“May I steal Addie for a moment?” my mother asks, cutting in.
I excuse myself and she walks me to a corner of the living room. “Looks like y’all are getting along good.”
“I introduced him to all the sisters. They were too busy exploring hammocks yesterday to be bothered with meeting him.”
My mother clasps her hands in front of her. “How are you? Yesterday was?—”
“A total cluster.” I drag my teeth over my bottom lip. “I’m worried about the other ceremonies.”
“I know.” She tips her face toward me, and her lily-scented perfume cloaks the air. “What did he say?”
“He thought I did it on purpose, but I convinced him I didn’t.”
Her eyes flare with worry. “Was he mean? Are you okay?”
“Mean? No.” My gaze flicks to him. He’s still with my sisters, nodding and listening attentively while they jabber on. I zero in on his strong hands and clearly recall how they made fire dance on my skin. “He wasn’t mean. We worked it out.”
“Just be careful.”
“You say that like there’s a reason to be.”
“Not at all.” She watches him for a moment before directing her next sentence to me. “Addison, you’ll have to come to the bookshop. You’ll need to take your rightful place.”
“Mama—”
“No buts.” Her eyes harden. “You will be there. This is your birthright.”
“How can I even show myself when I can’t help any of the customers?”
“You can. You always pick the right read.”
“But I can’t drop anyone into a book. I’m useless.”
“You’re not useless.” She brings her finger up between us for emphasis. “You are not useless.”
“Your sister’s nicknames suit them,”Feylin says.
They’re the first real words he’s said to me all day, and it’s nighttime. We’re walking back to the castle. I didn’t want to travel by magic, and he didn’t ask, which I appreciated.
“They do suit them,” I agree quietly. “Thanks for letting me introduce you, for letting me interrupt your”—I make a circle with my hand—“whatever it was I interrupted.”
He kicks a pebble. “You didn’t interrupt anything. I waswatching your family and the others mourn your grandmother. She was much loved.”
“She was.”
Is he going to bring up the shower? I sure as hell am not. If he does, then we’ll have to discuss it, and there’s nothing to discuss.
An uneasy silence falls over us before he asks, “I didn’t catch your nickname.”
“Oh.” I chuckle nervously. “They call me Affable Addie. That’s the A nickname. But Blair calls me Optimistic Addie.”
“It fits you better—optimistic.”
“You don’t even know me.”
“Anyone who’d agree to be my fake fiancée has to be optimistic,” he replies, his voice slightly teasing.
I don’t stop the smile that spreads across my face.
