Thirty-Eight

"SO," I BEGAN, "BESIDES SHOWING ALL YOUR LOVE FOR EACH OTHER openly, what can I help you with? I mean, why did you come to me?" That made them snap out of it and turn to me.

"We are curious about you," they said together, and that made me gulp. This doesn't feel really good.

"I don't think it would be good for the staff to hear our talk, Sir," the Prince told him and he tightened the grip in my hand a little bit.

A nod, then he moved his fingers up and bounced his head positively, "If that's how it is, I put up a sound barrier around us. None one else can hear what we'll be talking about in here. So, don't refrain yourselves, unless you try to be disrespectful towards Hope!" Did he just threaten the fucking Prince? God's above he's really reckless.

And that's ridiculously attractive, even though it's obviously dangerous to say such a things to the future Duke of the South. Especially when he's backing himself simply on the fear the Duke feels from Luc, which is also quite reckless. He should be more careful, they are still part of the Royals.

Opposite to all the other nobles, Dukes and Duchess aren't like the rest of us. They are related in some degree to the Royal family, even if it's faintly, and they are still Princes and Princesses. That shouldn't be taken lightly. We should be even more careful when we aren't even above a Marquis in social rank.

Not to mention that he's a Knight, a high ranking spy, but still a Knight. He isn't someone from nobility. At least I don't think he is, otherwise I would know about him, and I don't. So, yeah, twice as dangerous.

His Highness smiled amused, "I won't. Don't worry, boy," why does he looks so cool with that?

And I had forgotten that the Prince's around 24 years old, meaning that he's 4 years older than me, and 2 years older than him. He must think he's silly, but must have understood why he said it like that, right?

"It's far from offensive, you don't have to worry. We won't do anything against your fiancée," Lady Mary added, and I felt my cheeks hot hearing how she called me.

It's one thing to say it myself, but it hits different to hear someone else saying it. I've never felt like this with Jacob, it was just… whatever. But with him it's different, like I told him, he makes me feel different.

In a good way.

Holding his hand, I smiled, "Hey, it's fine. You don't have to worry, okay? Besides, you are here with me." When he nodded with the ghost of a smile on his lips, I turned around to meet the guests' face, "Now that no one else can hear us, could you tell me what is it that made you curious about me?" Let's get over with this.

Prince Behnam tilted his head to the side, "Yesterday, my dad called both of us on his study and told us something quite amusing about you, Lady Bissonnette."

Lady Marie took a bit of one of the sugar cookies, and made a satisfied face, "These are amazing, you must have a wonderful chef in here. And well, father-in-law said that we shouldn't tell anyone else, but we could talk to you about it, if we had any doubts," she met my eyes. "That's why we are here. Plus, your songs, because I want to listen to them again, and as my Prince wasn't in the ball, he also wants to know if I was being honest when I told him you had the voice of an angel."

"So, you are here to talk about her magic and to hear her songs?" Why is he being so direct? What if that wasn't it?

I gave him a look, "Are you insane?" I mumbled.

"You are right, that's precisely why we are here," Prince Behnam exclaimed and I gasped. "You seem quite surprised, Lady Hope. Although my father told me you were already aware of the fact that he had some spies in the Bissonnette County. Father told us that," he pointed to my fiancée, "he had told you about it."

I clenched my jaw, "I didn't think your father would tell you about it, though. But yes, my fiancée did warn me about the fact that pretty much all the Dukes, Duchesses, and the Royal family had caught word about my… secret. A secret that doesn't seem to be a secret anymore," sigh. "What do you want to know about it?"

They seemed excited with my words, very much like kids when they are interested in something new. Which is funny since he just called my devil a kid. Look who's acting like a kid now, hm?!

"Do you really have shadow magic?" Lady Marie questioned leaning forward on the couch.

Sigh, "Yes, I do."

"Can we see it?" The Prince asked, his eyes shining.

I gulped and when I turned to see the devil, his face was turned to me and I noticed how curious he also seemed to be. Of course, knowing about it is different than seeing it happening. "Hm… okay." Inhaling deeply, I took my hand out of his and got up, then I stood around ten steps far from the three of them.

"What are you doing, darling?"

My eyes met his face, "I'm not a master at it, even though I have a good control over it. So, it's still a little bit dangerous to use it near people. Besides, I've never really used it when there was anyone close to me, because I was low key scared of getting caught and of hurting an innocent."

"Wait," Marie gasped and turned to the devil. "You've never seen it either?"