I hadn’t realized I’d been holding my breath until we walked down the path and come to a clearing, bordered by a large, stone ledge.
I peered around. “This is it?”
“Nothing’s going to jump out at you, I promise.”
“You really aren’t going to show me a werewolf?” I asked, half joking. “Or a troll, or…maybe a gnome?”
He chuckled. “Trolls are only from bedtime stories.”
“So what about the—”
“Come. I just want to show you.” He took my hand. “There’s a beautiful view from up here.” Dallas started up the path, pulling me gently behind him. “It gets a little tricky, so watch your step.” We hiked around the corner, and I gasped when we got to the top. Acres of green grass stretched before us, followed by the blue waters of an enormous lake.
“This is beautiful.”
Dallas sat down on the edge and patted the spot next to him.
I sat down, and he surprised me with a friendly hug. He put his big arm around me, squeezing gently before releasing me. “I’m so glad we got to do this today.”
“I am as well.”
Dallas looked out at the lake. “I wasn’t sure how it was going to go, after your little fit yesterday.”
“I beg your pardon.” I bristled, feeling my face turn red. “It was not a fit.”
“Was so.” He laughed at me.
I clenched my fists, about to launch into a tirade, but then I remembered myself. I had to learn to play the game.
Must. Calm. Down. Must. Not. Yell.
“You’re right, Your Highness. I guess I did have a bit of a…fit.” I struggled to get the word out.
He stopped laughing and frowned. “Why are you agreeing with me? That’s not like you.”
I cleared my throat. “I’m trying to be more open-minded.”
“No,” he said, no longer laughing. “You’re trying to let me win my point. Why?”
I looked at him and quickly looked away. “I don’t want to be difficult.”
“That’s not like you.”
“I’m not that bad, you know. I can be easy to get along with, too.” The words, the ones he’d used to describe Shaye, burned my tongue.
“You’re right—I don’t think you’re bad at all. But you aren’t easy to get along with. And I don’t want you to be.”
I looked at him sharply.
“The reason I enjoy your company is because you’re usually honest with me. That’s refreshing. I don’t have a lot of people in my life who are truthful about what they think and feel.” He ran a hand through his hair, making it stand up in unruly spikes.
I didn’t say anything. I couldn’t.
Dallas’s eyes darkened. “But if you’re just playing a game and telling me what I want to hear—I’m sorry, but I don’t have time for that. I’m already up to my eyeballs in that sort of nonsense.”
“That’s not what I’m doing.” I sighed. “Well, all right, that’s what I was doing.”
“My dearest Gwyneth, I do believe you’re lying to me by agreeing with me again.”
“I am not, Your Lordship,” I huffed. “Not right now. I was for a bit. For a second.”
I looked at him, but he stared straight ahead. “I’m sorry. I’m trying to…protect myself. By agreeing with you, which I’m sure makes absolutely no sense.”
“No, I understand. I’ve been on the receiving end of that sort of thinking my whole life. People tell me what I want to hear, so they can get what they want.”
“It’s not like that…”
Ugh. I sat there, not knowing what to say next. He knew me better than I’d guessed—even my brief attempt at playing the game had caught his sharp notice.
He didn’t say anything for another minute. Finally, he tapped my chin, bringing my face closer to his. “Don’t do that to me again. Please. Don’t tell me what it is you think I want to hear. It makes me feel as if you’re another stranger to be tolerated.”
Intensity crackled between us as I held his stare. “I won’t. I sort of sucked at it, in case you couldn’t tell.”
He chuckled but then turned serious again. “Promise me, Gwyneth.”
“I promise. I’ll always tell you what I think, even if you don’t want to hear it. And I bet you won’t want to hear most of it.”
The camera crew and soldiers came around the corner, and he released me. I wished we were still alone. The fresh air and the riding had revived me, and the conversation with Dallas had been…real. Honest.
I’d been kidding myself that I could shield myself from my feelings for him. All my ugly thoughts of the prince with Shaye were slipping away, already almost forgotten.
The guards brought up a basket, set it gingerly behind us, then bowed at Dallas. He opened it, taking out a tin, some butter, and a knife. He put everything between us. He pulled the lid off and I moaned. “Oh, you got biscuits.”
“I know you like them.” His eyes sparkled as he took one out, buttered it, and handed it to me. Then he pulled out a bottle of rosé and a wine opener.
“Wine with breakfast?”
“Don’t judge me.” He smirked. “The producers told me I have to do something while my dates eat, so it doesn’t look awkward.”
“Ah. So you look…occupied.”
The people in the settlements didn’t know that the royal family were vampires. There were rumors, of course. The royals’ oddly pale skin and foreign manner had people questioning. And when they’d come down from the North to conquer the settlements, the Black Guard only attacked at night.
Now that I’d gotten to know about vampires, I understood that some of them, like Dallas, Eve, and Mira Kinney, were perfectly capable of coming out during the day. Others, like the queen, avoided the sun at all costs.
None of them ate, though. They only ate…drank…blood. And wine.
So the prince’s wine was a prop, something for him to hold onto in order to avoid looking awkward while his human dates ate or drank. They hadn’t addressed the prince’s vampirism in the show, yet. Dallas had mentioned that he wanted to, but I didn’t know what his father had to say about that. I wondered when and if they would. I couldn’t imagine what my mother would say. Probably something akin to deal with it or another one of her all-time favorites, suck it up.
Oh, the irony.
