Chapter 8
”More wine, Your Highness?”the storekeeper”s assistant, Lorallye, asked as I tugged the slip down my hips behind a thin curtain.
Since arriving at the royal family”s preferred boutique, Everly”s, I had tried on at least a half dozen dresses. The first was an ivory dress with long billowing sleeves that tangled around my limbs every time I moved. The second was an equally pretty, emerald green dress with a deep dip at the chest. I couldn”t quite remember the third one, or the fourth, for that matter. All of them were equally beautiful and elegant as the last, yet none felt right.
I had seen the dresses Fynn”s former partners had worn when they had attended functions with him. They were all extravagant and classy and fit them perfectly. Meanwhile, all the dresses I tried on felt like I was putting makeup on an armored soldier. Ridiculous.
Gripping the tulle in my hands, I tugged again, the fabric finally releasing me and pooling at my feet in a heap. I groaned, loud and very un-royal.
”Why not?” Fynn said from the waiting room. ”We might be here for a while, Lorallye.”
I groaned, tossing the frilly gown onto the mountain of tulle, satin, and taffeta in the corner.
”I”ll grab another bottle, Your Highness,” the woman whispered.
”Thank you, Lorallye,” Fynn said, and I could hear the wink in his voice. ”Oh, and could you grab some of those little butter cookies? You know, the ones dipped in chocolate that they sell across the street?”
”Of course, Your Highness!” Lorallye said, her voice rising three octaves.
”Of course, Your Highness,” I mouthed at the curtain, my eyes rolling to the back of my head.
Since we walked into the boutique, Lorallye had been fawning over Fynn. Her pale pink cheeks grew pinker with every passing interaction between them.
It was both comical and appalling.
As Lorallye”s quick steps disappeared in the distance, there was shuffling on the other side of the curtain, followed by slow, approaching footsteps.
”Cookies?” I hissed as I stepped into the next dress. ”Really, Fynn?”
”What? I”m hungry.”
”You”re ridiculous.”
”Or I simply wanted some time to talk to you before tonight. It”ll take her a minute to grab them from the bakery since Kade fancies her. She”ll be busy for at least a few minutes.”
I sighed. ”You didn”t have to take me here.”
Something thumped against the adjoining wall as if Fynn had leaned his head against it. ”So you”ve said, but I”m not very good at listening.”
”Well, at this rate, we”re going to be late,” I mumbled, fumbling with the ribbons at the back of the dress.
Fynn hummed. ”Which means less time for small talk before the performance starts. You should be overjoyed.”
While Fynn might have had a point, being late was not my preference. In my experience, being late only meant more eyes would be on you. Between the dresses and the anxiety spinning in my stomach and up my throat, I was already working up a sweat.
”Perhaps, but”—I stretched, my fingers straining to grab the ribbons—”you know how I feel about being late.”
”Oh, I know.”
With a frustrated groan, I ripped open the curtain and spun around. ”A little help?”
”Huh?”
”The ribbons, Fynn,” I hissed, the bottom of my hair dampening from the sweat coating my neck. ”I can”t reach them, and since you sent Lorallye away. . .”
”Hmm. But the rules state that I can only touch you when necessary.”
”Oh, shut it and help me.”
”If you say so, Ferrios.” Fynn took a small step forward.
The heat from his body pressed against my back. I tried to remain still, thinking about anything else as notes of sea salt and wine surrounded me. The ribbons flew in the air as Fynn laced the corset as if he had plenty of practice tying women into corsets.
”Personally, I prefer untying them,” Fynn said, his breath kissing the back of my neck and?—
My eyes widened, and I quickly reinforced my mental shields before he dug deeper into my thoughts.
Fynn chuckled. ”Is it tight enough?”
I cleared my throat and shifted in the dress, the silk fabric suddenly uncomfortable. Peering down, I rolled my eyes and adjusted the top of the corset. As I held it in place, I said, ”Tighter.”
He pulled the strings, and the corset tightened around my torso. I turned back around, skirting around Fynn to look in the mirror.
