Chapter 427: The Question Elara Asked

Chapter 426: The Question Elara Asked

Lyria’s POV

Elara observed me quietly a moment, then spoke.

"Do explain it further, if you please, Your Highness. Surely that cannot be the whole of your opinion upon His Grace? In what manner, precisely, do you like him?"

"B-but that i-is it," I said to her. "I l-like him."

"Yes," Elara said. "But in what particular manner do you like him, Your Highness? Surely there must be some cause for your growing so fond of him, must there not?"

I blinked, quite taken aback. It was, I confessed, a reasonable point.

"I-I like h-him, for h-he is..."

I paused, searching after the proper words. They did not come easily, for I had never before been called upon to explain such matters. I had never had occasion to put into speech what I felt within my chest when a certain person drew near.

"He is d-dependable," I said at last. "And clever, b-besides. And he believes I am c-capable of things. I am a-also not i-ill at ease in his company. It is r-rather easy to be m-myself in his presence."

Elara regarded me a moment.

"And is that not equally true of the others?" she asked.

I paused.

"The o-others?"

"Duke Aurelgrave," she said. "Earl Hawthorne. Duke Thorncrest, and Baron Redwick."

I fell silent at her words.

The truth of the matter was, I did not entirely know.

I liked them all, if I was honest with myself. Not Duke Valenridge alone.

Earl Hawthorne was comfortable company. He was kind, and I regarded him as a very good friend indeed. He instructed me in my own defence, had offered his apology when he had once departed abruptly, had brought me flowers, which I had quite liked. He was honest, too, a quality uncommon among the nobility I had encountered, the royal family being no small example of its absence.

Most concealed a certain ruthlessness beneath their masks, but with Earl Hawthorne, I was rather certain what I saw was precisely what I received. He did not feign kindness, he simply possessed it. He did not feign honesty, he simply was honest. And never once did he look upon my shortcomings with anything resembling scorn.

And though certain matters between us remained yet unresolved, given our last exchange, still I found pleasure in his company. Nor could I deny it a happy circumstance that he was, besides, a handsome man.

Then there was Baron Redwick, who had likewise never once looked down upon me. Knowing full well that I could neither read with fluency nor write very well, he had not mocked me, nor dismissed me. Rather, he had taken it upon himself to instruct me. He had shown patience when I stumbled over words, had corrected me with gentleness, had never once made me feel the fool for it. His kindness was of a quiet sort, one that demanded neither recognition nor gratitude. And yes, it was, I confess, a further advantage that he too was handsome, though it was his intellect I found myself remarking upon far more than his beauty.

Now that I gave the matter thought, all five gentlemen were, each in his own fashion, handsome and I had never before supposed myself the sort of person to remark upon such things, least of all in gentlemen. And yet I did, and it did not strike me as the least improper, nor unseemly. Rather, it felt entirely natural to notice it a matter of no great consequence.

Duke Thorncrest...I paused, my thoughts turning upon him. I liked him also, particularly after what had passed the previous night. He had gone to considerable trouble to bring me somewhere I might simply be myself. The excursion beyond the palace walls, the tavern, the hours spent in laughter among the common folk, which I had enjoyed a very great deal, all of it owed to him. And it was due to that same night that I had come to understand I must do more. And even when I had faulted myself for what had occurred at the arena, he had refused to believe the fault mine. I thought then of the kiss I had pressed upon his cheek, and felt my own cheeks colour at the memory.

And Lucian.

Lucian, too, was a very good friend. I had never imagined I should come to like him, given our history, given the manner in which he had tormented me as a child. And yet I did. His company was an easy one. He was teaching me to dance, though well aware the Queen should be greatly displeased were she to discover it. He took that risk on my account. And he had brought me cherry pie upon numerous occasions. I could hardly hold ill will towards one who went to such lengths merely to get me cherry pie.

I stroked Zephyr’s fur absently.

"I l-like them all," I said at last. "If I am to be h-honest."

Elara said nothing, waiting.

"That i-is to say, I am c-comfortable in their company. All of t-them. I n-never supposed I should be a-able to converse so easily with n-nobles, to hold c-onversation with t-them, to l-learn from t-them."

I paused, gathering my thoughts.

"I had a-always supposed nobles to be p-pompous and p-prideful. Refusing to h-heed any counsel but t-their own. But with t-these gentlemen, it is d-different entirely. They d-do not care that I am b-but a princess in n-name only. They d-do not care that, under n-normal c-circumstances, they ought scarcely to be s-speaking with me at all."

I looked upon Elara.

"So yes. I l-like them. Not m-merely Duke Valenridge."

Elara was quiet a long moment.

Then her lips curved into a smile.

"There shall be another occasion," she said, "upon which I put this question to you again, Your Highness. Some further time hence. And I do hope that, by then, you shall be equal to giving me an answer that betrays a deeper understanding of what I have asked."

I frowned at this.

"I-if you would b-but explain what y-you meant by the q-question," I said, "then p-perhaps I might a-answer it properly n-now."

Elara only smiled.

"Certain questions are better answered once one has gained a fuller understanding of the world at large," she said. "And, perhaps, of something else besides."

I opened my mouth to speak further, but at that moment the door opened, and Pippa entered.