as I nuzzle my cheek against hers.
“Does this mean Prince is here, too?” I ask.
Nick nods. “Right here in the next stall.”
Recognizing his name, Prince pokes his dark nose out of the stall, eyeing me.
“Look at you, you handsome thing,” I say, rubbing his nose. To Nick, I say, “When did they get here?”
“They were arriving just as Caspar and I started out after you and Adam earlier today,” Nick says. “With everything that’s happened, I completely forgot about their arrival until just a moment ago in the room.” He reaches out and strokes the other side of Prince’s nose.
I step back over to Pom. “It’s so good to see you, girl,” I tell her. “I missed you. You should see the horses they’ve made me ride.”
She shakes her head from side to side, and I smile and scratch her under her chin. She’s always liked that.
But my joy at seeing our old friends only goes so far. All the feelings in my chest rise up again.
“I know you’re trying to distract me,” I tell Nick without looking at him. “But it won’t work. I’m not letting you off the hook.”
“I’m not trying to get off the hook,” Nick replies simply. “But I can’t accept your proposal.”
The knot in my stomach twists, and I press my cheek against Pom’s again, squeezing my eyes shut. They’ve started to burn, and damn me if I’m going to cry right now.
Maybe this is for the best, I tell myself. Better he refuse now then realize months or years down the line that this was all wrong.
“I can’t accept your proposal for one simple reason,” Nick goes on behind me. “Look at me, Clara.”
I don’t want to. If I look at him, I’m going to cry, and after everything that’s happened today, I know that if I let a single tear escape then I’ll end up crying for hours. I just don’t have the strength for that right now.
“Please, Clara,” Nick says from behind me. “Just look at me.”
I can’t refuse his plaintive tone. Slowly, I pull my face away from Pom’s and turn around to face him.
Nick is down on one knee, looking up at me with an overwhelming amount of love in his eyes.
And I’m having trouble breathing. “What’s going on?”
“This isn’t how I should be doing this,” he tells me. “I should have gotten a proper ring from my family’s treasury. I should have chosen a proper time and place. Should have made sure all the details were perfect. There are a lot of things I could be doing better. But the truth is, I don’t want to wait until all the details are perfect.” He reaches out and takes my hands in his. “But the one thing that’s imperative is that I do this. Not for tradition’s sake, but because I never want you to doubt, even for a moment, that I want anyone but you. I love you, Clara. And since the day you showed up on my porch in Montana, you’ve changed my life for the better. Sometimes I’ve resisted that change…” He grins as he says those words. “…But I don’t regret it. And I want to keep growing, with you by my side. You’ve made me a better man, Clara. And I can only hope that I make you as happy as you make me.” His blue eyes shine into mine. “Will you do me the honor, once and for all, of agreeing to become my wife?”
Nicholas
Her eyes glisten, and she frowns at me for a moment—so long, in fact, that I’m sure she’s about to deny me again.
My stomach hardens to a knot. I was so sure… Did she not just ask me to marry her tonight?
“You stupid, stubborn man.” Her bottom lip quivers. “That’s why you asked me to come out here?”
“Pom…and Prince…” I can barely eke out the words. What just happened? What have I done wrong—
She interrupts my thoughts. “You couldn’t just say yes to me?” She presses her lips together, and I could almost swear I see a smile beginning to form. “You couldn’t just—for once in your life—let someone else take control?”
I rise, pulling her hands into mine. “Is that a yes?”
Her head swings from side to side, but she’s smiling now. “Yes, you idiot.” Her smile turns to a grin. “Yes. It’s definitely a yes.”
My heart feels as though it might burst from my chest—I can’t say I’ve ever been happier than I am at this moment. I wrap my arms around her and press my lips against hers.
But she pushes me away almost immediately. “Not here.” She gives me a weak smile, looking over at Pom before she looks at me. “We should go back to my room.”
I look over at the horse, and if I didn’t know better, I would swear by the look in her eyes that she’s laughing at me. I turn back to Clara. “It’s a horse. I’m sure it wouldn’t know the difference between two humans kissing and anything else we might do.”
“Well, I don’t think there’s any question about what we might do.” She grins up at me. “And I don’t want to do that in front of Pom. Not when I haven’t seen her in so long.”
“You’re thinking…of the horse.” I shake my head. As ridiculous as she’s being, I will be the first to admit that it’s part of the reason I fell in love with her in the first place.
“She’s been through a lot.” Clara walks over to her horse, nuzzling against her again before she turns back to me. “We all have.”
“Perhaps,” I say, holding my hand out to her again. “But I think she’ll survive the night without us. I believe we have some celebrating to do.”
