Page 60 of Mermaid on Heels

“You thought I would run away to the ocean right after I left you.” She smirked a little.

Luke laughed and nodded. “Yeah, something like that.”

Liriya tilted her head. “Then you do not know me at all.”

“That I don’t,” he agreed. “But I want to.”

A smile stretched across Liriya’s face as she no longer felt herself holding back from him. The previous night’s conversation with her sisters helped her, and for once in the last four months of uncertainty in her life, Liriya knew what she was doing.

She was going to let Luke know her and let herself know him, and see where it would take them.

“I want to, too.”

That four-word confession was all it took for him to look at her as if she was the center of his world—again. And the tiny, selfish, yearning part of her wanted tobethe center of his world.

“Aren’t you two coming in yet?” Matilda’s voice, not too loud, snapped Liriya from the trance. She looked over Luke’s shoulder and saw her sisters, who apparently had overheard their conversation, smirk.

Luke followed her gaze before looking back at her, offering his arm. “I think we better get going.”

Chapter 14

Luke left with his uncle Rufus when they reached the second floor. They had a court meeting that was to begin in five minutes, and he promised Liriya he would meet her after that. Matilda led Liriya and her sisters to where Cedric had asked their breakfast to be set, while Susie left for Liriya’s new room to take her bag.

They moved across the second floor, the area quite unfamiliar to Liriya as she realized the route they were taking wasn’t anywhere close to the ballroom and its hallways that would’ve struck a familiar chord with her from yesterday’s escapade.

Though she had grown up and lived in a castle all her life, her home was nothing in comparison to this one. The Lestoshire Castle was an opulent…

An opulentwhat?

Liriya went through all the possible adjectives in her head and none of them did justice to how she wanted to describe Luke’s magnificent home.

They reached a small hallway with a doorway at its end, open to a wide balcony. A few maidservants exited through the doorway at that time, coming across them and dipping into a curtsey. Their eyes bounced between Liriya and her sisters with curiosity as they walked past them.

Liriya’s ears perked up to catch their hushed murmurs when they thought they were out of earshot—just like the other maidservants, guards, and a few courtiers they came across—complimenting positively on their beauty and negatively on their attire.

When they stepped onto the balcony, Liriya lost her breath at the beauty of the view before her. The balcony was vast and opulent, with a terracotta roof shielding them from the sun and the ornate rails built on the edge in half round with pillars. The floor was polished marble, similar to the rest of the castle, and the walls were an earthly tone.

In the middle of the balcony stood a round table with a pristine tablecloth neatly gathered beneath with a blue ribbon. Covered trays and silverware sat on top, ready to be opened. Cedric stood next to one of the four chairs around the table with his hands clasped in front of him and a small smirk on his lips, ready to assist them.

Ortutorthem, rather.

He pulled out the chairs for them when they approached, and Liriya and her sisters sat down, thanking him. After they were seated, Cedric shoved his mother out of the balcony with a jesting remark, before opening the lids and taking his seat. And their lesson number one officially began.

Cedric began showing them how to place the folded napkin on their lap, one that sat left to their silverware, and why they should do it. He also explained what the other napkin on the right was for. He showed them how to serve themselves, which spoon was used for what, and how to use a knife and fork.

Back at Bianca’s, they ate with their hands and spoons—rather a clumsy, funny way but Bianca had taught them how to do it well—so using a knife and fork was a new experience. Stressful, awkward, and constantly failing.

“If you keep holding the fork like that, Princess Ella, someone would think you’re going to stab them.” Cedric jested playfully at Ella.

“Then maybe we should notuseone,” Ella shot back, narrowing her eyes. She didn’t seem to enjoy his funny remarks like Liriya and Sessa did.

“I wish we didn’t have to, but I’m afraid wehaveto.”

“Why cannot we just eat with our hands? I cannot believe you humans are so cruel with the food you eat when they are nothing but delicious. Do you really have tocutandstabthem?” Ella placed her knife and fork aside on the napkin, and used her hand instead, almost challengingly.

ThisElla, Liriya knew, better not be messed with. She was dead set on what she wanted to do, and when it came to that, she didn’t care what others thought. Especially not a handsome royal with a smart mouth.

Liriya diverted her gaze to her plate just when a carrot piece flew to hers from Sessa’s across the table.