Chapter 30. Eloise
Eloise
Adrien, Maggie, and I lounge in Maggie’s living room around bowls of chips and guac Maggie snagged from the kitchen with her invisibility spell.
“Rummy,” I say, laying my cards on the coffee table with a huge grin.
“I swear you’re cheating,” Adrien says, shaking his head.
“You can just go ahead and take that the feck back, Adrien Aster,” Maggie says, pointing her chip at him. “Eloise is not a cheater. Or anything else for that matter. Except goddamn lovely. Now pay up, Frenchie.”
Adrien raises his hands in surrender and I snort-laugh. It feels good to be joking with friends after so much tension.
“What spell do you want as payment?” Adrien asks me with a small smile. “I could make you a piece of jewelry. A ring maybe?”
“Hmmm,” I say, tapping my finger on my lips while I think, because a ring does sound nice. But it also sounds a little personal.
Adrien’s eyes flit to my tapping finger and his smile widens. “Unless you’re trying to signal that you want a kiss—”
I drop my hand immediately. “Seriously?” I bluster.
“What?” he says with a grin. “All I’m saying is that I’m not opposed.”
Maggie grunts. “’Course yer not. You’d kiss a goat if it’d stand still long enough.”
Adrien laughs. “I’ll have you know, I think Eloise is far prettier than a goat.”
“Okay, yeah, great, um,” I stumble, my cheeks now flaming. “A goat—Shit. I mean a ring. I’ll take a ring.”
They both laugh and after a second, I laugh, too. Because it is funny.
Adrien pulls up his sleeve. He casts a spell, yanking a small amount of silver from his watch into the air and twisting it into a thin band with a flower. It’s a difficult spell considering the detail work, one I’d struggle over for months and still might not master.
He reaches out for my hand and lifts it, sliding it onto my finger before I can object. “Now please,” he says. “Go easy on me next round. You’re basically card sharks.”
Maggie rolls her eyes. “You clearly didn’t grow up confined by curfew with nothing else to do but play board games. I don’t feel bad for ye one bit.”
I stare at the beautiful flower ring on my finger. “Agreed. I’d totally trade my card skills for the freedom you got.”
“All I’m saying is that there’s a prize I’m after, so please take a small break from steamrolling me,” he says, and by the way he looks at me I’m worried it might actually be that kiss. While I’m flattered, I also just asked Grayson to fake date me and the timing could not be worse.
Thankfully, Maggie changes the subject. “Speaking of steamrolling people, what the holy hell kind of spell is on yer door, Eloise? I came to check on you after yer punishment and nearly singed me beautiful eyebrows off.”
I shuffle the cards. “Grayson is what happened.”
“Well, that doesn’t work for me one little bit. He needs to change it,” she says with no room for disagreement.
“I’ve told him,” I say. “But he flat-out refused.”
Adrien grunts like he’s not at all surprised.
Maggie leans forward. “You tell the prince that I’ll give him a pass just this once for helping ye last night, but that if I show up again and can’t get in, he and I are going to have words.”
“Will do,” I say, even though I know Grayson is going to be impossible about it.
Adrien shakes his head. “Grayson wasn’t helping Eloise last night. He was helping himself. He needed out of that room as badly as she did.”
“Wrong again,” Maggie says. “He was terrified of what I might do to him if she got hurt. You don’t give me nearly enough credit for being menacing, and quite frankly, I resent that.”
“You’re both wrong,” I say, knowing that if I don’t say something now, I’m going to get myself into an awkward situation with one or the both of them.
“Grayson helps me a lot, actually. Not because he has to, because he’s secretly a good person.
And well, we’ve been spending a lot of time together. ”
And I’m doing this. Or at least I’m trying to. Grayson would be better at it.
They glance at each other, wearing matching expressions of surprise.
“I’m sorry, are ye admitting that you like Grayson Stone? Because there’s a distinct lack of flying swine and I just need to be sure,” Maggie says, and Adrien frowns.
“Don’t mistake tactics for kindness, Eloise,” Adrien says, and I shift my weight on the couch.
“I know when someone’s manipulating me,” I say. “And Grayson’s not. He’s ridiculous and infuriating, but he’s also kind and funny. I was wrong about him. And yeah, I guess … I do like him.” Did I actually say that out loud? And even more confusing, I think I meant it.
Maggie’s gaze hones in on me like a sharpshooter. “Holy feck, Eloise, I know I was slagging ya about his six-pack, but that was just good fun. Are ye kissing the prince?”
“Um,” I say, not able to lie.
Adrien frowns again.
Maggie glances from Adrien to me, thankfully attributing my discomfort to him being here, and letting the kissing thing go—for now.