She gives Pom one last pat on the nose before leaving the barn with me. As we near the steps leading to the manor, Clara turns to me. “Do me one favor, Nick?”
“Anything.” I smile down at her, and I wonder if she will ever truly know how much I love her—how I would be willing to do anything for her, no matter how silly it might seem.
She chews her lip for a moment, though she’s still smiling. “Don’t call me your betrothed.”
“I…what?” I feel my brow furrow. “Why not?”
“Just…” She bites at her lip for another moment. “Can we just agree that I’m your fiancée?”
“Of course. Whatever you wish.”
* * *
I wake before her this time, and I know there is much to do. My mother will be beside herself, of course, having another wedding to plan. And Clara and I real
ly should discuss how long our engagement should last before we get to any of the actual planning.
But a royal engagement is an important affair. We’ll need to tread lightly—perhaps even wait a bit to formally announce it at all, particularly with the ball coming up. Under normal circumstances, this ball would be the perfect venue to announce our engagement to the world. But considering how tense the relations are with Wintervale at the moment, this is likely not the best time or place. It will all need to be handled delicately—and my mother is the best person to decide how that should happen.
I quickly dress, careful not to wake Clara. Even with our happy news, I realize how exhausted she must be after having gone through her ordeal yesterday. The last thing I want is to wake her from what appears to be a very restful—and much needed—slumber.
I scribble a note, leaving it on her desk before I leave to go to my suite.
Caspar meets me just outside the door. “Hello, Cousin. I was hoping I would find you here.”
I merely lift a brow. While Caspar was quite helpful yesterday—I can’t say I would have been able to catch up to Adam without his assistance—I haven’t forgotten the precarious situation our families are currently in.
“I have some…news.” He glances over his shoulder toward Clara’s room. “Is Clara coming with you?”
“She’s still asleep.” I glance back at her room, almost as though I’m reassuring myself that her door is still in place. I turn back to face my cousin. “Why do you ask?”
“Her…what do you call him? Her former betrothed?”
“I believe she calls him her ex-fiancé.” Even saying the term fills my heart with a joy I can’t quite describe. I am her fiancé now, and part of me is enjoying being the only person aside from Clara who knows it, though the other part of me wants to shout it to the world.
I lift my chin. “It’s of little importance now. The man is where he belongs—”
“Actually, that’s the problem.” Caspar glances over his shoulder again, this time in the other direction. “He somehow managed to escape from his cell last night.”
I blink at Caspar a few times, sure I’ve misheard him. “But that’s impossible.”
“Not…impossible. Unfortunately.” Caspar’s expression is grim. “We’ve increased the security around the manor. I doubt very much that he would be able to get in here.” He throws another glance over his shoulder before turning to look at me again. “But perhaps it would be best if we didn’t leave Miss Clara alone.”
Clara
When I wake, I feel like I’ve slept a hundred years. I can’t remember the last time I felt this rested and relaxed and, well, just happy.
I roll over, reaching for Nick, but his side of the bed is empty. Opening my eyes, I frown at the empty sheets. Did he really leave me alone the morning after we officially got engaged? Nick isn’t perfect when it comes to relationships, but he’s not that obtuse, is he?
My question is answered when I see movement out of the corner of my eye. Nick enters the room, coming toward the bed.
“There you are,” I say sleepily, rolling onto my back and stretching. “I was worried you’d abandoned me. Come over here and let’s celebrate our engagement some more.”
I extend my arms toward him, beckoning him closer, but he stops some distance short of the bed. There’s a frown on his lips, and I know that look in his eyes.
I push myself up into a sitting position, suddenly worried. “What is it? What’s happened?”
Without saying a word, Nick moves towards me again, finally taking a seat on the edge of the bed. His eyes soften slightly, but the concern is still there. He takes my hand in his.
“I don’t want you to worry, Clara,” he says finally, his words slow as if he’s choosing them very carefully.
“Why would I worry?” I demand. “What’s going on?”
He squeezes my fingers. “I just want you to know that you’re safe here. I won’t let anything happen to you.”
“Why wouldn’t I be safe?” This is getting frustrating. “Just spit it out, Nick. I can handle it.”
He doesn’t look very confident about that, but he goes on anyway. “Caspar has just informed me that Adam has escaped the local prison.”
My fingers grip his. “What?! He has?”
“As I said, you are perfectly safe here. Caspar has already taken measures to keep Wintervale Manor secure. But we need to be cautious. I don’t want you going anywhere alone. Preferably you’ll be with me, but if that’s not possible, one of my cousins will do. And it’s probably best if you stay inside until he’s apprehended again.”
