Chapter 410: A Kiss for a Knight

Chapter 409: A Kiss for a Knight

Lyria’s POV

Duke Thorncrest did not give me an opportunity to reply.

He insisted that we return to the palace at once, and before I could gather my thoughts sufficiently to protest, he had already begun walking, his stride brisk and entirely too purposeful for a man who might have paused, even a moment, to hear my objection.

His hand remained loosely at my elbow.

It was a perfectly proper gesture beneath the circumstances, particularly with the hour being so late and the streets so quiet, yet I was acutely conscious of it all the same.

He guided me through the darkened streets in silence, and I wondered, not for the first time, whether he was accustomed to them, perhaps even more than I was myself, given how easily he moved through shadow and stone alike.

But I was not given a chance to say anything.

Not as we moved through the sleeping streets of the capital, past shuttered windows and doors barred for the night.

Not as we slipped through the breach in the outer wall, a passage I had begun to think of, absurdly, as an old and familiar friend.

Not as we passed the abandoned fountain, its stone basin dark beneath the moonlight, dry and silent as it had been for years.

And not as we crossed the palace grounds, keeping to the shadows with our cloaks drawn close about us, Bridget and Brayden following a short distance behind, their footsteps hushed.

At last, we reached the entrance to my wing.

The familiar sight of the palace corridor beyond the doorway made the strange little world of the tavern seem, all at once, very distant, as though it belonged to some other hour, some other version of myself entirely.

I should have felt relief at the sight of it.

Instead, I found myself reluctant to let the evening end.

Duke Thorncrest began to withdraw his hand from my arm, inclining his head as though to take his leave properly, but I caught his sleeve before he could step away.

He turned towards me, his expression one of surprise.

"W-will you let me s-speak, before we d-depart, Your Grace?"

His brow furrowed. "Your Highness—"

"The longer I s-stay outside, the m-more at risk I am. I know that," I said quietly. "No one k-knows it better than m-me."

"Even s-so," I continued, "I should l-like to thank you, for w-what you did for me tonight."

"Your Highness, there is no need."

"There i-is. It w-was on your account that I g-got to speak freely w-with people I find it d-difficult to see now, given my c-condition."

His expression softened at that, though he said nothing.

"It is also b-because of you that I w-as able to laugh freely. To argue w-with them. To embrace p-people who matter to me — people I h-have neglected, too."

I paused, searching for the proper words, for they did not come easily even now.

"I d-did not realise how much I had missed it, until t-tonight. And I w-wish to correct one thing. You s-said I ought to live for m-myself."

"I did." He gave a nod.

"I c-cannot do that."

His lips parted, no doubt intending to argue the point, but I continued before he could find the words.

"It w-would be rather s-selfish of me. Especially w-when I know I might do something t-to help. I am n-not some porcelain thing to be g-guarded, though I a-appreciate your w-wishing to guard me. I h-have thoughts of my own, and a w-will of my own. I a-am no damsel i-in distress, Your Grace. I h-have endured long without y-you. Even when things w-were harder than t-this. And I r-reckon I shall endure this too. The b-burden may be greater, b-but I w-will not yield."

"B-but I a-accept your offer. Though I w-will not let you d-do all the work f-for me."

His brow creased.

"Y-you told me I o-ought not bear everything alone, and that I s-should let you b-bear my burdens. B-but you, too, ought not b-bear everything alone. I w-will not let you s-shoulder what is mine. My burdens a-are mine. And I s-shall carry them, n-no matter how much i-it pains me."

"But I t-thank you, that you c-care for me. I thank y-you, that you h-have offered your aid."

I gave a small, nervous smile.

"For I m-must confess... I shall w-want all the h-help I can obtain."

Something in his expression shifted at that. He looked away for the briefest moment, as though my admission had affected him more deeply than I had intended it to. When he looked back at me, the usual ease of his bearing had vanished entirely. He seemed to labour for what to say, his composure, for once, quite undone.

But as he had done to me, I did not grant him leave to find the words.

"Now I r-really must go, b-but before I l-leave—"

I released his sleeve then I took a breath, gathering what courage I could summon for what I intended to do next, and then, when it seemed sufficient or near enough that I dared not wait longer, for fear I should lose my nerve entirely I stood upon my tiptoes and pressed a kiss to his cheek.

It was brief, barely more than a touch, gone almost as soon as it had begun. And yet his eyes went wide, as though in shock, and I dare say a blush was climbing steadily up his cheeks. That made two of us, for my own face was quite aflame at that very moment, my heart beating in a manner I could not entirely account for.

For the first time since I had known him, Duke Thorncrest appeared to have been rendered completely speechless.

"Y— your..." He swallowed, then blinked a great many times in rapid succession.

He even pinched himself, as if to determine whether he was not, in fact, dreaming.

"Your Highness," he said finally, with considerable effort. "What... what... I do not understand."

I only just mustered the courage to smile at him, for we were in the similar situations.

"You r-recall, you asking f-for a kiss, the night w-we met?" I asked him.

He gave me no answer. He only stared, his eyes still wide, as though the question itself had struck him quite dumb.

"Y-you asked f-for a k-kiss that n-night, for saving me. You w-were a r-remarkable knight t-tonight, compared t-to that first night."

I felt my cheeks growing warmer still as I spoke it. Then, without waiting for a reply or rather, without giving him the chance to offer one I fled towards my chamber, Bridget and Brayden right behind me.

I did not look back as I moved to my chamber, not even after I walked into it and picked up the cat, and I could not quite give an appropriate explanation as to why, but for some reason, I felt Duke Thorncrest was watching me.