Dallas poured himself some rosé and motioned at the crew. “You should get a shot of the lake. It’ll be nice for the viewers to see how pretty it is, here. And then you may film us for ten more minutes. But when we continue our ride, Miss West and I would like some privacy.”
“Of course, Your Majesty.” The camera crew bowed, immediately setting up to take a shot of the view.
“Must be nice to have people follow your orders.”
He shrugged. “It has its benefits, but it also has drawbacks, which is why I expect my brother’s still hiding up north. He doesn’t want to deal with the drawbacks.”
“Do you mean—”
“Let’s talk of it later.” Dallas poured me a glass of water. “Now, tell me about when you were younger and all about your BFF, the lovely Ginger.”
After our break, we continued our ride across the grounds. The guards and the camera crew kept a respectful distance. We slowed our pace, able to finally talk in peace.
“While I have you, I need to get something off my chest.”
My heart thudded in my own chest. “Yes?”
“I’m sorry about yesterday,” Dallas said. “I wanted to come to you last night, but Eve warned me not to.”
“Eve? What on earth did she say?”
He gave me a quick look. “That you’d been to see her. She made it sound very human—something like you needed ‘space’ and ‘time to process.’”
I shook my head. “Eve is very wise, all of a sudden.”
“The transformation can do that to you. It pushes a lot of things that can clutter a human’s mind to the side.”
I bristled. “Oh, like what?”
“Like worrying about whether people like you or not.”
I lifted my chin. “You don’t worry about that?” With his title, that broad chest and all that hair, he probably never had to.
“No, I do. Sometimes.” He gave me a pointed look. “But enough about that—I was apologizing to you. I think you missed it.”
“I didn’t miss it.” I sighed. “And I’m sorry, too. I didn’t react well to watching the episode.”
Dallas frowned.
“But you don’t need to apologize,” I said quickly. “You didn’t do anything wrong. You have a job to do, a role to play, girls to romance.”
“I appreciate that you understand. But you know that there’s…more to come.” He looked miserable. “I cannot reject all the other girls out of turn. They’ve come here and left their families, hoping for a better life. At the very least, they deserve a fair chance.”
I nodded. “I understand. Eve and I talked about this very thing yesterday—how I needed to remember ‘the bigger picture.’”
He raked a hand through his hair. “But how are you going to handle it? Every time you’re forced to watch an episode, you’re going to doubt me.”
“Doubt you how?”
He frowned again, as if this was enough of an answer.
I scratched the horse behind the ears. “When I feel bad, I will simply have to remember this day, and my dear Maeve.” She whinnied beneath me. “I shall remember the kindness you showed me.”
He relaxed a bit. “Today’s been my pleasure. There’s nothing I’d rather do. And you’re really very pleasant company when you aren’t lying to me or biting my head off.” He chuckled.
Before I could argue, we rounded a corner, and the castle came back into view. Dallas visibly stiffened.
“One more thing, Gwyneth. I haven’t forgotten about your family. I had what I thought was a lead on the whereabouts of your father and Balkyn, but the trail was cold. Nothing’s been confirmed.”
Dallas had promised to find out if my father and brother, who’d joined the rebel army and been missing for five years, were alive or dead.
I clutched the reins. “What did you hear? Are they alive or dead?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t want to bring it up, but I also didn’t want you to think I’d forgotten.”
I stopped Maeve. “Please. Anything you can tell me—even if it turns out to be false—I want to hear it. I haven’t had any news of them since they left, aside from the lies Benjamin Vale told me.” I shuddered, thinking of the dead rebel and how he’d tricked me into believing he knew where my brother was.
Dallas stopped his horse and stared at the castle, his face stormy. “I don’t want to give you false hope.”
My heart rate quickened. “So you heard they’re still alive.”
He nodded. “But I don’t know if it’s true. I don’t want you to be completely crushed if it isn’t.”
“If they’re dead, I’m going to be completely crushed anyway.” I waited until his gaze met mine. “Thank you.”
“As soon as I hear something, I’ll come to you.” He nodded, and we took off at a trot.
“Is there any news of the rebels?” I hoped my inquiry wouldn’t upset him.
The muscle in his jaw jumped. “Nothing good, I’m afraid. That’s part of the reason I had to travel. They’ve been very active in making threats.”
“That must be difficult.”
“It’s more dangerous than it is difficult.”
I guided Maeve along the path, unsure of what to say. The rebels were humans. My father and brother had gone off to fight with them. Until I’d come to the palace, I’d considered them my people.
But whatever my connection to the rebels, I still cared about the prince’s well being. “Are you safe? Are you worried about another attack?”
“My safety’s the last thing you need to be worried about. And as for another attack, I have pledged to keep you safe.”
“I’m not worried about me.”
His nostrils flared. “You don’t need to be. That’s my job.” Dallas was a wee bit overprotective.
“I’m sorry to have brought it up, but of course, it’s on my mind after what happened.” A rebel army had attacked the palace a few weeks ago. The royals had killed most of them and taken a few prisoners—one of whom was the treacherous Benjamin Vale, who Dallas had drained dry after he’d tried to escape.
“I know you’re in a difficult position. Caught between two worlds, I suppose.” Dallas’s gaze raked over me. “Yours and mine.”
“There is only one world. And I don’t want anyone—on either side—to be hurt. I don’t think that’s a difficult position, do you?”
He looked thoughtful. “No. Not when you put it that way, Gwyneth. It doesn’t seem difficult at all.”