Chapter 392: A Question of Caution

Chapter 391: A Question of Caution

Lyria’s POV

I chuckled softly.

"Yes," I said. "A cat."

Duke Thorncrest stared at the creature for another moment before lifting his gaze to mine. His expression had shifted from surprise to something that resembled thoughtful consideration.

"I did not know you kept a pet, Your Highness," he said. "I confess, I feel rather hurt."

I frowned.

"W-why would you f-feel hurt?"

"Because," he said, placing a hand dramatically over his heart, "I have lost my chance to be yours."

I rolled my eyes, though a smile tugged at my lips despite my best efforts.

"Y-you have n-not lost a-anything, Your Grace."

"I have, I am afraid. Your cat has clearly determined that I am unworthy of its regard. It is judging me, Your Highness. I can see it quite plainly in its eyes."

I laughed softly and leaned down to gather the cat into my arms.

The moment I lifted it from the floor, it settled against me at once. Its body relaxed, its tail curling loosely around my arm, its earlier hostility toward Duke Thorncrest disappearing as though he had never existed at all.

I rubbed its head gently.

"D-do not take its h-hostility to h-heart," I said. "It is h-hostile to e-everyone except m-me. You are n-not being s-singled out."

Duke Thorncrest regarded the creature with an expression of exaggerated scepticism.

"That does not make me feel any better, Your Highness."

"It is n-not m-meant to," I said. "It was r-rather pure h-honesty."

His lips curved into a smile.

For a moment, he simply looked at me.

The playful amusement in his expression softened, replaced by something warmer and less easy to read. He had always possessed that quality about him — an ease that made his presence rather different from that of the other gentlemen. Even when he jested, there was something measured beneath it, something that made it genuinely difficult to determine how much of what he said was wit and how much was meant in earnest.

"It is quite lovely to see you, Your Highness."

I felt warmth rise to my cheeks.

"It is l-lovely to see y-you too," I said. "Though I m-must ask — w-why have you c-come?"

Rather than answer immediately, he glanced toward the reading table.

Then, with the ease of a man entirely accustomed to being permitted wherever he went, he crossed the room and drew out the chair. He turned it slightly away from the desk, settled into it, and rested one ankle over the other with his hands loosely clasped before him.

I could not help the smile that grew on my face.

"I came because I wished to see you, Your Highness," he said simply. "And I confess I found I could not wait any longer to do so."

I tilted my head slightly.

"Besides," he continued, "today was to have been my date with you. Until I received false word that you were exempted from all dates for the week on account of ill health."

I gave him a look.

"H-how do you k-know it is f-false?"

He returned my look with one of his own.

"Do you appear unwell to yourself, Your Highness?"

I stared at him for a moment.

Then I laughed.

I could not help it. There was something so perfectly self-assured about the manner in which he had said it that my amusement escaped before I could restrain it.

Duke Thorncrest smiled — genuinely, the kind that reached his eyes without effort.

"I quite like hearing you laugh," he said. "It suits you considerably better than the expression you wear in most public settings."

My cheeks warmed again.

I lowered my gaze to the cat, occupying myself with smoothing its fur.

The creature seemed entirely unbothered by the conversation, its eyes half-closed in contentment.

When I looked up, Duke Thorncrest was still watching me with that same quiet attention.

"Do you remember the first occasion on which we met?" he asked. "And where it was?"

I settled more comfortably into my chair, angling myself so that I faced him properly. The cat shifted in my arms, resettled, and was still again.

"I d-do," I said. "You s-saved me from an i-impending accident, after a-all. It would b-be rather difficult to f-forget."

He nodded, looking pleased by the answer.

"And you still owe me a kiss, by the way," he added. "I am your saviour, as I recall, and you have been shamefully negligent in acknowledging the fact."

I shook my head.

"I h-have d-done no such th-thing."

"Have you not?" His eyes carried that familiar spark of mischief. "Then why do I feel so thoroughly neglected?"

I gave him an incredulous look.

He considered this for a moment with exaggerated seriousness.

"Ah," he said. "I believe I understand. It is because we are not proceeding with our date as originally intended. That is the source of my suffering."

I huffed a soft laugh and shook my head again.

He smiled at that, and then, without any particular announcement, the lightness in his expression shifted into something quieter.

"Why have you never done it again, Your Highness?" he asked. His voice had gentled.

My amusement faded somewhat.

I looked down at the cat.

There had been a time when slipping beyond the palace walls had felt almost effortless. It had been a means of survival, and there had been no particular eyes upon me. In a manner of speaking, I had been freer then than I was now — not because my circumstances had been better, but because no one had thought me worth watching.

That had changed.

I could no longer move through the palace’s corridors without attracting notice. Guards were more attentive than they had once been. Servants marked my movements more carefully. Nobles watched me at every public occasion, and even the simplest passage from one wing to another seemed to invite observation.

I was no longer invisible.

And that, more than anything else, was the difficulty.

Duke Thorncrest appeared to understand that my silence had nothing to do with forgetfulness.

He waited.

Then, quietly, he asked, "Is it because you are frightened?"

I frowned.

"Rather t-than that," I said slowly, "I w-would say it is b-because I am b-being cautious."

He tilted his head, his expression entirely serious now.

"What, precisely, separates fear from cautiousness, Your Highness?"