Prince Nikandros has spent most of his life learning how to look unbothered. He had spent enough years in royal courts to know that beauty was rarely the most interesting thing about a person. Beauty opened doors, it secured alliances. It inspired songs written by men who mistook observation for understanding. He had met beautiful women before β princesses, duchesses, noble daughters raised beneath chandeliers and expectations. Most entered a room already aware of the effect they produced. Clarissa spoke it without realizing she knew it. The realization had become increasingly inconvenient. The late afternoon sun poured through the palace windows in sheets of gold, setting the marble floors ablaze beneath his feet. Below the balcony, the city stretched toward the sea in a mosaic of white stone and terracotta rooftops, the harbor alive with merchant vessels drifting lazily upon sapphire waters. It should have held his attention. There were matters of state waiting for him. Trade agreements, naval reports. Three separate councilors competing for his signature.
Instead, his gaze remained fixed upon the princess approaching from the far side of the terrace. His fingers rested against the stone railing as he watched her draw nearer, sunlight catching in her hair and transforming it into something brighter than gold. There was no calculation in her movements. No attempt to impress. She carried herself with a kind of effortless sincerity that court life should have destroyed years ago. Nikandros found himself wondering how she had managed to keep it. "You're late." The words left him before he could decide whether he meant them as an accusation or a greeting. Judging by the amusement tugging at the corner of his mouth, they landed somewhere in between. He turned fully toward her then, abandoning the view entirely. "The council meeting lasted most of the afternoon," he continued. "Lord Theron spent forty minutes arguing about tariffs. Lord Cassius spent another thirty arguing with Lord Theron. At one point I considered throwing them both into the harbor simply to improve efficiency." @twrqueen
