Their budding relationship couldn't go on forever in secret, could it? [1]
Every spare chance Irene and Henry were getting was spent in the grasp of the other.
The Duke had been overseeing construction of a wall deeper in the valley—his plan to future-proof this area and make it safer from monsters and easy to settle into—and Irene had been busy running with the apprentices and a couple of knights through the forests, searching for monsters. Yet they always seemed to wind up the same way each evening.
The hour would get a bit later, and the Commander would linger at her door, finding it impossible to leave behind the object of his desire and affection. This situation caused him to reason more that he ought to see her earlier in the day.
For once, they got into a misunderstanding.
Irene had caught him requesting that the butler send a gift to the Princess. But she had missed the part where Henry had said it was a response to the wedding invitation that he had declined.
