Chapter 236
Chapter 0236
“Julian?” I prompted. “You must havee for some reason?”
“Right,” he said, then rubbed his forehead. “That’s true.”
He cleared his throat again, then stood straighter. When he started forward once more, his usual smirk
slipped back into ce. Whatever weakness that had taken over him was long gone now.
“I thought we could utilize our time for more mental self–defense, but I had not considered you would be
so indisposed.” As Julian approached, he nced at Charlotte, who still held up the fabric like a shawl.‘
I’m not sure that works.”
“No,” Charlotte said, frowning. “But she might get cold with her arms bare. Even with the gloves.”
“Perhaps a lighter fabric. Or a whitece.”
“Lace? Oh, I hadn’t thought of that.” Charlotte nodded critically, then seemed to remember who she was
talking to and jumped. “Uh, Prince Julian, sir.”
“No need for such formality,” he said. “Simply Prince Julian would do.”
She nodded, but her cheeks were turning red. “If you’ll excuse me a moment, I’ll look through the rest of
the fabrics.” She scurried away.
I gave Julian a chastising look. “You shouldn’t tease her.”
“Who’s teasing?” Julian shrugged innocently. “I don’t need to be both sir and Prince Julian at once.” His
smile sharpened as he leered in my direction. “Unless you’d prefer to use both, Piper.”
I rolled my eyes. On a different day, any of them beforest night, his teasing me would have made me
smile. As it was, the drama with Jane weighed heavy on my heart, shackling me only to misery no matter
how hard I tried to feel other emotions.
For Elva’s sake, I was putting on a fa?ade. But even she eyed me warily now and again. She was
intuitive,
I needed to remember that. I had to do better.
Then Elva was suddenly there, tugging at Julian’s sleeve. My breath caught as he looked down at her.
They’d met before but only interacted a handful of times.
Unlike Nichs, who had made clear he adored children and wanted many of his own, Julian seemed
entirely indifferent to the matter. And though he’d been courteous to Elva in the past, I had no idea how
he would respond to her in a more rxed atmosphere.
One where she would ask a lot of questions.
Elva looked up at Julian with her wide eyes and asked, “Do you like Mommy too?”
“Too?“” Julian asked.
“Nickss likes Mommy. I can tell. He stayed herest night. All night.”
“Elva!” My face burned in embarrassment. I had thought she slept the whole night through. Apparently
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not!
“Oh, he did, did he?” Julian cast me a yful look, waggling his eyebrows.
I covered my face with both hands. I would likely never live this down.
Elva tugged on Julian’s sleeve. “Do you like Mommy too?”
“I’m quite fond of her, yes,” Julian said.
I waited for him to add a teasing caveat. Something like, Not as much as Prince Nichs, or, She
constantly makes a fool of herself to my endless amusement.
But he doesn’t say either of those things. He doesn’t add anything at all, actually. He just lets the small
sentence hang there, like it is a full andplete thought. (1)
My mind reeled. I had no idea what to think. Ever since he touched my cheek, and we almost kissed, I
hadn’t been able to find level footing around Julian.
I believed he cared for me, as a friend if nothing else, but sometimes I swore he maybe felt more. It felt
foolish to even consider it. He’d always enjoyed teasing me. He was likely teasing me now.
Yet something felt different when he looked at me. Like he’d leave his eyes on me a beat longer than
necessary. Or his smile would soften ever so slightly when he was speaking to me,pared to anyone
else.
Maybe I was imagining it. I shook my head, trying not to think of it now.
Julian kneeled down onto one knee to be at Elva’s level. A pulled a quarter from his pocket and showed
it to her. “Watch this,” he said. He held the quarter up, clear as day. With one swoop of the hand, the
quarter entirely vanished from his palm.