A Dove's Tale

Chapter 127

Sariel didn't have time to say more than he would talk to me later, and Nokto was busy, too, so I spent the rest of that day in my room, talking to Theresa or reading. It was a nice, relaxing change from the tension of the past two days, even with Theresa's embarrassing questions about what went on between Chevalier and me while we were alone. Evening came, and I fell asleep in my own bed, listening to the sound of Theresa's slow breathing from the other side of the mattress. Quiet, calm, tranquil. Just what I needed.

And then I leaped out of bed before daybreak, excited to spend the day with Chevalier in a non-life-threatening, non-stressful situation.

"Why are you up so early?" Theresa mumbled into her pillow.

"I'm going out with Chevalier," I reminded her, feeling for the dress I'd left hanging over the dressing screen the night before. It was Chevalier's favorite, of course.

"Oh, that's right!" She clambered out of bed and lit a candle, the flame illuminating me already halfway into the dress. "What do you need me to do?"

"Fix this," I said, struggling with the laces at the back.

She laughed. "You really are in a hurry. What if he won't get up now?"

"He will," I said, fidgeting impatiently with the green skirt while Theresa laced and buttoned my dress. "Could you - no, I'll do it. I know what he likes. I guess there's nothing else I need - except my hairbrush."

"Jin was right," Theresa said, giggling. "You two are adorable."

"When were you talking to Jin?" I asked, snatching the hairbrush from my vanity and pulling it through my hair fast enough that every tangle stung and pulled.

"Oh, y-you know," she stammered. "It was just - we - we ran into each other..."

"Uh huh. Well, you'll have to tell me about it later, because - I guess you can help me. Get dressed."

I could almost hear her rolling her eyes. "Make up your mind."

"Get dressed," I insisted.

She and two confused guards followed me to the kitchens, where I put her to work, helping me make a quick breakfast to go. I left her to pack it in a picnic basket with instructions to take it to the stables, and I went to Chevalier's room. The sky was still a blanket of black speckled with white when I yanked his comforter off of him the same way I had the first morning I'd been in his room.

"Good morning, Chevalier!"

Unlike that first morning, he did not jump out of bed and grab me, which was a bit of a shame. I wouldn't have minded this time.

"What are you doing here?" he mumbled, his sheets rustling as he rolled over to face me. I couldn't make out his expression in the dark.

"You said we could do what I planned today, so get up and meet me at the stables."

"Now?" he grumbled.

I left without answering, smiling as I pictured the bewildered, sleepy look he was probably wearing. The rest of the palace was dark and slumbering, the halls quiet and empty, but when I exited the door closest to the stables, warm lantern-light glanced through windows and open doorways from the long, low building at the foot of the hill. The dull clopping of hooves on packed dirt and soft snorting muffled by the stable walls told me the grooms were already hard at work inside. Shadowy stable hands led larger shadows of horses from the golden light out into the soft, silvery glimmer of the stars on their way to pasture or exercise. I squinted in the darkness as I approached, trying to make out if Rose or Blade were among the horses on leads. Blade's white coat would have glowed in the dark, so I knew at a glance he was still inside.