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When they finally wore themselves out, the sun was sinking low in the sky, golden light stretching over the gardens and casting long shadows over the lawns. The girls were dirt-streaked and tired. Lily tried to hide her yawns on the way back to Whitestone. Seraphine didn’t bother.
Armin disappeared into his offices to catch up on a few things while Katie took the girls downstairs for dinner and hustled them into the bath. He came back in time to help her brush out their hair, the fine strands drying so quickly that they wouldn’t have to worry about wet pillows. Seraphine begged for Katie to tuck them in, too, so she and Armin made a team effort of it.
Out in the hallway, as Katie pulled the door to their room closed with a soft click, Armin said, “Come sit with me.”
He led her through his personal quarters down the hall, a great expansive space with many rooms. But the highlight was the wide balcony with a view of the old city stretched out in front of them.
Katie collapsed gratefully into one of the lounge chairs on the balcony. With a flick of his wrist, Armin spread a blanket over her legs, then went to get a matching chair for himself. He must have hit a switch somewhere, too, because a fire bloomed to life in the ornate metal pit in front of the chairs.
Armin set his own chair down beside hers and relaxed into it. She watched him out of the corner of her eye as he settled in, looking out over the city. After a minute, he folded his hands behind his head.
It was different, now that the two of them were alone. Katie had seen flashes of this man—the one who was relaxed, at peace—out in the garden, when he had smilingly held his breath, his face half-hidden in the hedges.
“I’m glad you got this chance to spend time with the girls this afternoon,” she said, not bothering to keep the warmth from her voice. Katie meant it.
“Me too.” There was a hesitation in his voice, and after a moment of silence, she answered it.
“What is it?”
With the firelight flickering over his face like this, it was easier to talk.
“I’m a little concerned about something.”
Katie pulled the blanket tighter around her. “If it’s the missed lessons, I can schedule in an extra—”
“It’s not that.” Armin shifted his arms back in front of him. “I’m worried that you think I’m not interested in being a father to the girls.”
“I know that you are,” Katie said, though she sounded more confident than she felt. She had no doubt that he wanted to give the girls a nice life, but Armin had seemed more concerned about scheduling them than spending time with them up until today. “I’m only surprised that you…played as hard as you did in the garden.” Katie laughed, her voice echoing back at her off the balcony wall. “I didn’t think you had a fun bone in your body.”
Armin chuckled, the timbre rueful. “I had more of them in the past.” He took a breath and let it out. “I always have demands on my time, on my presence…every hour of the day. Perhaps it doesn’t look like it, but some days I struggle to fit it all in.” He gave a little sigh. “I’m working on an orphanage project that is turning out to be more trouble than I expected.”
Katie blinked, her interest piqued. Could he seriously resent the orphans? If so, that would make him…well, it would make him a real jerk, and then she wouldn’t have to feel guilty about trading little tidbits about him to Papazyan in exchange for her future at the palace.
“It’s not the orphanage itself,” he went on. “It’s that…I thought it would be relatively simple. Who wouldn’t want to help orphans? But I’m getting pushback about the spending, and it’s infuriating. And it’s personal. My grandmother’s legacy could be forgotten if this project gets tied up in red tape.” Armin shook his head. “We need more of her kindness and compassion in this country. People are already forgetting. There’s so much new wealth and technology that everyone forgets that not everyone is being lifted by that same tide.”
“It happens fast,” Katie agreed.
“But why wouldn’t they approve of renovating the orphanage?” He glanced at her, the firelight reflected in his eyes. “Everyone’s more concerned with how they look than what good they do.”
So he wasn’t aloof. Maybe it was true that Armin kept his feelings to himself during the day, but it was because he cared. He cared about his girls, and his people. He had to be Prince Armin every hour of his day, with only a few stolen minutes to be the father to two grieving girls.
Right now, with his hair still disheveled from the garden and a shadow of dirt on his cheek, he looked more princely than Katie had ever seen him.
And very, very handsome.
Katie swallowed hard, forcing her gaze back out over the city.
She never should have given in to Papazyan. She should have told him to screw off, to reveal her secrets if he wanted, and let the dice fall where they may.
But there was no way out now.
If this had just been about a few photos of her at the wrong place at the wrong time and her past history, she could have told Armin everything and apologized. That ship had sailed. She’d already passed information along to the papers. It wasn’t anything major, nothing that would hurt anyone—she’d been meticulous about that—but he would still see it as a betrayal of trust. Even if she meant to protect all of them by doing it.
“What’s wrong?”
His voice broke her out of his thoughts. “I should get cleaned up,” she said, her heart aching at the moment they’d shared, broken open between them.
Armin looked at her for another moment. “Me too. I have one more call to make this evening.” He stood up, brushing a blade of grass from his pants, suddenly the regal, distant prince. “I have to look the part.”
