by Peak, Renna
“That’s just it, Cousin.” Benedict interrupts. “No one is willing to listen to the concerns of the people.” He shrugs, his gaze still firmly on Clara. “If one doesn’t live in the capital city, it would seem one is not really a true Montovian citizen.”
“That’s preposterous.” I shake my head. “Ridiculous. We’ve worked closely with the people at the Rosvalian border—”
“It’s not the same, though, is it?” Caspar gives me a condescending smile. “And your ties with Rosvalia are still a bit strained. Arranged marriages will do that for a country, won’t they?”
My hand balls into a fist under the table. My brother William’s marriage to Queen Justine is still a controversial one, even if they did eventually fall in love.
And I certainly didn’t come here to have my immediate family insulted. “Forgive me, Caspar, but the way you speak…” I shake my head again. “You make it sound as if the people in this region are somehow less Montovian than others. In fact, this is still Montovia, is it not? I fail to see—”
“That is exactly the problem, Cousin.” Xavier interrupts this time, his voice so even it’s almost concerning. “You fail to see.” He looks over at Caspar, who gives him the slightest of nods before Xavier turns his gaze back to me. “But you’re here now. And perhaps we can show you.”
Clara
When I agreed to come to Montovia, I didn’t think I’d be walking into the middle of some fraught political situation. Family tensions are hard enough without political or governmental issues on the line, too.
Nick’s cousins rise, and Nick does, too. I stagger to my feet beside him, trying desperately to figure out how I might diffuse the situation a little.
“I don’t know where you’re taking us,” I blurt, “but I hope it includes a tour of this place. You promised me a tour.”
All four men turn and look at me.
“Well, you did,” I insist. “I didn’t come all this way to Montovia to listen to you guys squabble. I came to see the beautiful scenery and gorgeous architecture.” I prop my hands on my hips. “Besides, if someone doesn’t show me my way around here soon, I’m going to get hopelessly lost. And I’m not sure how long I could make it on my own. I have absolutely no survival skills or sense of direction.”
There’s a long, agonizing moment of silence while the four of them continue to stare at me. Then, finally, Caspar starts laughing.
His reaction seems to trigger something in the others, too. His brothers begin laughing as well—Benedict in rich guffaws and Xavier in subdued chuckles—and when I glance toward Nick, I catch him stifling a smile. He still looks worried, but I’m glad to see he hasn’t completely lost his humor.
I hook my arm through his.
“So?” I prompt the group. “Are we starting the afternoon with a tour?”
“As the lady wishes,” Caspar says with a smile and a slight bow. “Should we begin with the gardens?”
“That sounds lovely,” I reply.
“Then right this way,” Casper says, gesturing down a nearby path.
The rest of us fall into step behind him. After a moment, Nick leans down and murmurs in my ear.
“I know what you’re doing,” he says.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I whisper back.
He almost smiles again, but his eyes are still shadowed. Not even my cheerful stubbornness can completely lift his mood today.
“This is the summer garden,” Caspar says ahead of us. “There’s a garden for each of the seasons, filled entirely with plants that peak at that time of year.”
I glance around. The beds are filled with roses of every size and color—deep red and pure white and even orange with hints of pink along the edges of the petals. It’s truly beautiful.
“Here,” Nick says beside me.
I turn to find him holding a burgundy rose out to me, so dark that the ends of the petals are nearly black. It might be the prettiest rose I’ve ever seen. I lean down to smell it, and the scent is heavenly.
When I straighten again, Nick lifts the rose and tucks it gently behind my ear.
“Perfect,” he says. The way he looks at me makes my heart quicken.
“I didn’t know you could be so romantic,” I say when I catch my breath.
“I can be very romantic,” he insists.
Behind us, one of his cousins laughs. I’m not sure which one.
“You need to step it up if your own betrothed is surprised by romantic gestures, Cousin,” Benedict says. “I’d be happy to give you some pointers sometime.”
