Twin Crowns (Twin Crowns, #1)

by Catherine Doyle

‘Will you catch me if I fall?’ ‘No, but I’ll wave at you on your way down.’

‘What if Prince Ansel doesn’t like me? What if he finds me bland? Or spoilt? Or overdressed? Or underdressed?’ Or, I don’t know, A DIFFERENT PERSON ENTIRELY?

Shen shrugged. ‘Perhaps the movements of this desert have never been any of your business.’ Rose blinked. ‘Excuse me?’ ‘You are excused,’ said Shen, as he returned to the trickling waterfall.

‘Keeping yourself nice and trim, I see,’ said Ansel, approvingly. Well, that certainly wouldn’t do. Prince or no prince, he had no right commenting on how she ate. Wren shot her hand out and shoved an entire tart in her mouth. ‘SHANGED SHMY MINDSH,’ she said, crumbs flying from her lips. ‘MMM, DELSHSSS!’

‘I should have known you’d be a champion of puzzles, too,’ said Ansel, admiringly. ‘I can scarcely keep up with you.’ Please try, thought Wren, as she grabbed another piece. So this infernal boredom can end.

‘How deep is it?’ She flushed. ‘I can’t swim.’ ‘As deep as your trust in me,’ said Shen. ‘It wouldn’t come up to my ankles if that was the truth.’ Shen chuckled.

‘Very well, Shen Lo.’ She narrowed her eyes at him. ‘But if I fall to my death, I promise you my spirit won’t linger in that forest. It will haunt you until the end of your days, and then when you die, I will berate you until the end of time itself.’

‘I. See. Gravity. Only. Applies. To. One. Of. Us,’ she huffed.

both of them pretending as if they hadn’t been looking for each other.

‘I’m no seer,’ said Shen, drawing back. ‘But I hope you’ll feel at home here soon. And know that you are …’ His voice trailed off. Rose gazed at him. ‘Among friends?’ He laughed a little ruefully. ‘If that’s what you want.’ ‘This … this doesn’t feel like friendship to me,’ said Rose, boldly. Shen raked a hand through his hair. ‘No. I suppose it doesn’t … I guess what I meant to say earlier was, I would like to be there for you. However you’d like me to be.’

When Tor entered the ballroom, his gaze found Wren’s almost immediately.

What do the Gevrans have against shirts?

‘So, you came to Eana to watch Rathborne and somehow you wound up hounding me instead.’ ‘I found a new vocation.’ ‘Stalking me?’ ‘Wanting you.’ Wren’s cheeks flared. Damn.

‘Wren is my closest friend. I’ll always look out for her and I know she’ll do the same for me, but there’s no spark between us. There never has been. But you, Rose …’ He paused, tilting her chin up so she was looking directly into his eyes. ‘You set me on fire.’

Shen leaned down close, closer, until their lips were almost touching, and then he paused. Rose held her breath. ‘I can’t kiss you without your permission. You are the princess, remember?’ She smiled against his lips. ‘Then I order you to kiss me, Shen.’ Shen’s mouth curved. ‘With pleasure, Princess Rose.’ And then his lips were on hers and his arms were tight around her waist and this was kissing.

‘Just make sure you tell your sister what a gallant hero I am. I’ve only just got on her good side and I want to stay there.’ ‘How you managed that after kidnapping her I will never know.’

‘Nice outfit, Shen,’ said Wren, reading her sister’s thoughts. ‘Do you want to swap?’ ‘I’m not sure green is my colour,’ said Shen, but he was still looking at Rose. ‘You look beautiful.’ ‘Thank you,’ said Wren. ‘I was talking to your sister.’ ‘We have the same face.’ ‘And yet you couldn’t be more different.’