My eyes widened at the sight. I cocked my head to the side and turned, the purple fabric swishing across the floor.
While the others were nice, this one was?—
”It”s as if this one was made for you, Miss Ferrios,” the assistant said, returning and snatching my attention from the dress.
I wished she was lying, but a smile bloomed when I viewed myself in the mirror again.
Chipper Lorallye was right. This dress was perfect. Stained a beautiful, rich purple, the silk fabric flowed down my body as if it were air, floating around me as I twisted side-to-side. When I took a couple of steps forward to see if it would tangle around my ankles, instead of ensnaring me, the fabric spread out and became slightly transparent. My legs peeked beneath it, turning the purple a brilliant, warm shade. The bodice dipped low between my breasts while somehow still providing ample support.
In this dress, I didn”t see the little girl who always had mud smeared across her shirts and grass stains on her knees.
I spun in a circle. When I stopped, I faced Fynn and asked, ”Does it get the Crown Prince”s stamp of approval?”
Fynn took a long swig of his wine. ”It”s. . .” He paused, and my smile wavered. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and shrugged. ”Nice,” he said at last.
My hands fell to my hips, my nails digging into the fabric. ”Nice?”
Fynn nodded and then grabbed a cookie from the tray Lorallye had sat down.
Pursing my lips, I nodded and spun toward the mirror, running my hand along the soft fabric.
”Oh, don”t listen to him, miss.” Lorallye gasped. She spun toward Fynn and fell into an apologetic curtsy. ”I say that with the utmost respect, Your Highness.”
Fynn shrugged dismissively, brushing the crumbs from his trousers.
Lorallye turned to me again, her voice slightly quieter. ”Miss Ferrios, this is one of Madam Everly”s favorites.”
For good reasons. The dress was splendid—more than splendid, truthfully. It was extraordinary beyond belief.
But maybe Fynn was right.
On me, it was just nice. It didn”t matter what I wore. I wasn”t some lady who wore frivolous dresses and gossiped at afternoon tea parties.
”Let”s try the black one,” I said after a moment.
”Are you sure?” Lorallye asked, her hands curling beneath her chin, sadness dripping from her bright eyes. ”That one is so simple compared to this.”
I offered her a soft smile. ”Simple sounds perfect, Lorallye.”
Her brows twisted together, but when she realized I wasn”t going to back down, she nodded with a small sigh. ”Very well.”
Fynn grabbed his suit jacket from where it was draped over the side of the couch. ”I”ll be waiting in the carriage.”
”Oh, but the accessories! We haven”t talked about those,” Lorallye said.
Fynn flicked a hand in the air, already nearing the doors. ”Get whatever you want, Dani. Just be quick about it. I”ll send Jorian in for the payment. I am sure he is getting antsy by now.”
With my mouth hanging open, I stared at the back of Fynn’s head as he pulled the door open and the nighttime breeze swept inside the small boutique.
”What do you think about this, Miss Ferrios?” Lorrallye asked, calling my attention back to her. She held up a simple silver necklace with a brilliant amethyst hanging from it. Her eyes widened. ”Oh, I have just the heels to go with them, too! They are absolutely stunning. They have matching amethysts on the heels!”
”Sounds lovely,” I said, my previous smile fading.
It didn”t matter how many of Pontia”s gemstones embellished the ensemble. A hundred amethysts would not change anything.
Wisps of pinkand orange painted the sky as the sun dipped into the sea. My heels snapped against the cobblestone as we made our way up the stairs of the theater hall. The steps to the theater were clear of any other guests, which only meant one thing: we were late.
Panic surged through my body, from the beautiful heels to my brows.
Fynn and I walked silently as Jorian and his two guards strolled several paces behind us. Each step we took up the staircase only raised another question and concern.
No one would believe that we were courting. The entire kingdom knew that we had grown up together. Why would our feelings for each other change now?
Suddenly, it was as if we were about to head into a battle before gathering the necessary intel.
How many people stood on the enemy”s side?
What was our plan of attack?
Were we going to use the element of surprise and sneak into the enemy”s camp in the middle of the night, or would we dive headfirst into the mezzanine?
