Beauty Within by Emily L. Goodman

Author:Emily L. Goodman [Goodman, Emily L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2017-05-16T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER ELEVEN

A Family Visit

Callista had been dancing around the castle for the last three days. Griffin smiled, watching her. She’d been with him for almost three months now—long enough that he’d gotten to know her, had learned how to tell when happiness overtook her or when she was excited about something.

Today, she was definitely excited. He didn’t begrudge her that excitement even though he knew it wasn’t going to be as pleasant for him as it was for her. Well, who could blame her for being happy? She was finally going to see her brothers and sisters again, after months of being without them.

He, on the other hand, was going to be introduced to some of the ones that he’d yet to meet—and he knew full well that he was going to be on display. Callista had sent letters about him. He hadn’t read them, but he was sure that she’d prepared all of her siblings, given them some idea of what to expect.

He sighed gustily, staring out from the shadows of his balcony at Callista in the gardens below. He could go down and join her. She was picking flowers—who knew for what? That was one of those girly things he was perfectly happy not to understand, and since, if it made her happy, he didn’t particularly care what the flowers were for, he would have been perfectly content to walk at her side—perhaps to hold her basket, or to carry a bouquet for her, if she needed her hands free for other tasks.

There was just one problem with that: he did not share her buoyant mood, and the odds were good that if he went down there, it was going to go a long way toward destroying hers.He didn’t want to dampen her excitement—not even by the least little degree.

So he stayed up here in the shadows and watched her, feeling almost as empty and lonely as he had before she came into his life.

Almost—because had to admit, just watching her was enough to bring a smile to his face.

“Is there a problem, Your Highness?” Hemsworth asked cautiously.

“No.” The word emerged as a snarl. He’d meant to temper it better than that—especially with Hemsworth, who knew him too well. Now, of all times, was not the time to let the beast out. Callista had forgiven him one slip. He couldn’t be sure that she would be able to handle another; and she had been cautious around him for days, with only the fact that her family would be arriving soon drawing her back out of her shell.

“Hm.” Hemsworth sounded patently unconvinced. “Then why, pray tell, are you up here while our lovely lady is down there?”

Yes—Hemsworth knew him far too well.

“I—” Griffin sighed. “How long is her family staying for, again?” There—that didn’t sound snarly. It sounded more like a petulant little boy who was being denied a treat. Oh, that was so much better.

“I believe we agreed that they would be here for a period of between two weeks and a month.

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