I clicked off the comm, and the lights began to dim.Showtime. As the bass thumped and the crowd grew quiet, I scanned the room, searching for Garran. He stood near the bar, holding what looked like a gigantic fishbowl full ofsome flaming blue drink. He was still smiling from ear to ear, looking like a toothy, deranged psychopath. Elanie was right; it was fairly terrifying.
“Hello, Sunastara,” Garran said when I reached him, his smile still pasted into place, the stretch of his cheeks looking painful.
“Garran,” I said calmly. “Remember when I told you that females like a male who smiles?” I’d given him this advice in the ballroom on deck five. Evidently, I should have been more specific.
His smile blossomed wider as a bartender drone zoomed around the counter behind him. “It is good, right?”
Materializing from a cloud of artificial smoke, Freddie stepped up beside me, and every single hair along my neck shot for the ceiling.
He placed a hand on Garran’s shoulder. “Everything in moderation, my friend.”
Garran’s smile faltered. “Is it too much?”
Freddie laughed. It was a small laugh, but it seemed genuine. In fact, he seemed fine. Perfectly fine. And that was good. That wasgreat. Why shouldn’t he be fine? Why shouldn’t everyone be just completely fine? I was fine. The weird pressure in my chest was probably indigestion.
“That is good. My face hurts.” After massaging his fingertips into his cheeks, Garran took a massive sip of his bowl-drink.
“Which one is Kasa?” I asked, repositioning the strap of the red dress I’d thrown on because it was at the front of my closet, even though it had never fit right.
Garran pointed out a petite—for an Argosian—female at the same table of Argosians Freddie had been visiting with earlier. She was striking. And Garran wasn’t wrong; her violet hair did resemble twilight.
“She’s here on holiday with her mother,” Freddie said, nodding toward a much larger female to Kasa’s left, who sat with her arms crossed and a surly expression stamped on her face.
“Her mother hates me,” Garran grumbled.
Trying my hardest to ignore Perfectly Fine Freddie beside me, I reached up to take a hold of Garran’s arms. “All right. Here is what you’re going to do tonight. You are going to be polite. You are going to be clearheaded. You willnotget drunk?—”
“What?” His frown was almost as ridiculous as his smile had been, his lower lip sticking out a full inch. “Really?”
“Really.”
“But Sunny”—he held up his bowl—“have you ever tried one of these? They are delicious.”
“I’m certain they are,” I said. “And after the ball, you can drink them to your heart’s content. I’ll even have some sent to your suite. But as long as you’re in the same room as Kasa, you will remain sober. Eye on the prize, big guy.”
“Fine,” he agreed glumly.
“You will be polite and kind,” I continued. “But you’ll keep your distance. You will not ask Kasa to dance tonight. Instead, after the magic show, you’ll askmeto dance with you.”
“I will?” His big, bushy brows crashed into each other.
“Yes.” I gave him a tight, decisive nod. “Kasa needs to see what she’s missing. So you and I will put on our own show for her, and for her mother. And then, before the night descends into complete chaos, you will bid them good night, leave the ball, and get as inebriated as you desire alone in your suite.”
A corner of Freddie’s mouth tipped up, and I pretendedthat it didn’t send shivers racing down my arms. “Devious plan,” he said. “I like it.”
“It sounds wrong,” Garran insisted. “Would it not be better if I showed them how much fun I can be? I can be very fun.”
“No,” Freddie and I said at the same time.
“Garran, you want to be with Kasa, right?” I asked. “Not only for tonight, but forever?”
With his eyes glazing over while he stared at Kasa from across the room, he put a hand on his chest and said, “With all my hearts.”
“Then you need to trust me. I know what I’m doing. If she doesn’t come looking for you tomorrow, I’ll eat my hat.”
