Chapter 0236
“Julian?” I prompted. “You must have come 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
sl*pped back into place. 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 glanced 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 white lace.”
“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 before last 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 façade. 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 Nicholas, 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 relaxed 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.
“Nick–lass likes Mommy. I can tell. He stayed here last night. All night.”
“Elva!” My face burned in embarrassment. I had thought she slept the whole night through. Apparently
not!
“Oh, he did, did he?” Julian cast me a playful 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 Nicholas, or, She
constantly makes a fool of herself to my endless amusement.
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