A Dove's Tale

Chapter 173

Chevalier's brothers might not have been treating me any differently now that I was the queen, other than modifying their teasing accordingly, but almost everybody else did. There was a lot more bowing and curtsying everywhere I went, and most of the people I'd convinced to drop the title before my name when I had been a princess suddenly forgot all familiarity and added the title again. It was as though everyone expected me to become a distant, haughty ruler overnight. One who never lifted a finger to do anything for herself.

It baffled me. I'd always needed to keep busy, whether that meant maintaining the library in spotless condition when I was a maid, or filling every spare minute of my schedule with studying when I became a princess, and everybody knew that. On more than one occasion, I'd heard murmurings about me overworking myself from people of all classes and stations. But those same people expressed surprise when I continued studying and keeping busy.

And when I announced my intention to take over the management of the servants, I received smiles and acknowledgements to my face, followed by the servants going behind my back to the princes for instructions, as they'd always done.

I had to tell Chevalier and his brothers to step back and let me handle everything. Having them fight my battles for me would do no good in the long-term. I also had to order my guards to stay out of it unless there was a physical threat to me, because I didn't want to intimidate the servants into obeying me. I wanted respect. And not because of my relationship with Chevalier.

That was another problem. It was no secret I was more sociable and less intimidating than him, and noblemen began stopping me in the hallways to ask if I could deliver official documents and put in good words for them. It annoyed me, and it only reinforced the idea that others saw me as nothing more than a buffer for Chevalier. I often had to bite off sharp responses before I turned them down politely and advised them to speak with Chevalier directly.

And then there was Chevalier himself. In public, he was still the cold, distant aristocrat whose glare could freeze a person's blood in their veins, but in private...

"Chevalier!" I exclaimed, giggling before my back pressed into the door and his lips pressed into mine. "You can't keep—mm...doing this..."

He chuckled, his breath and his thumb ghosting across my lips before he kissed me again, and I couldn't find it in myself to push him away.

"I have to go..."

He hummed in response, maybe in agreement, maybe just an acknowledgement; it didn't really matter. I had already given in, wrapping my arms around his neck and kissing him back.

It was a new game he played, one where I rolled the dice every time I passed him in the hall. Sometimes, and I never knew when, he'd grab me and pull me aside for a few minutes of kissing, touching, and murmured words. And it really wasn't fair, I thought, trapped between him and the door, heartbeat to heartbeat, breath to breath. He would walk out of here with his usual cool dignity, and I would be a blushing, flustered mess, avoiding my guards' eyes and those of anybody else in the vicinity.

A happy, blushing, flustered mess.

"I'll be working late tonight," he breathed in my ear. "Don't wait up."

How he could deliver those words in such a seductive tone was beyond me. I bit my lip to stop myself from making a sound when he nibbled at my ear, but I couldn't stop my fingers from curling into his jacket.

"Maybe I can...catch up with Theresa...mm..."

I felt his smile against my skin as he scattered kisses across my cheek and neck. He'd never smiled when we first met, and now, he smiled almost constantly when we were together. Not in public, of course. Only for me.