“You only just figured that out?” He sounded confused.
“Did you already recognize me?”
“Yes, as soon as you started talking aboutThe Queen of Silverreign.I couldn’t see your face before then, but I still figured out who you were. How did you not realize it was me?”
“I didn’t know I was talking to a prince at the ball! I just thought it was some rude guest avoiding the dance floor until his...” She sat back, pulling away from him. “Wait. Don’t you already love someone?”
* * *
“What?”Aden’s mind raced to ascertain what she might mean. He could not think of anyone he was supposed to be in love with.
“At the ball,” she explained, “you were staring over the balcony and you saw some woman and said, ‘She came!’ or something else like that, and you smiled ridiculously and then disappeared down the stairs.”
Aden scrunched his eyebrows together. “I said that?”
“Yes. Then you went down and spoke with some lady in light blue that all the men seemed quite intent on speaking with that evening.”
Aden’s mouth spread into a wide grin as he remembered what she was talking about. “You seem to have been paying close attention to someone you thought was just a rude palace guest,” he said. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you were jealous.”
“What, no!” Isa scrambled up, stepping away from him. “I was empathizing with her, since I know how it is to be the center of attention while still feeling like no one can see you at all.”
Aden stood as well, stepping toward her. He was enjoying teasing her, but he still had not been able to clearly see her face.
“Well. You’re welcome for breaking the curse.” She crossed her arms. “Now you can go back to your own kingdom and woo some other woman.”
“You have it all wrong,” Aden started to explain. “That was Ashlin.”
“Oh, so she has a name?” Isa shot back at him.
“So, you are jealous.”
“I literally just said ‘I love you’ over your dying body—of course I’m jealous!” she replied. The bite left her words as she seemed to realize he might not have heard her say it the first time. “Or were you actually dead then?”
Aden took a step closer to her. All thoughts of jesting had left his mind. “No, I heard that part.” His voice had dropped to a deeper register, almost as deep as the beast’s. Deeper than he had ever remembered it being before the curse.
“Then who’s Ashlin?” she asked, her voice barely a whisper. She swallowed as she looked up at him.
“She’s a servant girl turned seamstress,” Aden replied. He could barely make out her face in the light of the stars, but his eyes sought to register each curve and shape he could see. “My brother Onric is crazy about her, but he thought she wouldn’t come to the ball because she had rejected him. When I saw her down below, I went to the main floor to check on my brother.”
“You’re sure?” Isa asked.
“Sure?” he repeated, confused. “Yes, I’m positive it was Ashlin.”
“You’re sure that you are not in love with her?” The stars danced in her eyes as she looked up at him.
“How could I be in love with her?” Aden stepped forward, lifting his human hand to gently touch Isa’s face. “Isn’t it clear that I am in love with someone else?” His heart nearly stopped beating for a second time that night as he felt the soft warmth of her cheek. It felt so right to have control of his human sensations again.
And it felt so right to finally be able to see her face in focus.
“You are beautiful,” he whispered.
* * *
Isa searched his eyes.He sounded a little awed, but mostly surprised.
“What did you expect?” she replied. “That I would be a burden to look upon?”
“Well, kind of,” he replied. “You were so self-conscious about it... I thought...”
