“As hardcore as that sounds, I think I’ll pass.”
Just then, Scarlet saw Kristy approaching Gabriel at his locker a few feet away.
“Hi Gabriel.” Kristy pressed her schoolbooks against her stomach, making her chest rise and stick out. “I was just looking over our new history assignment and it looks like we’ll all need partners.” She took a step closer. “Wanna be my partner?”
Gabriel looked at her for a moment, his eyes scanning her face.
If Gabriel agreed to be Kristy’s history partner, Scarlet was going to smack him. And maybe egg his car.
Maturity was overrated.
“Sorry, Kristy,” Gabriel said. “I already have a partner for the assignment.”
“You do?” Kristy looked hurt. “Who?”
“Heather.” Gabriel shrugged and turned to his locker, silently dismissing Kristy.
From the corner of her eye, Scarlet saw Heather’s jaw drop.
Once Kristy walked away from Gabriel. Heather grabbed Scarlet’s arm and dragged her over to Gabriel’s locker with her.
“Um…excuse me? We’re history partners now?” Heather flicked a wrist at Gabriel. “Were you going to tell me about this, or was I going to find out about it during our final presentation?”
Gabriel sighed. “Sorry. I needed an excuse not to work with Kristy. Her voice drives me crazy.”
“And I was the best excuse you had?”
“What’s the big deal?” Gabriel looked exhausted. “So, we’re partners. Who cares?”
“I do,” Heather said. “I was going to ask Derek Winters to be my partner.”
Gabriel rolled his eyes. “Derek Winters thinks the Boston Tea Party was what the Mad Hatter had in Alice in Wonderland.”
Heather blinked a few times. “Okay, so he’s not the smartest guy in school. But he’s hot. And I need a date to the town fair.”
“Why does everyone take dates to this fair?” Scarlet asked. “It’s so weird.”
“It’s tradition.” Heather looked at Scarlet, then pointed at Gabriel. “We better get an A plus plus on our project or I’m going to throw a fit.”
Gabriel gave her a crooked smile. “Like you’re doing right now?”
“Precisely.” Heather turned to Scarlet. “See you at lunch.” Then she walked away, leaving Scarlet and Gabriel standing alone. Together.
Scarlet looked at her shoes.
“So…” Gabriel said.
“Yeah.” Scarlet bit the inside of her cheek.
It wasn’t uncomfortable between them. But it was weirdly quiet.
Aaron walked past them and wagged his eyebrows at Scarlet.
Now it was uncomfortable.
Great.
42
Three weeks after the engagement announcement, Scarlet sat at the large table in the dining hall with Gabriel. Guards stood at every door and servants brought endless platters of cheese and meat.
After years of hunting and foraging for her food, Scarlet was uncomfortable being waited on at a fine table with glass goblets and large plates.
She had been raised in wealth, and was familiar with having servants and fine meals, but she still felt terribly out of place. She did not belong in a castle or at a table covered in meat.
She belonged in the trees. She belonged with Tristan.
“How did you sleep?” Gabriel asked with a smile.
Scarlet bowed respectfully. “Well, my lord.”
She had spent her first week in the castle angry at Tristan for handing her off to his brother. She’d spent the second week crying because she missed Tristan. And she spent last week plotting how to postpone her marriage to Gabriel until Tristan returned. If Tristan thought she was going to marry his brother, he was mad.
Gabriel looked around at the servants. “Thank you for our meal. We shall dine alone now.”
Bowing heads and shuffling feet made their way out of the hall, leaving only a single guard posted at the door.
“Tennius.” Gabriel looked at the guard. “We shall dine alone.”
The guard seemed perturbed, but left the room and closed the door behind him.
When it was just she and Gabriel, Scarlet took a moment to really look at him. He was identical to Tristan, right down to their perfectly placed dimples and square jaws but, somehow, Gabriel looked nothing like Tristan.
For a few minutes, neither of them spoke or ate. They simply sat.
“I’m sorry to hear your mother is ill,” he said sincerely, his voice echoing in the tall room. “We have our best healers with her.”
The healers weren’t helping at all, but Scarlet nodded anyway. “Thank you, my lord.”
Scarlet’s mother was getting worse. She was slowly becoming mad and had a fever no one could soothe. Although Scarlet spent every hour with her, trying to ease her torment, she knew her mother would die soon. And the thought made her stomach hurt. She did not know how to be herself without her mother. Without Tristan.
Gabriel took a deep breath. “How are you settling in the castle?”
“Well,” she lied. The castle was foreign and cold. She was already weary of playing countess.
An uncomfortable silence fell. Scarlet cleared her throat. “I am sorry for the obligation you have to me.” She had said it to be polite, but as the words came out of her mouth she realized how very true they were. She was sorry for Gabriel. He did not know her. He did not love her. Yet, he had agreed to marry her.
For Tristan.
Gabriel smiled at her. “I am not sorry. I have the privilege of honoring my brother with the company of a beautiful woman. If anything, I am sorry for you.”
Scarlet pressed a smile to her face. “You are kind.”
“Not hardly.” He leaned forward on his elbows with a crooked smile beneath his deep eyes. He was probably quite popular with the woman of the court. With a smile like that and the confidence he held, what woman would not swoon?
More silence.
“You do not need to like me, you know.” Gabriel leaned back with a pleasant face. “We shall wed for my father’s sake, but we do not need to be a true union. We do not even have to get along.”
She paused. “Tristan cares for you, so I have no doubt I will care for you as well, my lord.” Scarlet bowed again.
“Scarlet.” Gabriel leaned forward again, smiling at her nicely. “Do not bow to me. Not ever again. And please, for the love of God, do not call me ‘lord’. Call me Gabriel.”
Scarlet looked into his eyes. “But that would be disrespectful. It would be against the rules.”
He shrugged and tossed her another crooked smile. “I am not known for my obedience.”
“Is that so?” Scarlet watched him carefully. He looked like trouble and he smiled like sin. Cocking her head to the side, Scarlet found herself intrigued by the daring boy sitting across from her. “We may get along after all.”