Series: Fever Falls Series by Riley Hart
Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 96260 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 481(@200wpm)___ 385(@250wpm)___ 321(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96260 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 481(@200wpm)___ 385(@250wpm)___ 321(@300wpm)
“You should be the tour guide here,” I joked.
“I used to work that job. I suppose I didn’t have much of a knack for it. Kicked me out, made me cart everyone around.”
The way he said it, I knew that wasn’t why he’d ended up in his current position.
He led me into another part of the library, where I saw Owen lounging on a chair on a balcony over us.
“Your Highness,” Marco said, which caused Owen to sit up erect, closing his book.
A smile whisked across his face that assured me he was as excited to see me as I was to see him. “Good morning, Keegan.”
“Your Highness,” I teased, which got him laughing before he put his book away and headed down a nearby ladder to join us. We made small talk with Marco, who then went on his way, and Owen ushered me through a set of French doors into a courtyard behind the library.
Lavender, purple, and pink flowers were arranged around a small pond with a fountain at the center. A table was set nearby, where a woman in a white dress already sat. She looked like the Sharon I’d seen in pictures online since Owen and I had begun our fake relationship…what had now become more than that. She sipped from a teacup, wearing a pair of specs as she read from a newspaper. Beyond the table, ducks swam around the pond. And just beyond that was what appeared to be a maze of green hedges.
The sight was a vision, so picturesque, far more impressive than anything I could have imagined.
My own little fairy-tale breakfast.
As we neared the table with six chairs around it, I noticed some biscuits and pastries.
“This is where we’re having breakfast?”
“Would you prefer we head to the Great Dining Hall with a hundred chairs so we can fan out and shout at each other?” Owen joked.
Sharon apparently heard us because she looked up, a pleasant smile spreading across her face.
Her smile reminded me of Nance’s, with its ability to immediately set a person at ease. It didn’t feel like pretense or like she’d held any negative thoughts about me and my motives for being with Owen, unlike his brother.
“Here he is,” she said. “The one everyone’s talking about. Well, come here. Let me get a closer look at you.”
I obeyed.
“And take off your hat. I need to see what you look like. Obviously, I’ve googled all the pictures.”
It was weird, thinking that someone could so easily find me through a Google search—one of the many new aspects of my life I was adjusting to.
She repositioned her specs on the bridge of her nose, inspecting me. “Oh yes, very nice. Very nice specimen indeed.” She sounded so serious before she looked at Owen and added, “He looks like fun.”
It was as though she could reach into our brains and see all that we had been up to the night before.
“He is fun,” Owen assured her.
And I’d thought I blushed too much before…
“My dear Keegan, you can call me Sharon or Mère, whichever suits you. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“The pleasure is all mine.”
“I’m so glad you stopped by for tea before the King arrives. It will be wonderful to have a chat and—”
“The King?” Owen asked.
“Yes, he only just messaged me about being on his way.”
“And no one thought to text me?”
“I have to admit, I was a little worried if I’d said anything, you might have found a way to sneak off before his arrival, and I wanted to meet Keegan so badly.”
Owen’s expression had quickly shifted from playful to cross.
“I’m not sure I appreciate the way he went about it. He could have just stayed here if that’s what he wanted.”
“Owen, your brother needs time to take this all in.”
“I feel like if that was all it was, he would have said something to me about coming over. Why the surprise?”
“I’m sure it was a last-minute decision. You two are so impulsive sometimes.”
Sharon glanced between the two of us before adding, “At least we can both enjoy the awkwardness together. Can’t we, Keegan?” She winked, and I managed an uneasy chuckle as this breakfast had gone from making me uneasy to downright anxious.
22
Owen
I should have known Lucas would plan a surprise visit.
If he had wanted to meet Keegan, he could have just stayed at the palace. Although, a part of me suspected he wanted to catch us off guard to prevent us from, as Mère suggested, being able to plan for his visit the way we’d planned for our first interview together.
It was a smart move, but it annoyed me all the same.
“You’re not going to sneak him out the back door, are you?” Mère asked, surely noticing the perturbed expression on my face.
“Of course not, but that’s not such a terrible idea.”