Chapter 9

After breakfast, Ivan left the dining hall and headed straight for his study, a thoughtful expression on his face. She is a cleverer child than I thought. He found himself drawn to her bright blue eyes, which shone with intelligence. While her precocious maturity was intriguing, at the end of the day, a child was still a child. He couldn’t help but recall the way her eyes had been glued to the cake, the way she’d swallowed in anticipation. The sight of the shrewd, chattering girl crumbling so easily before a sweet treat had made him smile in spite of himself.