Suddenly, she could hardly breathe.
She felt his arms come around her then, strong hands steadying her, searching for purchase. He drew a map of her with his fingers until he found her face, which he took into his hands, and upon which he made a discovery that bade him be still. Alizeh felt it when he changed, when his fingers met with the tears falling slowly down her cheeks.
“By the angels,” he whispered. “You really are afraid of the dark. You strange girl.”
She pulled away and wiped at her face, squeezed her eyes shut. “I only need to orient myself. My—my bed is here, which means the door is just—just across there. I’ll be fine, you’ll see.”
“I don’t understand. Of all the things in your life to fear— I’ve seen you in the dark before, and you never reacted like this.”
“It was not”—she swallowed, steadied herself—“it was not entirely dark then. There are gas lamps lining the streets. And the moon—the moon is a great comfort to me.”
“The moon is a great comfort to you,” he repeated tonelessly. “What an odd thing to say.”
“Please don’t tease me. You said you wouldn’t.”
“I’m not teasing you. I’m stating a fact. You are very strange.”
“And you, sire, are unkind.”
“You’re crying in a dark room the size of my thumb; the door is but paces away. Surely you see that you are being nonsensical.”
“Oh, now you’re just being cruel.”
“I’m being honest.”
“You are being needlessly mean.”
“Mean? You say this to the man who just saved your life?”
“Saved my life?” Alizeh said, angrily wiping away the last of her tears. “How easily you praise yourself. You hardly saved my life.”
“Didn’t I? Was not your life in danger? Is that not why you were crying?”
“Of course not, that’s n—”
“Then you accept my point,” he said. “That you were in no real danger. That you were being nonsensical.”
“I—” She faltered. Her mouth fell open. “Oh, you are a horrible person. You are a mean, horrible—”
“I am an extremely generous person. Have you already forgotten how long I allowed you to sit on me?”
Alizeh gasped. “How dare y—”
She stopped herself, the words dying in her throat at the muffled sound of his laughter, the palpable tremble of his body as he struggled to contain it.
“Why do you rile so easily?” he said, still fighting a laugh. “Do you not see that your effortless outrage only makes me want to provoke you more?”
Alizeh stiffened at that; felt suddenly stupid. “You mean you were teasing me? Even after I asked you not to?”
“Forgive me,” he said, the smile lingering in his voice. “I was teasing you, yes, but only because I’d hoped it would distract you from your fear. I see now that you do not laugh easily at yourself. Or others.”
“Oh,” she said, feeling small. “I see.”
He touched her then, a brush of his fingers down her arm, leaving a fiery path in its wake.
Alizeh dared not breathe.
She didn’t know when they’d arrived here, or how, but in such a brief time she felt closer to this peculiar prince than she had with most anyone. Even the way he touched her was familiar—his nearness was familiar. She could not explain why, but she felt safe by his side.
No doubt it was the work of the nosta, without which she might’ve questioned his every word and action. Indeed, knowing unequivocally that all he’d said to her today was true—that he’d sought her out in the interest of her protection, ostensibly against the wishes of the king—had deeply affected her. It was not even that he was handsome or noble, or that he acted the part of a chivalrous prince—
No, her pleasure was far simpler than that.
Alizeh had long ago been forced into a life of obscurity and insignificance. She was accosted and spat upon, beaten and disrespected. She’d been reduced to nothing in the eyes of society, was hardly recognized as a living being, and was promptly forgotten by most everyone she met.
It was a miracle, then, that he’d noticed her at all.
How, she wondered, had this prince been the only one to see something notable in her, something worth remembering? She’d never have said the words aloud, but his discovery—however dangerous—meant more to her than he would ever know.
She heard him draw breath.