A Dove's Tale

Chapter 46

Three o'clock was usually when the exhaustion hit after a sleepless night, and today was no exception, even with my anxiety about what was going on between Prince Chevalier and Prince Clavis in the back room. My eyes were tired, and it took more effort than it should for me to keep dusting as if nothing was wrong. In the back room, or with me. Maybe tonight would be better. Maybe I wouldn't see Jack's bloodshot brown eyes every time I closed mine.

I'd been having nightmares for as long as I could remember. They were usually minor inconveniences, a few minutes of terror in the night to disrupt my otherwise peaceful sleep. I didn't wake up, and I didn't notice any fatigue the next day, maybe because it was every night, affecting every day, and I just accepted it. But certain incidents triggered an increase in the frequency and intensity of the nightmares, preventing me from getting any sleep for days on end, and then there were nights when the nightmares came for no apparent reason at all. Like last night. And, when they were at their worst, I sometimes acted them out. So, I'd spent the night sitting on the grassy hillside, not wanting to disturb Mother, staring up at the stars and wishing I could sleep.

"Hey, Ivetta."

I looked over my shoulder to see Prince Luke sauntering into the library, his boyish grin out in full force. It was impossible not to return that smile.

"Hello, Prince Luke. Done with your lessons for the day?"

"I didn't have any," he said, flopping down on a sofa and stretching across the length of it. "Sariel's worked up 'bout something, so I didn't even have to hide from him today."

He looked so comfortable. I turned back to my dusting rather than allow myself to gaze longingly at the sofa.

"So, what did you do today, your highness?"

"Nothin'."

I shook my head. "I don't know how you can just do nothing, your highness. That would drive me crazy."

"I dunno how ya work all the time," he replied. "Just watching ya makes me tired."

He really seemed like a big kid, especially when I wasn't looking at him. I knew his feet were dangling over the edge of the sofa, and his muscular frame covered more of it than Prince Nokto's lean body had yesterday. Prince Luke didn't act like it, but he had to be older than me.

"How old are you, Prince Luke?"

"Me?" he asked, surprised.

"Is there another Prince Luke in the room?" I asked teasingly, glancing back at him. "I was just thinking you seem so young compared to the other princes."

"Yeah, I guess so. I'm twenty."

I giggled as a thought struck me.

"What?" he asked curiously.

"You're twenty years old, and you grew up as a commoner, but you don't work, your highness?" I asked, looking over at him as I moved on to another shelf.

He shrugged sheepishly. "Well..."

The library door flew open, and Sariel stormed in, his narrow lavender eyes flashing behind his thin glasses, his frightening smile more terrifying than I'd ever seen it. I stopped in my tracks. Prince Luke craned his neck to look back at the door.

"Uh oh," he muttered under his breath.

"Where is that hellcat?" Sariel asked, his voice smooth and venomous.

"Hellcat?" I asked, looking at Prince Luke for clarification.

"Clavis," Prince Luke explained.

"Oh, he's in Prince Chevalier's private library right now," I said. "But I wouldn't go in there," I added quickly as Sariel headed in that direction. "He and Prince Chevalier are...talking."