“So I’m basically a prisoner here until he’s caught? That sounds like fun.” I roll my eyes. “I can probably at least go outside if—”
“I’d rather you not, Clara. Please.” Nick’s eyes plead with me. He’s obviously deeply worried about this situation.
“Can I at least go to the stables? To visit Prince and Pom?” I understand that he’s trying to keep me safe, and there are certainly worse places to be confined than Wintervale Manor, but I’m getting antsy just at the thought of staying cooped up inside for more than a few hours.
Nick sighs. “Perhaps. If I accompany you—”
“Good.” I lift his hand to my lips and kiss his fingers. “Now, about continuing the celebration we started last night…”
I start to pull him toward me, but he resists.
“As much as I want to celebrate with you, Clara, there’s much that has to be done. Not just concerning Adam, but also the situation with Lord Frederick.” He straightens. “Hopefully, he’ll be a little more sympathetic toward us after what occurred yesterday. He’s a hard man, but he isn’t heartless.” He doesn’t look fully convinced by his own words.
“If it helps, I can make myself act pitiful and traumatized,” I offer. It’s not that far off from how I felt yesterday, and only my engagement to Nick has kept the worst of those feelings at bay.
“That won’t be necessary,” Nick assures me. His worried eyes scan my face. “Promise me you won’t do anything reckless, Clara. Promise me you’ll try and keep yourself safe.”
I cross my arms. “I’m not an idiot. I might not like the situation, but I won’t purposefully put myself in danger.”
He nods. “Good.”
“Besides,” I say cheerfully, “this just gives me more time to plan some pranks. I don’t suppose your cousins have discovered my most recent surprise yet?”
His eyes widen. “I completely forgot about that. But no—if they’ve discovered it, they’ve said nothing.”
“Believe me, we’ll know when it happens.” I grin. “In the meantime, I have a few more ideas. Want to help?”
Nick doesn’t refuse immediately, which is at least a step in the right direction. But after a moment, he shakes his head.
“As diverting as that sounds, there’s much to be done,” he tells me. “Why don’t you get dressed while I call for breakfast? I’d like to go speak with the guards after that to confirm the new security measures. I hate to drag you along on all this business, but I don’t want you out of my sight today.”
“Aw, that’s actually kind of sweet, Nick.” I lean toward him and give him a kiss on the cheek, then pull back and grin. “I still can’t believe we’re engaged.”
“That’s another thing,” Nick says. “We should probably call and inform my parents of our happy news. And your parents, too, of course—though I suppose they already believed us engaged, didn’t they?”
I laugh. “Oh, yeah. But I guess there’s no harm in telling them it’s officially official now.”
He rubs his temples. “And we’ll need to make a plan for when and how we’re going to announce this to the public. There are arrangements that must be made, and—”
“And we’ll figure it out,” I assure him, gently grabbing his wrists and pulling them away from his face. “Are you sure you don’t want to start the day off with a little prank? Just to blow off some steam? Y
ou’re going to worry yourself to death, Nick.”
He shakes his head. “There’s too much at stake.” His eyes catch and hold mine, and my stomach flip-flops at the depth of emotion I see there. “I’m going to keep you safe, Clara.”
“I know you are,” I murmur, letting my fingers trail down his cheek. “I love you, Nick.”
“I love you, too. More than anything.” His eyes shadow over. “I don’t know what I’d do if anything happened to you.”
“Nothing will,” I assure him. “I promise.”
Amusement flickers in his eyes. “I’m the one who’s supposed to be reassuring you. Not the other way around.”
I shrug. “As far as I’m concerned, it goes both ways.” I smile. “Are you sure you don’t want to play a prank with me? Just one?”
He shakes his head again. “Clara, I’d love to but—”
“Then do it. Pretty please?”
“There’s so much to do—”
“There’s always so much to do. That’s why you have to give yourself breaks to play pranks.”
He sighs. “You’re not going to let this go, are you?”
My grin widens. “Nope.”
“Fine.” He runs a hand through his hair, resigned. “What did you have in mind?”
“Something extra childish. You’re going to love it.” I rub my hands together, feeling delighted. “I’m assuming the kitchen here will have some sort of plastic wrap?”
Nicholas
I should know better than to try to talk Clara out of anything—particularly a practical joke. When she sets her mind to something, there is no changing it.
“Plastic wrap?” I ask her. “I’m sure they do—”
She doesn’t wait for me to finish my sentence before she grabs my arm and begins pulling me toward the door. She throws on a robe on our way out of the room, and before I have time to protest, we’re in the corridor.
Clara turns her head from side to side, as though someone will know immediately what we’re up to should they see us outside her room.