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“I am Why do you ask?” My heart pounds so hard, I worry a bit for myself

“You look like a ghost, Finley When I touched your shoulder in there, your whole body tensed up You won’t look at me”

And I didn’t return to hiht

I look into his eyes and find them cool, his prince’s face unreadable

“I don’t know I suppose I’ to keep…proper”

“Where’d you go last night?”

I can see the hurt in his hard features It’s there in the tightness of his jaw He looks down at his shoes, and aze follows They’re boots, made of brown leather, and they look quite fine I watch as a breath h his thick shoulders

Then those piercing eyes are holdinghis cheek on the inside There’s so like the shadow of a smile, as if he’d like to but he can’t And he says, “It’s okay” I can tell he means it, which is sort of awful

“No it’s not I’ at my own shoes noorn Mary Janes “I went to the clinic, and the visitors were there late Then I worried you were sleeping” I s hard and force ? Did you rest?”

He rubs a hand back through his hair, revealing scabbed gashes across his knuckles “I’m okay”

I can hear the tightness in his voice His face, though, is flawlessly impassive

“I need to give you a check-over Particularly your blood pressure, and I’d like a look at that shoulder Could you come to the clinic in a bit, perhaps? Or I could come to you if you’d prefer”

It’s there for a mere instant: the tiniest chink in his arhtens before he locks it all away He nods once, jaw hard

“Yeah, sure,” he says in forced tones “I’ll come by”

“To the clinic? Will that be all right? I’ve got to make a house call Afterward, I’ll be there all day”