A tiny, pleased smirk appears on Jacob’s face as he watches me a second longer before we finally stroll off.
Our steps crunch on the pebbled path leading away from the patio. The farther down we head into the garden, the more intense the lovely scent of the blooming trees and rosebushes grows. I find I can breathe again.
The ball was another failure in my prince hunt…so what? I went through a whole darn week of fails. This one won’t kill me either. And for the little time I was a princess at Briar-Rose and Phillip’s ball, I really had fun.
“It’s amazing, the multitude of emotions your face can shift through in less than two minutes.”
When I turn my head toward Jacob, I notice that he’s looking at me with a mix of wonder and amusement, and he’s probably done that since we left the terrace.
Smirking right back, I drop a curtsy. “Glad I could entertain you, my lord.”
“You never cease to, Riley.” Now he laughs softly, but I throw him a confused look.
“You’ve only known me for an hour.” Surely, I haven’t entertained him with too many surprises in that short time, have I?
“Really?” He makes a funny, quirky face and presses the arm I'm holding tighter against his side, probably so I don’t pull away as he kids me. “Felt like at least a week to me.”
Ahead on the stone bridge over the Timeless Brook that takes a loop through Rory’s garden, Hercules and Megara stroll toward us. No matter what kind of masks they wear, their Greek god outfits totally give them away. At the foot of the bridge, we nod in greeting, and they smile back at us, even if Meg looks like she has no idea who we are. Well, I can’t speak for Prince Jacob, but I regularly drop into her gift shop of mythological things to chat with her.
Silence lingers between Jacob and me when we’re alone again. We leave the brook behind, ambling on in the starlight. Soon, another type of sprinkling water sound drifts to us. Nearby is the duck pond with its ivory fountain in the middle. At the small junction, we take the path that runs down toward it. Lanterns still light the way this far out in the garden. Boy, once Rory gets started on something, she certainly doesn’t do things by halves.
The dripping gets louder as we reach the pond surrounded by an old, belly-height stone wall. Resting my hands loosely on the ledge, I stop and watch the moonlight break like a heap of diamonds in the seven thin streams of water arching from the fountain spout.
Jacob stands beside me. He dips his finger into the pond and slowly stirs the water in small circles. I wonder what he’s thinking about as he stares blankly into the swirl. Would he rather be somewhere else? Back in the ballroom with his friends perhaps?
With his mind elsewhere, I rub my upper arms because, suddenly, I feel alone, even though I'm standing right next to him. It only takes seconds before he looks up with a worried face, glancing at my arms then into my eyes. “Are you cold? Would you like my jacket?”
“No, thank you, I’m fine. It’s a lovely night.” It’s nice to have him back from wherever he’d just gone, though. I drop my hands to grip my skirt instead of rubbing a non-existent chill from my skin. “But maybe we should go back. I don’t want to keep you away from the feast for too long.”
“Don’t worry about that.” Jacob gives me a sad smile that couldn’t be more honest. “Actually, I didn’t want to come to this ball at all.”
Now that is a surprise. “Why not?”
“Mostly because of the company.” He turns around and hoists himself backward onto the wall ledge. Hands braced on the stone, he lets his feet dangle and looks at me sideways with a somewhat sheepish expression. “Crowded places make me nervous. Frankly, I’m not a big fan of royal show-offs.”
With a curious tilt of my head, and my eyes narrowed on him, I walk backward a few steps to a projecting maple tree. My hands at my back as a buffer, I lean against the massive, knobby trunk. “Then why did you come?”
“I’m here because of a friend.” He doesn’t take his eyes off me, either, following my every move with his gaze. A shrug follows. “And of course, it’s Phillip’s birthday.”
“Right. Your cousin.” I almost forgot. “But the company clinging to your arm earlier didn’t look too bad.” Until she went for a drink with Jaccomo, of course.
His grimace makes me feel as if he read my last thought. “Scheherazade and her sister Sheila are just additional proof why I don’t like princesses around me.” He snorts. “They hang on to me. No doubt, some of them are really funny and nice. But mostly, there’s something important missing from those girls, and they usually can’t hold my attention for longer than five minutes.”
I begin to nervously peel the bark from the trunk behind my bottom. “And what is that…something important?”
“I don’t know.” Briefly, he lowers his gaze to the path between us and then raises it back to my face. As he speaks again, his voice is lower than before. “A certain spark maybe.”
We stare into each other’s eyes for several quiet seconds. “If you detest princesses so much,” I whisper eventually, “then why did you want to dance with me?”
Closing his eyes, he laughs softly. They gleam with amusement as he opens them again. “You aren’t a princess, Riley.”
I suck in a sharp breath between my teeth. “How can you say that?”
He takes his time to answer, putting me on edge. “Because you’re different.”
Okay, that could mean a thousand things. With wide eyes, I keep staring at him, my throat thickening too much to say anything yet. Jacob slides off the banister. With a slow prowl, he comes under the shelter of the overhanging branches speckled with a million reddish leaves. “Do you want to know what really made me walk up to you in the hallway?”
Pressing a little harder against the trunk, I raise my gaze the closer he draws until he’s standing right in front of me with only a foot of space separating us. He braces his hand next to my head on the trunk and inches even closer. I can feel my heart knocking against the base of my throat.
“Any other girl in such a striking dress,” he whispers, “wouldn’t have waited a second to walk down the stairs. She would have been dying to show off to all the people in the hall.” Gently, he places his other hand on my hip and really, I can’t move, no matter how light his touch is. “But you hesitated. I saw how nervous you were. How you held on to the curtains for support. You looked intimidated by the thought of facing the ball.”
Panic freezes me to the spot, and I swallow. What do I say now? Do I lie? Do I tell him the truth?
Do I kick his shin and run away without explanation?
His expression turns even softer. “Am I wrong?”
I inhale deeply, but my breath trembles as I slowly blink at him twice. “No, you’re right. I’m not a princess.” I sound as if a cheese grater has worked my throat. “I don’t belong here. It was a stupid idea to come in the first place.”
Jacob doesn’t seem to judge me, he only appears curious and…caring. “Where do you belong?”
It’s hard to hold his insistent gaze. Impossible. I break out of his spell, sidestep him, and take a few quick strides down the path. Then I stop and whirl around. “In the woods. It’s the only place I’ve ever known as home.”
There has never been a time in my life when I longed for my red cloak more than in this moment. If Jacob heads off now, knowing the truth, and leaves me behind just like Jaccomo did earlier, I could hide in it and wouldn’t feel so lost again.