“Oh, this is rich,” Maggie giggles. “Yer Gran would lose her shite if she thought you were interested in Grayson Stone. Can I be the one to tell her?”
“You wouldn’t dare,” I say fast as lightning, my head whipping up.
“Your grandmother doesn’t like the Stones?” Adrien asks.
I freeze. I can’t tell Maggie what happened in the Chancellor’s office, so she has no way of knowing that even joking about my family being disloyal is a problem. “Gran’s fine with them. She respects the Chancellor like everyone else,” I say, wishing again that I could just call my family.
Adrien half laughs. “You don’t have to sugarcoat on my account. I already told you how I feel about them. I was going to say your grandmother is a smart woman.”
But before I figure out how to answer, there’s a knock at the door.
Maggie slides off the couch and pulls it open. In what is either the best or worst timing ever, Grayson Stone stands on the other side, leaning against her doorframe.
Maggie’s eyebrows launch up her forehead as she welcomes him in. “To what do we owe this honor?” Maggie asks. “Is it Visit the Commoners Day? Are ye bringing a basket of honey and hot bread from your manor to secure our votes?”
Grayson grins. “I didn’t know that’s all it took to win you over, Maggie. I’ll come prepared next time.” Although his smile falters the second he spots Adrien.
“Next time?” Maggie quips. “I know yer fairly obsessed with me, prince. But you’re not my type. Keep your baguette to yourself.”
He chuckles and his eyes find mine. “I was headed back to the room and thought I’d swing by and walk with you.”
Maggie turns her gaze on me. “Is that so?” she says like she’s just spotted something particularly interesting.
“I—”
Which is the moment Grayson offers me his hand. “Shall we?” he says like he’s politely picking me up for a date.
And I’m pretty sure my cheeks flare some horrifying shade of embarrassed.
“Sure, yeah, um,” I say, completely flustered as I slip my hand into his, my pulse kicking up to an impossible speed. “See you guys in the morning?”
Adrien looks anything but pleased.
Maggie presses her lips together, suppressing a smile. But then she gestures to Grayson like she has her eye on him. “Do not make me come after ye.”
“I wouldn’t dare,” he says as he leads me out of the room, and the door closes behind him.
“Thanks,” I say on an exhale when we’re alone in the hallway.
Grayson’s mouth quirks up. “For holding your hand?”
I scowl at him and he laughs, but then his thumb grazes the ring.
“What’s this?” he asks, lifting my hand.
“Adrien gave it to me,” I say, and I don’t know why but I suddenly feel guilty.
“Adrien gave you—he gave you a flower ring?” he says, and this is the first time I’ve ever seen Grayson stumble over his words.
“It’s not a big deal,” I say, which of course makes it sound like a big deal. “We were playing cards and the winner got to claim a spell from the loser.”
His eyes widen ever so slightly. “And you wanted a ring from him?”
“More than a kiss.” Damn it, none of this is coming out correctly. “No, I mean, he offered a kiss and there was this thing about a goat and—never mind.”
Great, just great.
Grayson rakes back his hair, exhaling. “Did you want to kiss him?” he asks, and now I’m pretty sure that my cheeks are on fire.
“I don’t—does it matter?” I want to explain, but what am I going to say: I don’t like Adrien, I think I like you. Why am I so bad at this?
What I want him to say is It does matter, but what he actually says is, “We’re only fake dating. You don’t owe me anything.”
I feel those words like a blow, so I change the subject. “Maggie wants you to amend the room spell to admit her.”
“Not a good idea,” he replies, and maybe I’m imagining it but he sounds distant.
“It’s Maggie. I can’t just shut her out,” I say. “I won’t.”
The sconces dim in preparation for curfew.
“Eloise, I know she’s your best friend. But this isn’t the time for anyone to have access to our room.
In a little over a week, none of this will apply.
But right now, I have to make the hard decisions that’ll keep us alive, however frustrating that might be. ”
I press my lips together. I want to argue. But he’s not wrong. “You just don’t know what an impossible position I’m in.”
He glances at his boot. “Yeah, I do. My crew is no better.”
The sconces blink in warning and we walk toward our room. He doesn’t fully get it, though. He doesn’t love his friends. He doesn’t think of them as family. I can push Maggie off for a little while, but eventually this is going to come to a head and I’m absolutely dreading that moment.
I open our suite door and bend down to untie my boots.
“I wouldn’t take those off just yet,” he says.
“It’s curfew,” I say, standing.
He glances at his boot for a second time. “We’re going out.”
“What?” I bite out in surprise. “What do you mean?”
“We just need to wait a couple minutes for the Guardians to start their rotations.” Then he walks into his room and closes the door.
And I stand there in the center of our living room trying to decide if I should murder him or not.