Nick grumbles under his breath, and I quickly slip my arm through his again.
“Nick does just fine,” I tell the others. “There just weren’t any roses back in Montana.”
“Yes, we heard that’s where you’ve been,” Caspar says, leading us further down the path. “What led you there, Cousin? Was Montovia not enough for you?”
“Montovia will always be my home,” Nick replies simply. “But the rest of the world holds beauty, too. And it’s a fool who lets himself be confined to a single place. We can learn a lot from the rest of the world, even us.”
That shuts up the others, at least for the moment. A few seconds later, Caspar twists around again.
“These are the water gardens,” he informs me. “They were designed by the great Henrico Brunner.”
The water gardens live up to their name. I count no fewer than five fountains within my line of sight, plus a dozen other small spouts of water that seem to pop up among the flower beds. The path curves around a large pond full of gold and red fish, and another path leads right down to the shore of the lake, where there’s a small dock with three painted rowboats.
Caspar follows my gaze.
“Would you like to go out on the lake?” he asks me.
“Oh, that sounds wonderful,” I reply.
Caspar smiles. “Assuming my cousin approves, of course.”
Nick’s eyes narrow as he regards Caspar, as if he’s looking for some hidden trap.
“A jaunt on the lake would be nice,” Nick says finally. “Perhaps we can show Clara that spot on the far shore where we used to play as children.”
“Oh, yes! I’d love that,” I say.
Caspar nods. “Then it’s settled. Onto the lake we go.”
The five of us trek down to the little dock. The rowboats aren’t large, designed for no more than a couple of people at a time. Benedict goes to the one with red and white trim and holds his hand out to me.
“Let me help you in, Clara,” he says, flashing that handsome smile at me.
“Clara will be in a boat with me,” Nick says before I can even open my mouth. Our arms still intertwined, he leads me to the boat with blue and yellow trim. “I see some things haven’t changed much,” Caspar says. “That was Nick’s favorite boat as a child, too.”
“I hope you’ve been keeping in shape, Cousin,” Benedict adds, an amused grin still brightening his face. “It’s a long way across the lake and I wouldn’t want your arms to get tired.”
Nick clamps his teeth together, obviously biting back a retort, and I squeeze his arm.
“He’s just egging you on,” I say.
“I’m well aware of that,” Nick replies stiffly. “But that doesn’t mean I have to approve of his behavior. I’d hoped my cousins would have gained some maturity over the last few years, but I can see I was mistaken.”
I hide my smile. Everyone here needs to lighten up a little. And stop making this harder than it needs to be. Men are such proud, stubborn fools sometimes.
I let Nick hand me down into the boat, and when I’m seated, he follows, stepping down easily and hardly rocking the vessel at all. He’s obviously done this many times before. His cousins step into the other two boats—Benedict and Caspar in the red and white one, Xavier in the one painted in different shades of green.
“I have an idea,” Caspar says, grabbing his boat’s oars. “Why don’t we make this interesting?”
> Xavier smiles knowingly, and Benedict laughs.
“Are you suggesting what I think you’re suggesting?” Benedict says.
“A race,” Caspar clarifies. “First to the other side wins.”
Nick doesn’t look particularly pleased by this suggestion, but I can tell by the sudden flare in his eyes that he won’t refuse, not against these men. There are times to dismiss competitions as childish and times to prove yourself to your difficult family members, and this occasion is one of the latter.
“What’s the prize?” Nick says.
Caspar’s grin widens when he realizes Nick is going to play along. “I don’t know—any ideas?”
“I have one,” Benedict speaks up. “Winner gets a private dinner with Clara.”
“Oh, I like that,” Caspar says. Xavier nods in agreement.
Nick’s hands have tightened on the oars, his knuckles going white. I lean toward him.
“Do it,” I tell him softly, giving him an encouraging smile. “I know you’ll win.”
That seems to be all the push he needs.
