Foreign Affairs ❥ lrh

Chapter Seventeen: Fireflies

When Luke didn't answer his door on her second knock, Violet went ahead and let herself inside his bedroom. After all, Valentina had essentially told her to do as much and she didn't want to risk being seen hovering outside.

His palatial quarters had more than a dozen spots where he might have been recuperating, so it took Violet's eyes several moments to pass over all of them. The piano bench was empty, the rug on the floor was bare, the door to his closet was closed, his desk's chair was tucked neatly underneath the center-

"Luke?" She called softly after double checking that his door was closed. After hesitating for a second to consider whether or not she should lock it behind her, she left it as it was; she didn't want to do anything that might arouse further suspicion.

The enormous, glowing room was still and quiet; nothing moved or breathed or seemed aware of her presence at all.

Violet took several more steps inside, just enough to turn the corner and see if she was intruding on him while he was asleep. The further she got, the warmer the air felt. It wasn't truly warm, but it had a few degrees on the hallway and several more on Ashton's glares- she shuddered at the recent memory and tried to brush it off.

The pink and green comforter that had been wrapped around her body the night before was made up nicely- pillows plumped and throw blankets folded at the foot- but it was unoccupied.

"Luke?" She called out again, a bit louder now that she had distanced herself from the corridor.

Something muffled stirred in the distance, but she couldn't make sense of it right away. After a few moments, she heard faint noises of water in motion and could tell they were too close to have come from outside and too clear to be playing on a television.

"Violet?" Luke's bright voice echoed from behind the closed bathroom door. "Is that you?"

Her cheeks flushed until they were almost the same shade of mauve as the rug underneath her slippers. Hearing him in the middle of washing his face seemed so small and so big at the same time. She felt an untamable affinity rush through her, similar to what she felt at Whindchester Castle when she saw his contact solution for sensitive eyes and toothpaste for sensitive teeth in his en suite bathroom there.

"I'm sorry," Violet apologized, taking a few steps toward the door that separated them so her voice didn't carry too far. "I thought Valentina said- I'm sorry-"

"You can come in," he said, kindly cutting her off.

His sweetness warmed her cheeks again and she stepped just off to the side to straighten herself up in his long mirror first. She had managed to recover from Ashton's temper quite well; she didn't look like she had been on the verge of a panic attack a little while earlier or too much like she had only gotten two hours of sleep.

Incredibly aware that she wasn't wearing any make-up over the two breakouts on her chin and that the swollen lump on her temple was adopting the pigment of a bruise, she moved her hair over her unsupported chest again and opened the door to the bathroom.

Violet hadn't gotten a clear glance inside the night before- when Luke had disappeared into the room to change clothes and wash his face- so the interior was brand new to her. It was the largest bathroom she had ever seen; high ceilings with two crystal chandeliers hanging low, an open layout with a large window overlooking the Palace Gardens, two sinks followed by a vanity that shared a lengthy wall of mirrors-

And at the very center of the room- and the reason she felt like she had to look around at everything else- was an enormous free-standing copper clawfoot bathtub filled to the brim with pink bath bubbles and the long, dewy figure of Prince Luke's upper body. Poking out of the suds was his boyish- though slightly worse for wear- face smiling lazily up at her.