“Once again, how do we know this isn’t some ill-advised attempt to steal our own airship blueprints?” she asked, scrutinizing Javi in a way that said she was thoroughly unimpressed by the prince.
He responded by leaning an elbow on the table and offering her a smirk that Risa was sure he believed to be charming but was merely aggravating.
“How could I dream of lying to such a beautiful,intelligentwoman such as yourself—”
Gomez put up a hand to stop him. “I prefer women.”
Javi blinked. He sat back and let his shoulders relax. “My charm can’t do much against that, I suppose.” He cast Risa a sidelong glance. “Do you want to give it a try?”
She scowled. So did Gomez.
“You’re leaving me with little choice but to deport you—”
Amina stood, sending her chair crashing behind her. “We don’t needyourblueprints. We have ours. As well as our knowledge and our magic. If we didn’t, we wouldn’t know that Madros has had most of Kheadon and the surrounding kingdoms under a spell that has affected San Cirilo and the Regent, too.”
Gomez’s eyes narrowed to mere slits. “You could be part of General Sur’s plot.”
“We’re not,” Javi said. He jerked his chin at Risa. “She’s a witch, and you know how he hates witches.”
At least, that’s what they assumed. Amina nodded in confirmation.
The woman scoffed. It was clear there was no way to convince her with Javi’s half-baked story, let alone to get her to agree to let them see the Regent. “You’re trying to tell me that two teenagers, a witch, and a cat have managed to invent an airship and—”
“I’m not a witch,” Risa said, glaring at Javi. For the first time in what felt like ages, he met her unflinching gaze and didn’t look away.
“So,threeteenagers, no witch—”
“She’s a witch,” Javi interjected, his eyes crinkling in the corners. He raised an eyebrow at her. “And a teenager, I suppose.”
“Oh no,” Amina sighed, settling back in her chair. “They’re going to start arguing now.”
“Yes, we are,” Risa confirmed. Her heart stuttered under his gaze, under the magic of Brunhilda’s spell. “Mostly because he’s on my very last nerve.”
“I suppose you’re going to go ahead and do a little spell like the last time, when you turned my hair yellow.”
“I didn’t turn your hair yellow! It wasblond.”
The woman shifted uncomfortably and started to stand. “Perhaps this is not the time—”
“I look terrible as a blond! You did it on purpose!”
“Well, maybe I did, because you keep getting us into messes. We could have sold the plans straight to General Sur, but no, you had to insist on an open market!”
The woman stood up and slammed her fists on the table. “Enough! Fine! You win! You can meet with the Regent.” She started for the door. “Curses, teenagers are the worst,” she grumbled before stomping out of the room.
“I almost believed you,” Amina said when the door shut with a click. “You’re both very good at acting like you hate each other.”
Javi slumped into his seat and closed his eyes while Risa sat stock-still, thrumming with unspent energy. The fake argument had set her teeth on edge because she’d meant none of it, and she knew that he knew that, too.
There was something about recognizing herself in someone else. Seeing her reflection laid bare and finding that what she hated in Javi was something she also found within herself. Tracing his fault lines to parts of him that revealed he wasn’t the villain she needed him to be. He wasn’t a villain at all.
She couldn’t hate him. She reserved most of her hate for herself, and there was none left to spare.
“It’s not acting,” Risa snapped. At least her voice did not betray her.
Javi understood. Lips curling into an amused smile, he leaned back on the table and placed his chin on the palm of his hand.
“If Risa says so, then it must be true.”
