Chapter 37

Olivia Martins

Dessert was simple. Sweet cream and honey-soaked fruit on delicate slices of sponge cake. I tasted vanilla and rosewater, and something tart and red that made me close my eyes and hum around the bite.

Across the table, Caspian smiled like he’d been waiting for that exact sound.

“What?” I asked, licking cream from my spoon.

He shook his head, eyes soft. “Nothing. Just… close your eyes.”

I gave him a look. “Why?”

“Because I said so,” he teased gently. “Do you trust me?”

I held his gaze for a long beat, then let my eyes fall shut. “Yes.”

And I did.

I heard the soft scrape of wood against stone, a chair shifting. The faint click of a box opening. Something small and weighty placed in front of me with a muted thud.

“Okay,” he said. “You can open them.”

I blinked into the candlelight and gasped.

A velvet box sat on the table, open, revealing a necklace that shimmered like frost beneath the moonli