“We arrive in Bellsport the next afternoon. There is a reception with the aristocracy that night and then a few days touring the region, meeting with various subjects and interests.”
Giabella smiled. “I do look forward to that. It has been so very long since I have been out with our people. This will be a lovely change.” The clock on the mantel in the dining room chimed as the footmen drew away the last of their plates. Giabella shook her head. “Because we are going so early in the morning, I think I must retire early.”
Dash nodded. “I should do the same.”
She met his gaze. “Perhaps you could escort me. I have something I wish to discuss with you.”
He swallowed hard. “Of course.”
The entire party stood and there were warm goodbyes all around since the others would likely not be up so early to see them off. When it was finished, Dash followed Giabella out of the chamber and up the stairs. They turned toward her private quarters and he could hear his heart rate increasing with every step.
They stopped at her door and she worried her hands before her. She was normally so certain of herself, so able to detach herself to perform her duties as need be. But in this moment, she was so very human. So very fragile and precious that he wanted to tuck her into his arms and protect her from everything in the world that could ever hurt her.
“Dashiell,” she said at last, looking up at him. Her dark eyes were soft and swept down to his lips and back to his eyes quickly.
“Yes, Your Majesty?” he whispered.
She swallowed. “Dash,” she said, this time softer.
He closed his eyes. They never should have crossed the line where she called him Dash for the first time. And yet every time she did it, it was like she lit a match to his desire. Like she beckoned him into a dark corner where they could let what they wanted rule.
And for a moment, he allowed it. “Yes, Gia?”
He heard the break in his voice, the waver of control. She could certainly hear it too. She was no fool.
He opened his eyes and found her staring up at him, lips parted, trembling. She reached for him and then stopped. Hesitated. Then she dropped her gaze. The moment passed.
“I look forward to this time we’ll be traveling together. I’ll see you in the morning.”
She opened her door and sent him a quick glance before she slipped inside and closed him out. He set his hand against the barrier, almost feeling the pulse of her behind it.
“Good night,” he murmured before he turned back toward the stairs that led to the servant quarters. Away from her. At least for now. Tomorrow was another story. It remained to be seen what would happen then.
CHAPTER 3
Birds were just beginning to sing as the sun rose along the edge of the sea the next morning. Giabella stepped from the palace and onto the drive where the royal carriage was awaiting her, and took it all in. There was nothing more beautiful in the world than an Athawick morning and nothing more perfect than this very view. She enjoyed it a moment before she let her gaze settle on the rig that would ferry her on this important mission. Alongside it was Dash, who was formally dressed, standing at attention as he waited to assist her into the vehicle. There were other carriages waiting behind it, to carry other servants and Giabella’s trunks.
But she could only look at Dash and know that they would be alone together for hours.
“Good morning, Your Majesty,” he said softly as he extended a gloved hand to assist her into the carriage. She took it, electricity flowing between them despite the leather that encased both their hands.
“Thank you, Dashiell,” she said, ducking into the carriage. He said something to the driver, and then he swung in and took his place across from her. There were papers stacked next to him, items to go over as they traveled. It looked like any other time they’d done this.
It didn’t feel like it.
As the time passed, what it felt was awkward. And she hated that. She had always been comfortable with Dash. It was the saving grace of her life at times during the last ten years.
After an hour had gone by and the silence felt as sharp as a blade, she cleared her throat.
“Have you…” She trailed off as he lifted his blue eyes to hers. God, what did she want to say? Meaningless small talk that filled the air, but did nothing else? She cleared her throat. “Would you…” She huffed out a breath of frustration at her lack of ability to find something to say to her dearest friend, her closest confidante.
He leaned forward and took her hands gently. “Yes?”
She stared at their entwined fingers and found her breath. “Do you ever think about the future?”
His expression changed slightly and he drew his hand from hers. “Always. It is my job to forever be thinking ten steps ahead.”
She shook her head. “No—no, I don’t mean about your profession, Dash. I mean…do you ever think of your future? Of our…” She turned her face.
His breath came shorter and she felt his gaze slide over her even if she didn’t look at him. “Your future is whatever you wish it to be, Gia,” he said softly.
Now she did look at him. “I suppose that is true.”
His brow wrinkled. “You sound as though that troubles you?”
“I suppose it…it does,” she admitted, and let out a sigh. “Everything is changing. I was raised to be a queen. The queen of this nation. The marriage to Alistair was arranged when I was a child and the wedding itself took place when I was hardly more than that. It wasn’t a life I chose, but it has always been what I knew. And now…” She shook her head. “I sound so ungrateful, I know. I have been nothing but proud of how Ophelia has comported herself as queen these last few months. She’s taken on all the duties with ease. And I support Grantham completely as he steers this country in a new and very exciting direction.”
“I know that,” Dash said. “And you don’t sound ungrateful by any means. The world becoming wide open can be troubling. Frightening.”
She nodded. “Yes. That is it. It’s all a little frightening.”
“Have you spoken to the children about it?”
Ducking her head, she whispered, “No.”
“Why?”
“Protecting them, I suppose. I don’t want to make any of them veer off their paths in order to take care of me.”
“You think you have to do this alone,” he said. A statement, not a question, from someone who knew her so well. She lifted her gaze back to his and was lost in a sea of blue. His pupils dilated as she did so and he cleared his throat. “You will never be alone, Gia.”
Her lips parted at the roughness of his voice as he said that. At the pointed desire that she easily recognized in his stare. It seemed she was not the only one who was coming to the end of her rope when it came to the tension that had always hung between them.
A tension she wanted so desperately to relieve in the most pleasurable of ways, consequences be damned.
The carriage began to slow on their first scheduled stop for the day, and Dash blinked as if waking from a dream. “I’m sorry, Your Majesty,” he breathed, turning his face as he stacked the items he’d been rifling through during their journey. “I’d forgotten this brief interlude to trade horses and stretch our legs. You will likely meet with the innkeeper and his wife, Horace and Rebecca Monroe.”