Seeing Isabella glance at me, I bolted from the rooftop, refusing to get stuck with her choice of date for me. When I got to the bottom of the stairs and was back inside Meridian Hall, I crashed into something hard.
“Woah!”
Strong arms steadied me, and I found Caelan watching me with a bemused smile.
“Going somewhere?” he asked, his lips twisted in a half-grin.
I breathed a sigh of relief. “I’m sorry; I was just, well, yeah, I was heading out.”
“I am glad I caught you then; I was coming to see if I could find you,” he said.
“Oh,” I said. “Is everything okay?”
“Yeah,” he said, scratching the back of his neck and looking idly across the room as the others mingled and laughed. “I wanted to know if you would like to be my date to the ball?”
His request completely floored me. Caelan was asking me? My lips parted, and my voice completely failed me.
“Uh, I,” I stuttered, trying to get my mind to focus on saying something, hell, anything other than sounds.
“And I know about that stupid tradition and everything, but you do not have to worry about that at all,” he said, shaking his head with a nonchalant expression. “I will not be offended at all if you had other plans in mind.”
“No,” I finally mustered, thinking of how Blake had been gone for so long. “It’s not that at all. I wasn’t expecting you to ask me, that's all. I wasn’t entirely sure I was going to go, to be honest.”
Caelan’s soft expression fell, and my heart pounded painfully in my chest.
“Oh, yeah, of course,” he said.
“But I’d love to go with you,” I said, forcing a smile, ignoring the hollow ache in my chest. “I thought you’d ask Saryna, though.”
Caelan’s smile was the medicine I needed. My heart calmed and my mind cleared.
“Saryna has been seeing someone,” he said, shrugging. “Being rather mysterious about it, too.”
“Oh,” I said.
“Besides, the ball is about escorting someone you respect and admire; that way, you usher in the new year with someone of strength and resilience to lean on,” he said.
Heat rose to my cheeks and I watched Caelan try to maintain his composure. He’d been a true friend to me throughout my training, and of all the Aurkai, he was the one I related to the most. I smiled warmly, deeply grateful for his companionship.
“Thank you, Caelan,” I said. “I’d be honored for you to escort me to the ball.”
He grinned from ear to ear. “Great. Sorry for keeping you. Would you like me to walk you to your dorm?”
“Oh, don’t worry about it,” I said. “I wouldn’t want you to miss the party.”
He smiled. “Night, Anna.”
A loud sound from a group of Adepts who’d had too much to drink roared from across the room. Caelan glanced at me with a mock look of worry and I peered over at them, seeing them goofing off with one of the guys riding around on another’s shoulders. As I watched them for a moment, the door to the hall opened.
It was Blake. He had to be kidding—how could he show up after Caelan asked me? He watched me from the shadows, his expression tight.
Swallowing painfully, I smiled at Caelan, bid him goodnight, and slipped away.
Chapter 19
Evening Light
ANNA
