Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 72897 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 364(@200wpm)___ 292(@250wpm)___ 243(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72897 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 364(@200wpm)___ 292(@250wpm)___ 243(@300wpm)
I had no idea why Henry was trying to get into the castle unannounced, but I didn’t care. I couldn’t believe he was here. I had been so sure that I would never see Henry again after the way he’d left the fairgrounds.
“Take him to my chambers,” I told Vincent, and he nodded. “And get those cuffs off of him, for goodness’ sake.”
“Your chambers, sir?”
I nodded. “Yes. I need to… speak with him. Privately.”
“I can speak with you right here, Sebastian,” Henry said.
But I was already walking off. I needed to go say goodnight to Princess Emma in the guest quarters. I needed to have a quick chat with Genoveve about my schedule for tomorrow.
And then I would be free for the rest of the evening. Free to find out what the hell Henry Denton was doing in Frostmonte.
9
Henry
I knew I might have been making one of the bigger mistakes of my life when I pulled my truck up to the bottom of Frostmonte Way, parked it, and got out in the dark.
I knew there would be night security. I wasn’t stupid. But if I walked a short way up the road and turned onto Terrace View Road, I thought I could stay shrouded behind a thicket of pine trees, make my way into one of the loading bays, and I wouldn’t be seen.
It was fucking ridiculous.
I could see my breath in the cold evening. I felt like I was smuggling something or being smuggled, which I guess I kind of was. But my feet had still kept on going, one foot after another, up the road and behind the trees. I still found my way to Terrace View Road, looping around until I saw the glow of lights from inside the truck bays.
I’d walked up the rest of the winding side road and approached the castle from the side. There didn’t seem to be any guards. Walking up the steep incline made my body heat up, and soon I barely noticed the cold.
I had found a set of stairs that led up from inside the truck bays. I started up them, and the moment I was about to lay my hand on the door at the top, guards had rushed out of the door.
That same guard who had looked at me like he was about to kill me was now ushering me toward Sebastian’s quarters, up a winding staircase and down a hall that smelled better and better the longer we walked down it.
It smelled like him. Sebastian had always smelled lightly floral but also warmly spiced, like everywhere he went, he made the air fresher, somehow.
Soon we were walking down a narrow stone corridor inside, up another, smaller set of stairs. The guards had given me back my coat, and I carried it at my side. I felt like I was in the belly of some giant stone beast, which was sort of fitting for Frostmonte Castle, anyway.
The castle was a beast. A quiet, looming one.
I started getting chills up my spine as we walked down the cool halls.
They led me to a set of giant wooden double doors and opened them.
“The prince’s guest,” the guard said to the servant on the inside. The guards were done with me now, and they disappeared back down the hall so that I could now be ushered along by the servants in Sebastian’s quarters, instead.
Every damn wing of the castle had a new set of workers. At least I knew that Sebastian treated his workers well.
And as I walked in, I felt like I’d just stepped into another world entirely.
I’d expected Sebastian’s rooms to be nice, for sure, but I hadn’t known just how much they’d feel like… him.
The first room was an entryway. I dropped my coat, kicked off my boots, and kept heading forward. The man and woman guiding me now were mostly quiet, as if I somehow belonged here. They were probably trained not to interfere too much with guests, but as far as I was concerned, I felt like an alien here.
There was a small library room that looked more like an old bookstore, with shelves and shelves full of hardback books. It was magical. Further on was an office, with dark wood furniture and an antique globe and even more books. There were smaller rooms with massage tables in them. A room that must have been a sauna. An entire room filled with bottles of wine and scotch. A room that I couldn’t possibly know the purpose of—inside there were ribbons of fabric hanging from the ceiling, long strands of silk.
And then, near the end of the corridor, through yet another set of custom-carved double doors bigger than any doors I’d ever seen on planet Earth, I walked into his bedroom. Which was more like a sitting room, balcony, lounge, and bedroom, all in one.