She pursed her lips as if considering.“Anything else?”
“One more thing.”I leaned in close enough to feel her breath graze across my cheek, to watch uncertainty flash across her face.“Don’tevertouch me like that again.”
I moved back, clearing a path for her to leave.She stepped around me, throwing me a suspicious glance before striding down the stairs to the first floor.I stared after her, watching her fade into the crowd.
Uncle Wylan approached from the opposite end of the balcony, no doubt having ascended the other staircase to watch us from a distance.I pushed away from the banister and the intrusive eyes of the crowd to meet him against the far wall.
“Reconsidered your offer, did she?”he asked.
“In a manner of speaking,” I said.“But we’ll see if she pulls through with her end of the bargain.”
He crossed his arms.“There was an incident earlier involving her and the ambassador of Calderon on the archery fields.”
“You mean the ambassador I failed to secure a treaty with earlier today?”I growled.
“I’ve been having her watched like you asked.She approached him deliberately, but if anyone knows Ambassador Fletcher and saw what the girl was wearing, they would know it didn’t go well.”
“So?”
“So she must have done something to offend him because he grabbed her by the hair.”
My eyebrows shot up and fury churned within me as I shoved away from the wall.“Please tell me he was apprehended and immediately removed from the ball and all future events of Paravellia.I don’t care what regulations he follows in his own country, that blatantly goes against our respectful line of etiquette here.”
“Yes, the ambassador has been taken care of.Another gentleman stepped in and the guards removed him, but that wasn’t the intriguing part.”
My uncle paused for effect, and I could have strangled him.
“The guards said when he grabbed her, she transformed.”
“Transformed how?”
“It was like she wasn’t even there, like her mind had gone somewhere else.Doesn’t feel in character for her if she has as much fire as you claim.”
I nodded, sorting through the new information.She couldn’t have previously known the ambassador, because if she had she would have known better than to approach him herself.But why had she wanted to approach him in the first place?
“Continue to monitor the situation,” I said, heading for the stairs.
“Valeris.”
I turned at my name, finding caution hanging in his expression.
“Be careful.”
“Always, Uncle.”
“She’s pretty.”
I clenched my jaw, catching his double meaning and recognizing the look in his eyes.
“Pretty vile,” I grumbled.
