Chapter 26

Connie

As I sat in my room and admired all the funny and curious things I bought at the market, there was only one item that stuck out to me.

One thing that my eyes kept drifting to. I touched the metal bracelet on my wrist and a cheesy smile spread on my face.

Billy and Bob were kind enough to help me haul all my bags to my room, and now I sat on my bed with my legs crossed and a variety of items spread out over my bed.

I didn’t even know what most of the things were for, but they looked pretty. I had a few shirts, a dress, and a coat made of some kind of fur. I was told it was fake, but it felt so real.

I still felt embarrassed when I thought about breakfast and being brought a sofa. But the way Raylon laughed and the smile in his voice made the embarrassment vanish.

~He is such a sweet man. This has been the most fun I’ve had in a long time.~

He never once so much as looked at another woman. He seemed to be only interested in me, and that made the butterflies roar to life again.

He always spoke to me politely, and even though I dragged him around for hours from one stall to the next, never once did I get so much as a tired sigh.

It was getting late now. I could feel how exhausted my body was from all the walking and excitement. I wanted to go to sleep, but I had to clean up the mess I’d made first.

Once I packed all my purchases away and got ready for bed, I made a mental note of checking if he was here in the morning before just walking out of the bedroom.

I lay down in my bed and told the ship to kill the lights.

Just as I got comfortable, I heard a chime in my ear before Bob’s voice said, “Connie. Lord Raylon would like to speak to you. Shall I tell him you are sleeping?”

I sat up in the dark, saying, “Don’t you dare! Put him through,” as my heart raced.

“Connie, am I disturbing you?” his sexy voice came into my ear.

I smiled wide. “Not at all. Is everything all right?”

“Yes. I have just finished dinner with my brother and the other royal families. A chore to say the least.

“I wanted to ask you if you would have any objections if my niece Laylar joined us on Parna tomorrow?”

I still wasn’t sure if I wanted to go to another planet with him, but now that his niece was going, I did feel a bit more comfortable.

“I don’t mind at all. It will be nice to meet her.”

“Very well, then I will not bother you anymore.”

“Wait,” I said, nowhere near ready for him to end this call. “Why was dinner a chore?”

He let out a long breath, as though getting comfortable, and said, “Where do I begin? My brother wants Laylar to court with the son of Tirnarlak.

“He is one of the other royal families. A whiney, spoiled little brat. Laylar cannot stand him and if I am being honest, neither can I.”

“Then why is your brother trying to get them together?”

“Because he is the only son of a royal family her age.”

“Poor girl. Can’t she choose who she wants? Someone that she will be happy with?”

“I fear she already has, but my brother does not know.”

“Little rebel. Who is it?” I asked with a smile. I tucked myself into the blankets and lay in the dark, listening to him.

“An officer on board one of the battleships. I do not know how they met, but I can see how much she cares about him.”

“What’s his name?”

“Rein.”

“What else happened at this dinner?”

“Well,” his voice grew muffled for a moment. Then he said, “I spent half the night trying to keep this boy away from Laylar by keeping him busy with pointless conversation.

“Then I had to listen to the boy’s father complain about his new luxury ship that, in his mind, was far too small. What he paid for it could have fed a large village for a year.”

As he spoke about his evening, I curled up onto my pillows and listened to him.

“Sounds like you had an awful evening. You poor thing,” I said, and smiled when he picked up on my sarcasm.

“Compared to the day I had before, it was like being sent to live on the sun.” He paused for a moment, and I waited as I could hear he wanted to say something.

“Where are you?” he asked.

“On Billy and Bob’s ship, in bed. You?”

“Floating in my bath,” he said in a relaxed voice.

My mouth dropped open as my mind flashed images of what that would look like.

When I didn’t say anything, I heard the water slosh, then he said, “I also wanted to thank you for today. I have not had that much fun in a long time.”

“Me neither. It’s refreshing to spend the day with a real gentleman.”

I heard him smile at that.

I don’t know if it was because I was tired, or because he wasn’t in front of me, but before I knew what I was doing, I asked, “Will you ever show me your real face?”

He stayed quiet for a while.

“Raylon?”

“Yes,” his voice sounded panicked then.

“You don’t have to be afraid. I won’t run. I don’t scare easily.”

“It’s not that,” he whispered as though trying to convince himself of something. “I want you to be like you were today around me. Not how you will be when you see me.”

“What makes you think I will be any different?”

“Everyone always is.”

“If you don’t want to, that’s fine. I don’t want you to do something you are not comfortable with. Just know that you can.”

“I will consider it. I give you my word.”

The tone of the conversation had taken a darker turn. His voice lacked the relaxed and smiling sound to it. I wanted to change the subject.

“Oh, by the way,” I said with a smile. “I tried those nuts I bought at the market.”

I heard him laugh again before he said, “And?”

“I think they are the most disgusting thing I have ever tasted. Took me about an hour to get the taste out of my mouth.”

He laughed again. “I told you to ask me if you needed any advice on what to buy. I regret to say that you have no one to blame but yourself.”

“I know. I went a bit crazy today. And I also didn’t want to keep pestering you with boring questions.”

“Nothing you say to me will ever be boring. You could recite the king’s oath over and over, and I would be as enthralled in your words as though hearing it for the first time.”

I blushed and shook my head. The butterflies again erupted inside me, and I lost my train of thought.

“Connie?”

“Yes?”

“Sweet dreams.”