“Fine,” he tells his cousins. “First to that little cove on the other side. The one with the rock shaped like a face.”
“Deal.” Caspar still looks absolutely delighted by this turn of events. He runs a hand through his red-blond hair, which has been teased up by the breeze. “Clara, will you do us the honor of starting the race?”
“Sure,” I say cheerfully. I can’t exactly refuse. I reach out and given Nick a squeeze on the knee before straightening and raising my voice.
“On your marks… Get set… Go!”
And it’s a good thing my hand is still squeezing Nick’s knee, because I nearly tumble over the side as our little boat surges away from the dock.
Nicholas
My cousins always knew how to get to me, and I’ve no idea how many times they’ve challenged me to a race. It’s almost as though I can’t help myself. I should know better, and yet I still feel an undeniable urge to best them.
I should know that they’re up to something when I see Xavier lagging behind—he’s alone in his boat and should be able to get across first as there’s far less weight to carry across.
But I’m blinded by my need to win—to prove myself not only to my cousins, but to Clara. Part of me knows my cousins have no real intentions on her—that they are merely trying to raise my hackles with their constant allusions to their interest in her. It wouldn’t do for them to actually take any action beyond kissing her hand, though their words seem to rile me more than they should.
Clara is urging me on, cheering for me to row faster. And we’re halfway across the lake before I notice the water in the bottom of our boat.
Caspar’s boat is beside us, nearly even. I look over at him and he laughs. “Problem, Cousin?” he calls as his boat slips past us. Benedict laughs as well as they pass.
Clara notices the problem, and her eyes widen in horror. “What do we do?”
“Bail!” I yell, trying desperately to row faster than the boat can take on water.
“With what?” Clara leans down, trying to scoop the water overboard with her hands.
But it’s no use. It’s only a few moments later when the boat is submerged and Clara and I are both in the water.
It’s still some distance to the opposite shore, and I can’t imagine how my cousins were able to achieve this feat—getting some hole in this boat to fail at just the right time.
Clara is splashing next to me, her arms flailing a bit more than they should. I swim beside her, wrapping my arms around her as I begin to pull her along.
“I can’t…swim…” Her voice is panicked, though she seems to be doing all right with keeping herself afloat.
“I have you,” I say as I begin to pull her with me toward the shore.
She finally relaxes into my arms, and I’m able to do a modified backstroke, propelling us with one arm as I hold her with my other. I take us back in the direction of the gardens—my cousins be damned. I’ll have words with them as soon as I have us safely back on dry land, though it may take all afternoon to get us there.
Clara is shaking in my arms.
I hold her tightly against me, trying to keep her calm. “I won’t let you go. I promise.”
She gives an uneasy nod, pushing as much as she can with her arms to keep us moving in the right direction.
A few minutes later, my cousin Xavier is in his rowboat at our side. I can see the shame in his expression before he even speaks. “Allow me to help…”
I help Clara into the boat, and she lets out a long breath of relief, extending her hand to me.
“There’s only room for two, I’m afraid.” Xavier frowns. “Apologies, Cousin. If we’d known your betrothed couldn’t swim, we’d have never—”
“Get her back to the shore,” I growl at him as I turn, kicking hard with my legs before I begin to swim with a more normal stroke. My clothing slows me, of course, but I’m still able to make it back within several minutes.
And by the time I’m back to the dock, my other cousins have also turned around and are waiting for me.
I pull myself onto the short wooden dock where the rowboats are tied, and I’m suddenly overcome with fatigue. It’s all I can do to get my waterlogged shoes from my feet before I slump over, barely able to keep myself upright.
Clara is at my side a moment later, her drenched dress clinging to her. She sits beside me, stroking my back. “Nick, I’m so sorry…”
“You’ve nothing to be sorry for.” My voice is ragged. I’m not sure how far it is to the middle of the lake, but it is quite a lot farther than I’ve swum since my boyhood. I’d forgotten how exhausting it is—and I’m sure it was made even worse by swimming such a distance fully clothed.
