A Dove's Tale

Chapter 180

Chevalier's brothers were a handful at the best of times, but starting the day juggling them, the foreign princes, and Belle after a sleepless night was exhausting.

I didn't include Arianna in the list because she was still too shy and uncomfortable around everybody else to be a problem. All of her blushing and giggling as Luke recounted his proposal from the day before had been rather adorable. That led naturally to the pair resuming their lovesick gazing into each other's eyes, however, leaving the conversation open for Belle to take over with all her usual bubbly energy and the princes to spin off in multiple directions. She talked my ear off about Benitoite, Rio, and her upcoming wedding plans; they teased Luke and Arianna, posited theories about how Chevalier convinced me to go to bed with him the first night of our honeymoon, pestered Licht, Gilbert, and Keith for an explanation about how they knew, and speculated about the round table meeting.

I tried to focus on Belle and tune the rest out. I still heard enough to make my ears burn.

The bed looked so comfortable when I finally made my escape.

Chevalier was still in the enviable position of a motionless lump under the covers. I could all too easily imagine myself crawling back into bed with him, snuggling up to his warmth, and falling asleep in the comfort of his embrace.

But he and I both had too much work today for that.

I lifted my chin, straightened my back, and forced myself to walk past the bed to the window.

"Good morning, Chevalier," I called as I threw the drapes open.

Silence.

I smiled to myself. Much had changed in the past year, but this hadn't. Chevalier was not a morning person, and the same tactics I'd developed as his maid to coax him out of bed still worked.

"Everybody was at breakfast, so Leon set the time for the round table. It will be at noon. He said he'd let Sariel know, too."

Luke had proposed to Arianna in the gardens, and looking out our window at the gorgeous spring day, I couldn't imagine a more perfect setting. The seasonal roses were in full bloom alongside the year-round varieties, lining every cobblestone path and wrapping every arch and trellis in reds, pinks, and whites, the blossoms so thick they obscured the green leaves completely in some places. Add to that the heavy fragrance of the flowers and a chorus of birdsongs, and Arianna had probably felt like she'd been transported to a fairy tale.

Clavis appeared down below, skipping along with a shovel in hand.

"Luke proposed to Arianna yesterday, although I'm sure you already know about that. You could have told me he's been going to you for relationship advice. I am your wife, after all."

I added a little pout to my voice to tease Chevalier, and I turned around just in time to collide with his bare chest as his arms wrapped around me and his lips covered mine. This wasn't part of my maid routine. I couldn't complain, though.

"Telling you would have ruined the surprise," he said.

The sunlight caught the warmth in his crystal blue eyes and played across the smile on his lips. I hugged him back and stood up on tiptoe to return his kiss.

"I brought you breakfast. Get dressed and eat."

"Not going somewhere, are you, little dove?" he asked, the corner of his lip turning up in a smirk.

"Clavis took charge of the servants the last couple of days, so I need to go to the kitchens and clean up any messes he made. And as much as I appreciate the view, Theresa will be here soon, and if you can be jealous of Gilbert looking at me the wrong way, I think it's perfectly reasonable for me to not want her to see you naked."