Chapter 15

FELIX

After the incident in the dining hall this morning, I sent Joseph to Samara’s Place to do some investigating. Was Samara aware that her latest hire was using a different name than what was on her passport?

It turns out, all of my suspicions were correct. Miya was Mila, from America. The very girl I had been searching for had been under my nose this whole time. When Joseph had asked Samara about it, she merely shrugged.

“She is an excellent chef,” Samara said. “I don’t really care what her name is so long as she gets the job done.”

“Did you know the Prince is looking for her?” Joseph asked.

“Is she in trouble?”

“No, but–”

“Then that’s none of my business.” was Samara’s response. She was well-respected enough in our community for anyone to mess with her, even the royal family.

Samara was clearly covering for Mila without her knowledge, her protective instinct

kicking in for the young foreign chef who had arrived on her doorstep. By the time I had tea with Isabella, I knew in my bones that Mila was exactly who I thought she was–and the incident with the coffee spill only proved that. My hand still stung from the phantom burn–I could only imagine what Mila was feeling.

All day, I couldn’t wait to have more contact with my Destined Bride. At last, the search I had been on for 30 years had finally come to an end. All that was left was happily ever after.

Theoretically.

One thing I had not accounted for was that my Destined Bride might not actually want to be in a relationship with me. I assumed it would be easy–love at first sight, a quick marriage, the curse breaking, an easy path forward. But Mila was presenting a challenge. Did she not feel the same way I did? Once again, my thoughts drifted to the night we spent together.

I still had no idea why Mila was hiding. I wondered if it had to do with the stone. Did she have any idea what it meant?

I had Mila brought into the castle in hopes that I could successfully woo her. I wanted her to be my wife, my lover, my friend. Once she was in love with me, only then would I be able to start gradually telling her about my true identity as a Dragon Knight without scaring her off. I knew, somehow, that she would understand my predicament.

But even now, time was running out. My situation seemed more precarious by the day. Just this morning, my mother had expressed concerns for my methods of tracking down Mila.

“Everything will be fine,” I promised her. I couldn’t bear to see her in pain. I needed to move things along.

But as I raised my hands to remove her face mask, I could feel the surge of panic run through her–and me.

I had no idea what she was so afraid of. But I had no intention of scaring her in any way. I dropped my hands instantly.

“I’m sorry,” I told her. Her eyes were no longer fearful but her heartbeat had not settled. “I did not mean to be rude. I know you are very conscious of your face. I just… I just wanted to see you.”

She nodded once, not meeting my gaze. My heart dropped.

It felt like I was going against my every instinct when I lifted her chin with my fingers, bringing her eyes to mine, and whispered, “You should go back to sleep.”

For years, the emotions of my Destined Bride had been distant. Fuzzy. As if I was somehow sensing them underwater. Ever since meeting Mila, I could feel her emotions much clearer and stronger–as if some sort of veil had been lifted.

I needed to see what she was planning. I opened my mouth, desperate for answers, but she simply turned away.

She scurried out of the room without a look back.

I couldn’t tell if it was my heart or hers that was aching so badly.

FIONA

I woke up in the middle of the night. It was quiet in the little room.

Too quiet.

The bed across from me was empty. Miya was gone.

I sat straight up. She was up to something, I could feel it. If I could somehow catch her in the act, maybe that would be enough for Samara–and the royal family–to send her packing.

So I turned all the lights on in the room, and I waited.

After a few minutes, the door quietly creaked open. Miya walked in, looking flustered behind that stupid mask of hers, and froze as soon as she saw me.

I smiled at her. Let her squirm.

“Where have you been?” I demanded.

“I–I couldn’t sleep. I was out for a walk,” she stammered.

She was obviously lying, and we both knew that. Miya slunk towards her bed, eyes downcast.

“Don’t let me find out that you have any secrets,” I hissed.

Miya said nothing. She just went into the bathroom and slammed the door.

I rolled my eyes and turned back over in bed. As I moved, the light caught on something in Miya’s coat pocket.

I cocked my head toward the bathroom. The water was running–Miya would be occupied for at least a little while.

I moved closer to her coat. There! Something was glinting in her pocket.

I reached into her pocket and pulled out a necklace. At first, it looked like a simple gray stone on a chain, nothing unusual or special, but then I noticed the emblem etched into the back.

The royal emblem–two dragons with their fire intertwining over a coat of arms.

And underneath that, one word: FELIX.

Had the Prince given this to her? Was she truly in some sort of favor with the royal family that I had no idea about?

Or had she stolen it?

A quick listen revealed that Miya was still busy in the bathroom. I snuck the necklace back into her pocket and crawled into bed.

She was a newcomer, a foreigner–in my book, that automatically marked her as a thief. She had acted so suspiciously the few times we had been near the Prince, as well. Clearly, there was something going on with her. She was untrustworthy.

I wasn’t foolish enough to directly ask her about the necklace. But I was certainly going to find out what, exactly, Miya was hiding.

By the time Miya came out of the bathroom and back to bed, the lights were off and I was pretending to be fast asleep. When she crawled into bed, I could have sworn I heard her crying to herself. The darkness of the night hid my scowl at the sound of it.

Attention seeker, I thought. I had no sympathy for a thief like her. I should have seen this coming–first she stole the spotlight at Samara’s, then she stole my promotion, then she stole the show at the banquet this morning. It shouldn’t be a surprise that she had moved on to stealing the royal family’s jewels.

But Miya was playing with fire now, and I was determined to watch her burn.