I chanced one last look at my betrothed, the female in his arms now scowling with distaste, and I turned back to Fin. “I’m always up to learn something new.”
He flashed me a wicked grin, and in a moment he had me twirling around the dance floor, the hem of my dress catching flight as I spun. The world whirled around me, and I couldn’t help the girlish giggle that escaped my lips.
A tug at my arm, and he had me spiraling into his arms just as the tune slowed to an intimate lull, our faces so close that his lips almost grazed my forehead.
My back to Evander, I peered up into that face full of trouble and opened my mouth, but then bit back the question, fearful of looking too desperate.
“To answer your unspoken question, yes, the prince is still staring.” His eyes flitted over the top of my head, then back down. “And yes, I will be up all night, knife clutched to my chest, lest he murder me in my sleep.”
I let out a laugh, and he smiled. Not a seductive one this time. A genuine smile that, paired with his curls, gave him an almost boyish look. “I like you,” I found myself saying. “I think perhaps we could be friends.”
His eyes twinkled as he feigned a heartbroken frown. “Friends? Elynore Payne, you say that word like it isn’t a bludgeon to the male ego.”
A close-lipped smile tugged at the corners of my mouth, and I shook my head. “You’re not interested in me. You saw me pining after Evander and thought you’d come to my rescue.”
“Mmm,” he said, dipping me once more, this time holding my stare instead of bothering to glance in Evander’s direction. “And why couldn’t I have done it for both reasons?”
I bit my lip as he yanked me upright. “Because you’ve been glancing past my shoulder this entire time.” It was true. While I’d been focusing on Fin’s handsome features to keep my traitorous eyes from checking that Evander and his former lover hadn’t snuck out of the ballroom, he’d been fighting—and often failing—to keep his eyes off someone in the corner. “Tell me, Fin. Who are you using me to make jealous?” Where I expected smug denial, his smile faltered a bit, the mischief in his eyes dying out.
I frowned. “I didn’t mean to call attention to a spot of soreness.”
He shook his head, and as quickly as it had fled, the light in his grin returned. “You didn’t.”
This time, I took the lead, twisting us around so I could get a good look at who Fin had been staring at all night.
My stomach might have dropped a bit when I found the Queen of Naenden watching us intently with her one eye.
My breath caught, and I quickly positioned Fin in front of me to shield me from embarrassment.
Fin’s eyes sparkled with amusement. “Don’t worry. She’s not nearly as terrifying as she looks. Except when she uses that Old Magic of hers…” He shivered, as if shaking off a memory.
I frowned, pieces of headlines fitting together in my mind. Fin…
I jolted my gaze up to him. “You’re Prince Phineas of Naenden.”
He groaned. “Okay, I’ll agree to stop calling you by your full name if you agree to stop saying mine.”
“And that,” I said, barely inching my head toward his queen, “is your sister-in-law.”
“Could there be any more judgment on your face right now?” he asked, eyebrow cocked.
I had half a mind to rip my hands from his and put them on my hips. Instead, I hid myself behind Fin’s tall frame. “Next time, when you decide to use an unsuspecting woman to make a Gifted queen jealous, perhaps you should let her know in advance whose wrath she’s incurring.”
At that, Fin looked like he might choke. “You think I’m dancing with you to make Asha jealous?”
I stiffened, and it somewhat impeded our keeping with the beat of the music. Okay, well now I was offended on her behalf.
As if he could read my thoughts, Fin shook his head. “Don’t get me wrong. I love Asha. But she’s like a sister to me. Nothing more.”
I frowned. “Then who were you staring a—Oh. Oh.”
I shot a wide-eyed, knowing expression in Fin’s direction. “Well, I can see why you like her.”
In fact, I couldn’t believe I hadn’t noticed her before. The girl standing behind the queen was one of the most beautiful women I’d ever laid eyes upon, her almond-shaped eyes sparking, her black hair flowing loose at her shoulders, an emerald diadem atop her head to match her silken dress.
Still, her posture wasn’t that of a woman who spent much time considering her own beauty. She stood behind the queen, straight-backed and sure of herself, but seemingly all too willing to fade into the background.
“Who is she?”
“She is also my sister-in-law.”
I shot him a disbelieving look. From everything I knew about Naenden, marriage was monogamous. Even if rulers had a tendency to keep mistresses besides their queens, they didn’t actually marry more than one at a time.
I supposed the King of Naenden had meant to get around that by offering up a bride as a sacrifice every mooncycle so he could get himself a brand new one.
Now that I’d seen the Queen of Naenden in person, I no longer found it surprising that she’d found a way to survive.
“She’s Asha’s sister,” he explained with an embarrassed flush to his cheeks.
“Oh. Well, that…” I swallowed my initial inclination to say that was really weird. I was trying out this sensitive thing after all. “That will make holidays convenient, I suppose.”
He shot me a look that told me he saw right through my attempt at concealing my judgment.
“I’m not trying to make her jealous,” he said with a resigned huff.
I glanced back at the girl, whose eyes kept flitting toward us, then quickly away. There was no anger or petty fury in them. Just discomfort and a twinge of sadness that I was sure cut deeper under the surface. “Then I’m afraid this isn’t going to plan,” I said, instinctively putting more distance between the two of us.
Evander was clearly jealous enough. No need to make the girl cry for no reason.
