With a growl of frustration, Valenna crossed her arms over her stomach. “I don’t know what to do.”
“It seems fairly obvious to me …”
“Stop it. I’m trying to be objective.”
“Good,” he said. “Then be objective.”
The music from the festival rippled across the grounds, the violins braiding into a melancholy waltz. Evander held his hand out to her. “Dance with me.”
“I’m not a good dancer,” Valenna replied.
He smiled softly. “I remember.”
With a sigh, Valenna took his hand, and he looped his arm around her waist, then fell into step with the music. She stepped on his foot, and he chuckled.
“You never would just follow me.”
She relaxed and leaned into him as he wheeled her slowly over the uneven ground.
“Do me one favor before you go,” he said in his smooth, low voice. It sent a thrill up her spine, and she tried not to look into his face, but he drew her eyes to his as if by some terrible magic.
Such a small thing, but it nearly felled her.
“Make me the happiest man in the world …”
Her pulse raced.
“… and tell me you hate me.”
Valenna started. “What?”
“I wouldn’t feel so …” his voice trailed. “I would feel better.”
She let out a short laugh. “Tell me why you left me first.”
His face tightened with painful yearning. “It had nothing to do with you. You were perfect … you are perfect. But I want you to be happy, and I cannot make you happy.”
“That’s not fair.” Now she was forcing his eyes to look into hers. Now she was drawing him in with her pain and disappointment and longing. “You don’t get to choose that for me.”
Their faces were so close, her breath mingling with his. She wondered if he was going to kiss her, and she ached for him to, knowing that, if he did, she would not resist.
What was wrong with her? She couldn’t be here, with him, falling again like a fool. She had a kingdom to topple; Evander was a distraction.
She lurched away, stepping out of the dance and out of his arms.“I do not hate you,” she said, her voice trembling. “I think about you every day.”
Evander inhaled sharply, like she’d struck him.
“But,” she continued. He winced, as though she’d touched a wound with salt. “You left. You’re here now, I’m in Largotia. The threads are broken, and they cannot be retied.”
He nodded. “Exactly.”
Gently, Valenna lay her hand on his arm. “But, for the sake of what we had in the past, I can’t make you dragon master. You shouldn’t be working with dragons at all, especially when you’re not following the physician’s orders.”
Evander pulled his arm away. “The physician was being over-cautious.”
“He was not. I was there. He was not.”
“It is my life’s ambition to be dragon master,” Evander said. “You know that.”
