“I don’t know,” Iris admitted.
The relief that Seraphina was validating her feelings was slowly giving way to shame ... and, surprisingly, a simmering sense of anger. Yes, she was beneath Keith. No, she had no idea what the Council was thinking. But it was one thing for her to feel all that and another to hear someone else say it out loud. It raised a flicker of fiery defiance that she’d thought had been snuffed out a year ago.
Was it that impossible for them to work out? Wasn’t there any chance at all that she could make Keith happy? Would it really be better for him to be matched to someone who would tell him it was perfectly fine that his parents had abandoned him?
But she couldn’t say any of that when there was a chance he might hear. It would just make things awkward.
She cut through Seraphina’s flurry of questions: “I’d like to introduce you to him, and vice versa, so if dinner tomorrow works—”
“Are you already married?”
“No! Of course not! I wouldn’t do that without you as a witness. And Blake,” she added belatedly, because while she’d run hot-and-cold on him for years—she had trouble not blaming him for what had happened with Sunbeam—he had really stepped up after her accident.
“Well, forgive me for not knowing I was so essential to the process,” Seraphina said hotly, “considering you alreadygot matchedwithout telling me. To atribute.”
“Seraphina, I can’t get into all this right now.”
Seraphina’s voice changed. “Wait, is he here?”
“He’s staying in the village for a week so we can get to know each other before we sign the marriage agreement.”
If we sign it at all.
“I’ve never heard of anyone doing that.”
“Special circumstances because he’s a tribute,” Iris said. She wondered if this counted as an outright lie or just an oversimplification. “So I can bring him to dinner tomorrow?”
Seraphina sighed. “Of course. That’s not what any of this was about. Anyway, yes, Iris, we’ll be delighted to meet your intended, even on extremely short notice. I’ll do the best I can to give him a proper welcome.”
“I think he’ll be forgiving.”
Seraphina made an exasperated sound, because of course she and Blake were the ones who wouldn’t forgive a welcome dinner that was anything short of a banquet. Right when Iris thought she was going to hang up without saying goodbye, she said:
“Come at six—no, five. We’ll have cocktails first, since it’s a special occasion. And—congratulations, Iris. I love you.”
“I love you too.” So many feelings had risen up that it was like they were choking her, and she had to squeeze the words out around them.
She hung up and made her way back to Keith, taking some small comfort in the fact that he was too polite to point out what a weirdly long, fraught conversation that had been.
When she said, “We’re on for dinner at Seraphina’s tomorrow, cocktails at five and dinner at six,” he just nodded.
He was settled down on the chair closest to the saltwater tank, watching the fish with rapt attention. The little divot of concentration between his dark blond eyebrows was back.
Once again, Iris had to resist the urge to caress it until it disappeared. It was even cuter than a dimple would have been.
As tempting as the idea was, though, she remembered that scorching hand-kiss. Touching Keith was about as safe as touching a hot stove.
“I think the clownfish likes me,” he said. “Does it have a name?”
“Bozo. I know it’s not very original.”
“Hi, Bozo,” Keith said sincerely, tapping lightly on the glass.
Bozo swam in circles around his fingertip.
“Hedoeslike you!”
Keith looked thrilled. “I hope so. Do the others have names too?”
