Chapter 2
I comforted my nurse, but the truth was that I was afraid too.
I was about to marry into the royal family. One wrong word, one wrong step, one wrong glance, and a head could roll.
From the wedding ceremony to the long walk back to the bridal chamber, my heartbeat pounded like war drums. By the time I sat on the edge of the bed, my hands were shaking so badly I could barely hold up the embroidered fan in front of my face.
I did not dare lower it.
Then the door opened softly.
A warm sandalwood scent drifted closer. A hand reached out and gently lifted the fan away.
A breathtakingly handsome face appeared before me.
Prince Adrian wore bright red wedding robes, his long dark hair tied beneath a gold crown. His features were cool and striking, almost severe, but his eyes—
His eyes were impossibly clear.
He blinked at me, then smiled with pure delight.
“Mother didn’t lie. It really is the fairy lady from the lake.”
I stared at him in surprise.
“Your Highness still remembers me?”
That day at the lake, he had swallowed half the pond and nearly drowned before I dragged him out. By the time he came to, he had been dazed and half-conscious. I had assumed I would be just another blurred face lost in the fog of his broken mind.
He nodded eagerly, then sat beside me as naturally as if we had known each other forever. He wrapped both hands around my arm and leaned his head against my shoulder.
“The water was so cold,” he said in a soft, aggrieved voice. “You saved me.”
He was a tall man, broad-shouldered and fully grown, with the low, smooth voice of an adult. And yet the way he leaned against me now, seeking comfort without reserve, made him seem strangely innocent.
The servants who had just entered with the ceremonial wine all lowered their heads, smiling into their sleeves.
One of the older matrons chuckled warmly. “His Highness likes his bride very much.”
My cheeks flushed.
I instinctively glanced at him, but his attention had already wandered to the gold tassels and tiny hanging bells on the bed canopy. He reached toward them with fascination, as if he had just discovered treasure.
So he really had become foolish.
Did he even know what liking someone meant?
I let out a small breath.
It did not matter. Not tonight.
I touched his sleeve. “Your Highness, it’s time to drink the wedding wine.”
He immediately turned back toward me with obedient eagerness.
We each took a cup. He drank his in one gulp, then grimaced so dramatically that I almost laughed.
“It’s bitter. And spicy.”
Before anyone could bring candied fruit, he had already jumped up and run to the nearby table himself. A second later, he came hurrying back.
He held out a sweet preserved plum to my lips with shining eyes.
“This one is sweet. You eat it.”
I froze for just a moment.
Then I lowered my head and took a bite.
Sugar bloomed on my tongue.
But the thing that rose in my chest was not sweetness. It was a sudden ache so tender it almost hurt.
Ever since my mother died, no one had remembered me first. No one had thought to feed me, protect me, or put my comfort before their own.
Yet this fool prince, who had known me only as a half-remembered savior from a lake, had.
The tight knot wound inside me all day finally loosened.
Maybe marrying Prince Adrian would not be as terrible as I had imagined.