“Eadlyn … do you mean that?”
I held him by the shoulders. “You shielded me when the public threw food. You befriended me before I was willing to accept it. Even now you’ve protected me, far past anything I’ve deserved. The least I can do is be your first client. I’ll be watching your skyrocketing career with interest, sir.”
His eyes glistened with tears, but he managed to keep himself together.
“I’m kind of scared to leave,” he confessed. “So much is going to change once I’m outside of these walls.”
I nodded. “But that doesn’t mean it’s going to all be bad.”
He laughed. “When did you become such an optimist?”
“It comes and goes.”
“As do most things,” he said with a sigh.
“As do most things,” I agreed. I hugged him one last time. “Have a safe flight, and start designing as soon as you get home.”
“Are you kidding? I’ll be designing in the car!”
Hale kissed my cheek and winked. “Bye, Eadlyn.”
“Bye.”
With Hale gone, everything spiraled into a laser focus. This was the end. There were two suitors left, and one blue-eyed soul mate. I wasn’t sure who to speak to first. After some thought, I realized Eikko knew what was coming. He wouldn’t be surprised by my announcement. But Henri would, and I expected he was going to take it hard. I would see Kile first, and that would leave me plenty of time to talk this out calmly with Henri through the painful use of his positively wonderful translator.
I was trembling when I knocked on Kile’s door. I hadn’t prepared a speech or anything. And while I assumed he’d say yes, I really had no idea. What if he’d suddenly decided that I wasn’t worth all the work?
His butler answered the door and bowed deeply. “Your Majesty.”
“I need to speak with Sir Kile, please.”
“I’m sorry, miss, he’s not here. He mentioned getting something from his old room.”
“Oh. Well, I know where that is. Thank you.”
I made my way up to the third floor, following the path I’d taken the night he’d agreed to kiss me in the hallway. What a strange turn our lives had taken.
Kile’s door was slightly open, and I could see him tinkering away in the corner of his room. He’d flung his suit jacket and tie on the bed and was sanding a small piece of wood, presumably preparing to attach it to the structure beside it.
“Can I come in?”
He whipped his head up, and a few strands of hair fell into his face. It was getting long again. It didn’t look as bad as I remembered.
“Hey there,” he said, shaking the mess off his hands and coming to greet me. “I was hoping I’d get to see you today.”
“Oh, yeah?”
He put an arm around my waist and pulled me to the back of the room. “I was watching some TV this morning, and I kept seeing all this stuff about Marid.”
I rolled my eyes. “I know. He’s a bit of a problem right now.”
He swept some dust off a chair, and I sat across from him, looking at his little creations. Detailed sketches in blue and black ink, piles of books with papers sticking out, and his miniature buildings scattered around like a tiny town. He’d made a world up here.
“Can he really propose?” He sounded nervous, like he feared Marid might take me instead of the country.
“He can, I suppose, but I won’t say yes.” I sighed. “Turns out Marid is not the ally I thought he was. He’s been threatening to sway public opinion, and at first I wasn’t sure he could do it. Then the way he got himself into everyone’s house today … it’s brilliant, really. Just like Lady Brice said, it’s an instant, battle-free invasion.”
“Invasion? Like what? Is he suddenly vying for the crown?”
I ran my fingers over the lines of one of Kile’s drawings. “I don’t think it’s sudden. I think he and his family have been looking to make a move for quite a while. The inept young queen was a perfect opportunity.
“Now he wants to be my consort and use my name to make his plans happen. My only hope is to get engaged before he can try to propose, because I’m sure the press will just gobble it up if I reject him.”
“So let’s do it.”
“Do what?”
“Get married. Eadlyn, I’d marry you tonight. Between the two of us and our families, there’s no way he’d survive. People have been pulling for us from the start. Marry me, Eadlyn.”
I looked into the sweet and worried face of Kile Woodwork, and for a minute I really thought I could. I’d told myself it would all be easy, to walk down an aisle and find him at the end. He’d always make me laugh. And after the last two months of being on the same side, I knew, without question, that he would support me for life.
“I will confess, I came here just now to make that very proposal. But … I can’t.”
“Why? Is it because I didn’t get down on one knee?” He dropped instantly, gripping my hands. “Or wait, is it because you’re supposed to ask?”