And she smiled.
“Norah!” he called with a hearty laugh. His pace didn’t slow as he drew closer, and her heart beat faster. He moved to embrace her, but Alexander’s hand snaked out and caught him with a friendly clasp on the shoulder, halting the young man under the guise of affection.
“Adrian,” Alexander said as he pulled his brother closer to him and looked at Norah. It was a subtle effort to introduce him.
Adrian looked at Alexander, clearly confused. Then he found a bit of formality, no doubt from his brother’s chastising eye. He smiled awkwardly as he bowed. “Princess Norah,” he said with a slight stiffness.
She wasn’t sure how to respond. “Lord Adrian.”
Adrian’s brow creased. Her words felt wrong as soon as they rolled off her lips. But he was a lord, wasn’t he? Too formal, maybe? Damn it.
He gave a puzzled nod, but his smile quickly returned. “I almost didn’t believe it when I heard. You’re back.”
“I am,” she said. She was indeed back. And standing awkwardly. She glanced at Alexander.
Adrian’s mouth opened to say more, but Alexander interjected. “Speaking of getting you back, we should go,” he said to Norah as he returned the book to the shelf from where he’d taken it.
She sensed Alexander’s unease with his brother, and Adrian’s confusion. Catherine had been very pointed about keeping her memory loss a secret. It would be hard for her with people who knew her well, and she imagined it would be hard for Alexander to keep it from his brother too.
“Of course,” she said, smiling politely at Adrian.
As they stepped out of the library, the wind brought a shudder, and Norah pulled up her cloak. The Northern Kingdom, Mercia was called. It felt very northern.
“I’m surprised my brother has you out in this cold,” Adrian told her.
She smiled. “It’s not Alexander’s doing. I kept him out. The building was beautiful, and I had to see it.”
His brows drew together, and Alexander winced.
“Just to see what might have changed,” she added quickly.
Adrian chuckled. “A building that’s stood for a thousand years won’t have changed much in the past three.”
“No, I know. I meant the books.” She swallowed. “To make sure…” They’d been taken to Aleon for safekeeping and returned, hadn’t they? “To make sure they were in the right place.” What was wrong with her? She needed to stop talking.
Alexander shook his head faintly, and she knew. “I should probably get back,” she said breathlessly.
“Yes, you should,” Alexander said.
A servant approached. “Your Highness,” he bowed politely to Norah and then turned to Alexander. “Lord Justice, the queen regent requires you.”
Alexander looked at Norah, then back to the servant. “I’ll come.”
“She waits in her study,” the servant said with a bow, and left.
His eyes found Norah’s. “I have to go. Your guard will see you back.”
“Where else would you like to go? I can take you,” Adrian offered.
“You have your duties,” Alexander cut in. He turned to Norah. “Titus and Liaman will see you back to your chamber.”
“Can my duties not wait, brother?” Adrian asked. “Surely the princess—”
“No,” Alexander cut him off firmly, taking Adrian aback and silencing him. “The princess needs to return to her chamber.” He turned to Norah. “Your Highness,” he said with a bow of his head. He gave Titus a nod and then left to find the regent.
Norah looked at Adrian apologetically as she started back toward the castle. He picked up alongside her.
He glanced at Norah. “Do you mind if I at least walk back with you?”
“Not at all,” she said with a small smile. What else would she say?
“I still can’t believe you’ve returned,” he said as they walked. “Where have you been?”
“Adrian,” Titus gruffed, and the young man glanced back at the guard in confusion.
Norah’s pulse quickened. That was the question on everyone’s mind. “It’s complicated. I’m really just trying to get settled right now.”
He nodded. “Of course.”
Norah felt a pang of sympathy. He seemed kind and genuinely happy to see her. He just didn’t understand, and neither did she.
They reached the castle and entered from a side door, and Norah found herself disoriented at the intersecting halls.
Adrian stopped. “I am glad you’re back, Norah. There’s so much I want to ask you—there are so many things to talk about, but”—he eyed Titus with a puzzled brow—“I guess that can wait for now. I can see you later, though?”
She swallowed and smiled. “Yes, of course.”
This was where he clearly intended to part, but he lingered. His eyes narrowed. “Do you know where you’re going?”
The question shook her. Of course she didn’t know where she was going, but that would be a dead giveaway. “I was… just deciding if I might stop by the kitchen to get something to eat before I went back to my chamber.”
The side of Adrian’s mouth twitched. “Why would you go to the kitchen?”
Because that was where the food was. But… a princess wouldn’t go get her own food. Norah bit the inside of her lip. Damn it.
“Liaman,” Titus growled, “run ahead to the princess’s chamber and have her maid fetch something to eat.”
The younger guard hurried down the hall to her right, and Norah silently praised Titus’s quick wit.
“Just looking for another reason to be out and walking, I suppose,” she tried to explain. “But I guess I should get back. It’s good to see you again, Adrian.”
He gave a small bow of his head with a polite smile, but a line still stretched across his brow.
She turned down the hall that Liaman had chosen and tried not to exit too quickly as she felt Adrian’s eyes still on her. When he was out of sight and earshot, she glanced back at Titus. “Thank you. That wasn’t going well.”
“Not well at all,” he replied.
She frowned. He clearly wasn’t the reassuring type.
Chapter eight
The sun set and rose again before Norah felt like a day had even passed. Perhaps it was the overwhelming amount of information Catherine and Rebecca tirelessly pressed upon her—what names to remember, how to act, how not to act, what to say, what not to say, how to move. Perhaps it was because she was dreading the upcoming celebrations. She didn’t feel like there was a reason to celebrate yet. The Mercian princess might have returned, but she wasn’t herself.
Rebecca pulled the lacing of Norah’s gown tight as Norah watched blankly in the mirror. Emerald silks edged in gold rippled around her.
“Are you all right, Your Highness?” her maid asked, finishing the lacing and smoothing the fabric.
Norah glanced at her maid in the reflection and forced a small smile. “Of course.” But she wasn’t all right. She was being stuffed into a dress again to show herself in front of people she didn’t know and pretend to be someone she wasn’t.