When the enemy was your own kingdom, your own family, what was the proper strategy to implement?
My feet hit the platform, and I stared at the doors, the air stuck in my lungs. We had reached the top of the staircase, but we hadn”t even gotten our story straight.
I grabbed Fynn”s arm and tugged him to the side.
Immediately, he signaled the men behind us to hold on. Turning to me, he gripped my shoulders. ”Relax, Dani. There”s nothing to worry about.”
”Nothing? You mean everything,” I spat. ”We haven”t even talked about how this whole thing started. Your mother and brother are going to be inside. They know us too well. They”re not going to believe it. They”re going to see right through our act.”
Fynn brushed a hand through his hair, tugging at the strands. ”Look, you”re right. Everyone will question this; that”s to be expected. But have you somehow forgotten that I can read minds? If people start questioning it, I”ll do some damage control and fix it.” He squeezed my shoulder. ”Stop worrying so much.”
His words were meant to comfort me, but they only increased my rising anxiety. I didn”t go into things without a plan. Yet somehow, I ended up here in front of Fynn without any concrete plan.
I shoved a finger at his chest. ”This is not just your reputation on the line here, Fynneares. If your laissez-faire attitude ruins this?—”
Fynn grabbed my wrist and tugged it down. ”It”ll be fine. Just follow my lead.”
”Easier said than done,” I mumbled.
I was not a follower and never had been. I didn”t like relying on others to do the legwork for me. How could my soldiers trust me as a leader if I wasn”t willing to run into the fire first? I trusted the soldiers in my company to have my back because I had proven to them over the years that I had theirs.
Fynn though? He was another story.
I had known him since I was three years old, which meant I knew the tricks he often played. During our lessons as children, he would constantly throw crumpled-up paper balls at the back of my head. When we were teenagers, he purposely told the son of a prominent Pontian lord that I had a crush on him to get me to blush and run out of the room. If he had the opportunity to make me appear a fool, he usually took it.
But what other choice did I have?
”Fine, but what”s our story? If this is going to work, we need to be on the same page. And unlike you, I can”t read your mind.”
Fynn released an exasperated sigh. ”Our relationship is new. After the crowning ceremony, one drink led to another, and things escalated from?—”
”We are not telling people that,” I said, shoving him.
Fynn chuckled. ”Do you have any better ideas?”
I tapped my foot on the ground, running through the possible scenarios. When it came down to it, it was always best to stick to the truth as much as possible when lying. Fewer traps to fall into.
I took a deep breath. ”Actually, I do. I”ve had a crush on you since we were little, but?—”
He snapped his fingers, nodding. ”But you were too scared to say anything because I made you too nervous.”
”What?” I jerked my head back. ”That was not what I was going to say! I was going to say that it was nothing serious and quickly went away.”
Fynn folded his arms over his chest, a sideways smile appearing on his face. ”Nope, I like my version better.”
”Fine,” I said through clenched teeth. ”The night of the crowning ceremony?—”
”You were jealous seeing me dance with all those women and finally had enough. After the ball, you finally confessed, but I brushed it off.”
My nails bit into my arms, but I added, ”Then, when you heard about the suitors my mother was having me see, you grew even more jealous than I was and realized you had secret feelings for me, too.”
Fynn snapped his head toward me, aghast. ”What? That”s ridiculous.”
Smiling, I shook my head. If one of us was harboring a childhood secret in this fake courtship, both of us were—even if one of us might have been telling the truth.
I poked him in the chest, hoping he couldn’t see the truth. ”Nope, we”re sticking to it.”
”Fine.” Then Fynn did the unexpected.
He slipped his hand in mine, and my brows twisted together. When I peered at him, he quirked a brow.
”Jorian and the guards might not be able to hear us, but they are watching. Might as well get used to it now.”
I bit down on my tongue, and Fynn leaned closer, his scruff brushing against my cheek. ”Rekindled feelings, remember?”
”Right,” I said as he led us forward.
I wrapped my arm around his and hoped that the fluttering in my stomach was only a fluke and nothing more.