A Royal Christmas by Shana Galen

Author:Shana Galen
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: BMLA Digital
Published: 2016-10-31T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Two

She was in the bookshop again. She’d come twice in the past ten days, and although they hadn’t spoken, he’d seen her come in and known when she departed. Now he looked for her daily. He had a simple life, and it was a small matter to add one more task to his routine—wake, buy a bun or an apple for breakfast if he had the coin, if he had no students he’d go to the bookshop, search the stacks, look for the woman, buy soup or broth if he had coin, find a place to sleep.

These days he did not have enough coin for food and lodging. Most of his students were in the country for the winter. Now that it was cold, he usually chose lodging. He’d always preferred clean, well-tailored clothing, and even as a boy he hadn’t liked to be dirty. Of course, he enjoyed playing as any boy might, but he never argued about the bath he had to take as an inevitable result of tromping through mud. Now baths were a luxury he couldn’t dream of, but he found he could manage well enough with water, soap, and a clean cloth.

As for food, he was always hungry. Often, he met his students in coffeehouses. Those sessions were torturous because he could smell the delicious stews bubbling in the kitchen but could not partake. Some of his students preferred to meet at their lodgings, and they usually offered refreshment. Lucien was grateful for their generosity. He had not lowered himself to stealing. He was still too proud to join the ranks of common thieves.

The bookshop was crowded this morning. The sleet and freezing temperatures had given the city a brief reprieve, and all of London seemed to want to brave the chilly weather for the chance at feeling the sun on their skin. Lucien had also realized Christmas was near. A smattering of laurel, rosemary, hawthorn, and bay had sprung up outside homes and shops, and he’d overheard people speaking of their plans for the holiday. Of course, families wanted to be together for Christmas. Lucien tried not to think too often about family, and the subject of family Christmases was one forever banned from his mind. If he thought of all he’d lost, he might decide not to go on, and he had no choice but to go on.

Something in the air around him changed, and he looked up from the book whose pages he’d been turning. She had stepped near the shelf where he stood and appeared to be studying the volumes at the other end quite intently. She probably had not seen him at this end, and even if she had, she would not remember their first meeting.

He looked back at his book, but as he did so, he thought he saw the flick of her gaze in his direction before she resumed staring at the volumes on the shelf in front of her.

Lucien’s heart hammered rapidly. He could not have said why.

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