The library had become Alina's refuge. She now walked through the shelves with confidence.
She was wandering between the aisles, looking for something interesting, when she heard voices and laughter coming from an adjacent gaming room.
She glanced through the arched doorway and saw Austin sitting there with his trusted advisors, military commanders, and the ministers who helped him govern this vast territory.
She sat in a chair near the doorway, choosing a spot where the shadows hid her, but a gap in the doorframe gave her a clear view. From there, she could see the table where Austin sat with three chessboards in front of him, and three opponents across from him.
He was going to play three games at once.
Alina understood enough about chess to know how difficult that was. He had to keep track of three different positions, strategies, and opponents. It took a mind capable of splitting itself into pieces and holding each one separately.
But Austin played as if he had been born to it.
Alina watched him move from board to board effortlessly. He made his moves and moved on, leaving his opponents staring at positions that had suddenly become much more complicated.
And all the while, he spoke to them about grain tariffs.
"The northern harvest was weak this year, so we'll need to import from the south. Estimates suggest a fifteen per cent shortfall if we don't…"
He moved a knight, checked one opponent and moved to the next board without stopping.
"…negotiate better terms with the shipping guilds. Lord Pemberton recommends we agree to this."
He captured a rook and the opponent cursed under his breath.
"But I'm not convinced Pemberton has the northern interests at heart. He's been very close with the southern lords lately, and…"
Queen to king's bishop four. The third opponent's face went pale.
Alina watched him, captivated. He was magnificent. She hated that she noticed him. She hated how her eyes followed his hands, how her breath caught when he made a brilliant move, how she felt something strange when he smiled at a comment from one of his opponents.
He was warm, charming, and utterly disarming.
This was the public Austin. The man who could manage three chess games and a policy discussion at once while making everyone in the room feel like they had his full attention.
The games ended one by one and Austin won all three. The losers shook their heads, paid their bets, and patted him on the shoulder. Austin accepted it all like a man who had done this a hundred times before.
Soon, his ministers, commanders and advisers left after handshakes and promises to meet again. Austin, now alone, stood by the table and looked at the library doorway.
"I know you're there," He said. "You can come out."
Alina's heart pounded.
She stood and walked through the doorway into the gaming room.
"I wasn't hiding," She said. "I was just observing."
"Observing?" His mouth twitched. "From the shadows, while I played chess?"
"It's a public library."
"It's my library."
"Then you should have better security." She replied, embarrassed.
He looked at her for a moment and then asked.
"Do you play?"
"What?"
"Chess."
"No."
"Sit."
He gestured to the chair across from one of the boards. Alina hesitated for a second then sat. Austin took the seat opposite her. The table was small, close enough that their knees almost touched beneath it.
"The pieces," He began, reaching for a pawn, "move like this…"
"I know how the pieces move." She cut him off firmly. "I said I don't play. I didn't say I don't know the rules."
He raised his eyebrow.
"Then you've watched enough to understand the basics."
She nodded.
"Perfect." He put the pawn down. "Then let's play a trial game."
He arranged the board like a perfectionist. Then he began to teach her.
He was neither gentle nor patient. He expected her to keep up, to understand, to anticipate. He explained the strategies quickly, assuming she could follow. He pointed to positions on the board, traced possible moves with his fingers, and corrected her when she reached for the wrong piece.
And throughout it all, he kept touching her.
He put his hand on hers to stop a move, his fingers adjusted her grip on a piece, his arm brushed against hers as he leaned across the table and his knee pressed lightly against hers under the table when he shifted in his chair.
He didn't notice but she did.
She noticed the warmth of his skin. She noticed how focused he was on the game, and how he forgot to be the duke who bought her.
This was a different Austin.
This was the Austin who argued with her over poetry in the dark, who had tended her burn gently, and who noticed little things about her that were invisible to others.
"Your move," He said.
She took a moment, then moved her knight.
"Interesting."
"In a good way or a bad one?"
"Unexpected." He countered her move immediately, his bishop sliding into position. "You're not playing like a beginner."
"Maybe I'm not a beginner."
"You said you'd never played."
"I also said I don't play." She looked at the board, calculating. "I've watched and read. I just never had anyone willing to sit across from me."
He went quiet for a moment.
"Your father?"
"My father was too drunk to teach me anything by the time I was old enough to learn." She moved her rook. "Your move."
The game continued.
Time passed, an hour or maybe more. Neither of them noticed.
He won, as expected. But she took his bishop.
"You learn fast," He commented.
"I do." She leaned back in her chair, looking into his eyes. "You should be worried."
His mouth twitched and he smiled. And before she could stop herself, she smiled back.
Then, suddenly, his expression changed. He became the cold duke again.
"We should go," He said.
Alina nodded.
They walked to his room side by side in silence. In the room, the fire had already been lit. And a nightgown had been laid out which she didn't wear.
She tossed it aside, and lay down on her side, facing the wall. Behind her, he lay down as well.
"The queen," He said, suddenly.
She turned her head slightly.
"What about her?"
"You protected her too carefully. You kept pulling pieces back to guard her instead of letting the position defend itself. It cost you the game."
"I'll keep that in mind."
"You should." He paused. "We'll play again."
She turned back, smiling.
"Perhaps I'll let you keep the bishop next time."
"Go to sleep now," He said.
"You keep saying that."
"Because you keep not doing it."
Alina smiled in the darkness and closed her eyes.
She thought this might become her new normal. If only she had known, it was the beginning of something that would change her life in ways she had never imagined.