Help, she called again, and to her shock, there was someone there now.

There were several people, gathered around in the woodland and staring down at her. The largest of them was at the front, bald and tattooed, muscled like a bear and looking at her like hed just walked into a room full of treasure.

Princess, he said. Ive been waiting for you.

CHAPTER THIRTY SIX

Greave lay in bed, panting, and, for almost the first time in his life, truly happy. Sunlight spilled in through the window, shining down on the sleeping form of Aurelle Hardacre. She looked perfect lying there, but then, she looked perfect everywhere.

Greaves mind flashed back to how shed looked before, in the moments when theyd been making love. It had been an experience that had been beyond anything he could have imagined, beautiful and wondrous, pleasure filled and somehow complete in a way that almost nothing else ever seemed. Greave could see now why men wrote poetry about such things, and sang songs about the beauty of love.

She had grabbed him almost the moment he had left his fathers chambers.

Youre angry, my love, she had whispered.

I… He hadnt had the words for how upset he was. I need to find a way to make this right, to make this better.

I cant help with that, Aurelle had said. She had pulled him back in the direction of his rooms. But theres one thing I can do.

Now she lay beside him, breathing softly in her sleep.

Aurelle, my love, he whispered. Are you awake?

There was no answer, and Greave did not wish to wake her now. He stared at Aurelle as she lay there, feeling luckier than any man had a right to be that she had simply walked into his life like that. Previously, women had always thought his features too effeminate, or his personality too dour. Aurelle had seen something in him that had lifted Greave to more than that, made his heart sing in a way that he hadnt known was even possible.

He thought about waking her with a kiss, but slipped from the bed instead, dressing in silence. Hed been so caught up with Aurelle in the last few days that he hadnt done even the one thing that hed promised himself he would do. Now, with the reminder of his sister being sent away, and the argument with his father, he needed to do it.

Greave slipped from his rooms and headed through the castle in the direction of the library. Now that the last of the feasting was done with, it was a quiet place, almost an empty one. Greave could feel some of that emptiness inside him, at the thought that one of his sisters had been cast out, while another was missing. Greave could help with one of those, though, if he could only find what he was looking for.