The Unseelie's Wallflower (Courts in Conflict Book 1) by Elisa Rae

Author:Elisa Rae [Rae, Elisa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: anonymous
Published: 2023-06-05T16:00:00+00:00

nine

Greyson

Torn between the desire to help and the frustration because I couldn’t, I watched my people work. The healer moved efficiently. A quick examination, a potion, and instructions with a warning that she might suffer a residual headache, and he finished.

The maid helped settle the children down with a game involving pieces moving about a board, and an equerry brought in a set of riding toys that belonged to the children of one of my tenants. Before long, the children were happily squealing as they rode about on the toys. My staff disappeared like the well-trained employees they were.

Suddenly only the children, Lyra, and I remained in the conservatory. The little child I had picked up earlier had fallen asleep on my shoulder with a growing patch of moisture soaking into the fine cloth of my overcoat. Not that I minded.

“I should probably take him back,” Lyra observed. “I am glad to see children are not afraid of you.” A mischievous glint flickered in the depths of her eyes.

“This one is unusual.”

“Oh?” She nodded toward her charges. “They aren’t bothered by you.”

“Then all of them are unusual. I have a reputation for scaring children.”

She watched the children play for a bit before speaking again. “I am curious.”

“About what?” I glanced at the children. They had clustered together, arguing about who would go which direction.

“Why do you throw events, like this house party, when you clearly don’t enjoy them?”

“They have their purpose.” I frowned at a servant that swept past the garden doors. His uniform was rumpled.

“That is what I mean. You glower and glare at everyone.”

“I don’t glower,” I protested.

She smiled affectionately. “Have you looked in a mirror? Those eyebrows were made for glowering.”

I would’ve taken offense if it weren’t for the gentle laughter in her voice. I wondered what she would think of my hands. How I longed to remove my gloves and touch her.

“You have the worst case of angry eyebrows I have ever seen. If I hadn’t witnessed their versatility myself, I would think they only excelled at showing different intensities of displeasure.”

Her eyes sparkled most alluringly when she was amused, as if she possessed a special source of constant joy deep within. I admired her tenacity. Despite my discomfort with how close she had just come to death, I found my mood lightening.

“I wouldn’t know,” I pointed out. “It isn’t as though I have many opportunities to observe them.”

She tilted her head, causing her curls to shift, caressing the edge of her jaw and drawing my attention to the delicate curve of her ear nestled among them. Unlike my pointed ears, hers ended in a rounded tip, peeking appealingly from beneath her hair. Were the tresses as soft as they appeared?

“There, now you look less grim.” She smiled up at me.

My brows rose. “Lyra, you almost died.”

“But I am alive, and not in pain, thanks to you and your staff.” A flicker of sadness passed across her features. “Thank you.”

“What was that?” I asked.

“Hmm?”

“The sadness I just saw in your eyes.

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