Chapter Nine

“Your presence is requested by the King,” Rhydian’s voice entered the room before he did. He was stood at the door, engulfing the frame so much so that I could not walk out if I tried.

“And is that you requesting my presence or the actual king,” his glare was withering.

“It a wonder you are not dead yet,” he all but muttered.

“Kill me then, sunshine,” he scowled at the nickname, it just slipped from me. A faraway name my mother used to whisper to my father every time a cloud darkened his expression. It would break a smile, but the same could not be said for Rhydian.

“I very well might one day Adelaide, you’d do well to remember that, ” I brushed down the dress, it fell just above my ankles but he did not look at it, his gaze never pulled from my eyes. I wondered what he saw in the murky brown, was it anything of worth, or did he still view me as a sheltered princess, hidden from any suffering.