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Chapter 73

Chapter 73: Courtship from the Princess
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Elia Martell POV

The Old Palace had finally fallen quiet. Beyond the open doors of my balcony, Sunspear rested beneath a clear night sky. Moonlight shimmered across the distant sea, while a warm breeze stirred the thin curtains surrounding my bed. Most of the candles had burned low, filling my chamber with a soft, flickering glow.

I should have been asleep.

Instead, I lay between Ashara and Ellaria beneath the silk blankets, listening as they discussed my behavior earlier that evening.

"You could not take your eyes off him, could you?" Ellaria accused me.

"I was showing him around the palace," I replied. "It would have been discourteous not to look at him while he was speaking."

"There is looking at someone, and then there is whatever you were doing," Ashara said with a quiet laugh.

"I do not know what you mean," I insisted.

Ashara pushed herself upright against the cushions.

"Did you see any of the rooms you showed him?" Ashara asked. "You spent the entire tour staring at Galahad."

"That is not true," I protested.

"It is," Ellaria said. "There were guards, servants, and two very patient friends following behind you. Yet you behaved as though you and Galahad were the only two people in the entire palace."

"I was ensuring that he felt welcome," I explained.

"You watched him so closely that you nearly walked into a pillar," Ashara reminded me.

"That pillar appeared from nowhere," I protested.

Ellaria stared at me for a moment before bursting into laughter.

"Of course it did," Ellaria replied. "The Old Palace itself must be conspiring against your courtship."

"I am not courting him," I said quickly.

Their laughter stopped. Ashara and Ellaria exchanged a glance.

"What?" I asked.

"You invited him to stay in your home," Ellaria began. "You waited at the gates for him while wearing one of your finest gowns. Then you personally showed him around the palace while looking at him as though he were the only man left in Dorne."

"That sounds remarkably like courtship to me," Ashara added.

"It was hospitality," I insisted.

"It was courtship," Ellaria corrected me.

"It was not." I insisted again.

"Then why are you smiling?" Ashara asked.

I immediately tried to stop. That only made them laugh again.

I pulled a pillow against my chest and hid my face behind it.

"You are both unbearable," I muttered.

"And yet you invited us into your bed," Ellaria reminded me.

"That was clearly a mistake," I replied.

Ellaria attempted to pull the pillow away from my face, but I held it tightly. The teasing should have been harmless. Usually, I would have denied everything until they grew bored and found something else to discuss.

Tonight, however, one word remained in my thoughts.

Courtship. I wanted to court Galahad. I wanted far more than that. The thought frightened me enough that my smile slowly disappeared.