“Glad to be of service,” Fyn said.
“I hear you have quite a taste for our wine. Perhaps if you had less of it you’d not be tripping over such a beautiful woman.” Soren leaned in closer to Fyn, but he didn’t lower his voice.
“I dance that poorly with or without the wine.” Fyn rolled his sleeves back.
“By all means, have more then.” Soren wrapped his hand around my arm tugging me away from Fyn, guiding me out of the ballroom and out beneath the stars.
When Fyn stepped forward, I shook my head at him.
He couldn’t follow. Not now.
“You are incredibly distracted.” He glanced back at the ballroom before he looked at me again. “Captivated by something, or someone, that doesn’t appear to be me.”
It wasn’t him. It would never be him. “I’m uncertain of what to say to you.” It was the only safe truth I could utter.
“You have no problem speaking freely with the Lord Chancellor.” His glare focused on Fyn.
“I have known him longer than I’ve known you. He is a good friend of my sister’s.”
“Yes, I hear he is most important to the crown, but that doesn’t explain your familiarity with him. One that is making me quite uncomfortable.” He hadn’t released his grip on me, but this time I didn’t pull free.
Nothing would stop me from the conversation Fyn and I needed to have. If I had to fake my way through the evening, I would.
His relentless pressure made me uneasy.
“This isn’t a love match, Ashlyn.” Human royals could make sense of that easily. Soren seemed to.
“I’m well aware of it.” No one would mistake the way he looked at me, or spoke to me, for love. A dull ache clung to me. I tried to claw myself free from it.
“I will need your decision by the morning,” Soren said.
“You will have it.” It wouldn’t be what any of them wished.
A chill rushed through me.
It wasn’t the starlight. I knew what my future was.
I wouldn’t wait to claim it.
I ripped the laces free from the gown as soon as I was back in my chambers. Eva hadn’t returned for me.
Time was running out. I needed to get to Fyn.
The sun would rise again too soon.
The stiff neckline of my riding tunic caught on my hair, tugging some of my waves free. I fumbled the laces.
Fyn would be there, waiting. I couldn’t chance him leaving before I arrived.
When I pulled back the gilded door, the guards were deep in conversation. It was my chance to disappear down the corridor.
Soren was the last person anyone saw me with. I snuck back to my chambers alone after our conversation ended.
Maybe they’d think I was with him still.
It would buy me mere moments, but it was all I needed.
The cadence of my heart raced far past my footsteps as I took the corner just past my chambers. I retraced my steps back to the alcove.