It takes me several minutes to recover enough to sit fully upright. I look over at the three men standing at the far end of the dock—the bastards don’t even have the balls to come to me to apologize for their abhorrent behavior.
It’s only then that I notice how Clara, too, is still soaked to the bone, her dress clinging to her and showing every curve of her body. While the sight would normally be thrilling, I can’t help but wonder if my cousins are also enjoying the view.
I stand, charging over to them, my hands balled into fists. The fury that rages inside me is unlike anything I’ve ever felt. I’ve no problem with them making a fool or mockery of me—but how dare they do such a thing to the woman I love.
The woman I love…
The thought makes me pause long enough for Clara to catch up to me, and she grabs my arm. “Nick…don’t.”
I gulp, first glaring at my cousins before turning to look at her. The way the sunlight falls on her at this angle makes her hair look like spun gold, her eyes a more clear blue than I’ve ever seen.
“Cousin…” Caspar is at my side. “It was merely a joke. A joke we hadn’t actually planned to play today.” He gives me a weak smile before glancing over at his brothers. “Wasn’t it?”
The other two nod in agreement.
“It was stupid, really. And we’d meant for it to happen tomorrow, but your betrothed insisted upon a tour today… We knew you would choose your usual boat… And I… We…” Caspar glances at the others again before turning back to me. “We apologize. Truly. It was meant to be funny. We certainly never meant to put Clara in any danger.”
“Are you all right?” I look over at her. I want nothing more than to wrap my arms around her and carry her back to my bed to tell her of my new realization.
She nods, but she doesn’t give me her usual smile. “Fine.”
“Apologies…again.” Caspar holds his palms to me, almost as though he’s surrendering. “We’ll let the two of you get back to change.”
I glare at the lot of them as they retreat before I turn back to Clara. “I’m sorry. I—”
She interrupts with a shake of her head. “Let’s just go back. I…” She frowns, and I can’t quite decipher what it is I see in h
er eyes. “I just want to go home.”
Clara
Nick doesn’t want to leave me alone in my room to change, but I insist. Now that I’m no longer moments away from drowning, I can take care of myself. And frankly, I wouldn’t mind a few minutes on my own.
“Honestly, I’m fine,” I tell him. “I just want to shower and change into something dry.” Dresses are fun until they’re soaked and weigh a hundred extra pounds and tangle up around your legs.
Nick still doesn’t look convinced, but he must be able to see that I’m not going to back down about this. After staring into my eyes for a moment, he finally nods and leaves me to go to his own room to change.
I sigh as I close the door behind him. This day isn’t going how I expected at all. I feel so exhausted, defeated, and homesick.
I drag myself into the bathroom and peel off my wet dress. It’s harder than I expect. Maybe I should have let Nick stay with me, if only to help me out of my clothes. Eventually, though, I manage to free myself of the garment and throw it on the floor. Then I practically hurl myself into the shower.
The warm water is exactly what I need. I’m still shaking a little, but the shower makes me feel like myself again. Not like someone so terrifyingly out of her element.
By the time I’m done, I’ve calmed down considerably. I pull a plush robe around myself and wrap a towel around my head. Right now, there’s nothing I’d love more than to curl up on the couch with some tea and a book and just veg for a while. Forget all the chaos and family rivalry for now.
I’m perusing the bookshelves for something to read when there’s a knock on the door. Expecting Nick, I bound right over and pull open the door, ready to thank him for giving me some time to myself.
Instead, I find Caspar standing there, a tray in his hands.
His eyes give me a quick once-over, taking in my robe and towel.
“I didn’t mean to disturb you,” he says. “But I thought I’d bring you something hot to drink. It’s the least I could do.”
“Uh, sure,” I say, stepping aside to let him in. “I was just thinking I’d like some tea.”
