Chapter Thirteen #2
The more time he spent with her, the more the tightrope he was walking on frayed, but Arden’s body didn’t care.
His feet carried him over the stretch of beach and up the sand bluff without consulting his mind—which was just as well since his mind was trapped in the modiste’s fitting room, absolutely useless.
He told himself he was only taking the opportunity to spend time with Oriana, but the truth was she hadn’t factored into his decision at all.
“It’s so fast,” Mavis was saying as he drew closer, the words directed at Rafe, who was still watching the boat speed back and forth, eyes bright.
Rafe smirked, glancing at Thaddeus. “I think they might just give you some competition, Mayles.”
Thaddeus, who had been clapping politely, went still, blinking his gray eyes and looking at Rafe, bemused.
“They might just,” he said, though his tone made it clear he didn’t believe that.
Arden couldn’t blame him—according to his aunt, no Lack team had ever won the regatta.
The Lack boat might be fast, but it could never be magic.
As he drew closer, Mavis smiled at him—not her real smile, but the one he’d come to think of as her Delphinia Lindcourt smile. “Oh, Arden. Please, join us—did you see the end of the race?”
Her voice was a far cry from the way she’d spoken to him at the modiste’s, cordial and cool. Arden marveled at how easily she became a different person like flipping a switch. If only Arden could do the same, he might not need her help in wooing Oriana.
“Only just.” He inclined his head at each of them in greeting. “Will you be competing, Thaddeus?”
“Of course.” Thaddeus’s confusion morphed into a smug smile. “Mayles men have been champions eight years out of ten since the regatta’s inception, and I intend to improve that record.”
With his gift for manipulating water, he had a good chance of that.
“And Oriana will be with him,” Mavis added.
Oriana’s cheeks flushed. “I may not be able to make the boat go any faster with my gift, but we worked out a clever plan should we be neck and neck with anyone—if I shift into whoever our opponent is, it will hopefully surprise them enough to allow us to pull ahead.”
Arden smiled. “I’m sure you’ll do brilliantly, Miss Mayles. I look forward to celebrating your victory.”
He didn’t need Mavis’s approving nod to tell him he was doing well, but he appreciated it far more than he should.
“Oh, don’t jinx me!” Oriana laughed. “Thaddeus will never forgive me if we don’t win as it is.”
“We’ll win.” Thaddeus gave a dismissive wave of his hand, though he didn’t refute Oriana’s statement.
He reached into his pocket and withdrew a watch, flicking the cover off and frowning.
“But not if we don’t leave now—I want to make sure everything is right with the boat.
Last year, the Huxtons used their gift to turn everyone else’s sails to stone, and I wouldn’t put it past them to try the same trick again. ”
“Sails?” Rafe’s brow furrowed. “Don’t you use steam engines as well?”
“Gods of Old, no,” Thaddeus said with a snort. “Where is the honor in that?”
If Arden weren’t so painfully aware of Mavis, he might have missed how she swallowed her words, hiding whatever it was she wanted to say with a sunny, vacant smile.
He wondered what she’d stopped herself from saying, though he suspected it was something along the lines of Where is the honor in turning sails to stone?
“Are you racing, Mr. Ryskamp?” Oriana asked, turning to him.
It hadn’t occurred to Arden that he might. He had no experience with boats, and despite the large part magic seemed to play in the Luster races, he doubted all the magic in the world would allow him to survive the race, much less win it.
“This may be the first regatta I’ve attended, but I can’t imagine turning the boat invisible would accomplish anything but wreckage, so I’ll be content to root for you, Miss Mayles.”
Over Oriana’s shoulder, he caught sight of Mavis holding up her pinky finger, twisting an invisible ring. After a flash of confusion, Arden understood.
“But I wish you all the luck.” He reached for the signet ring he wore on his pinky finger, showing the Ryskamp family crest with its three-headed dog. “Please, hold on to this for me—it’s always been my family’s lucky charm.”
Oriana blinked in surprise, taking the ring and turning it over in her hand. “It’s lovely, but I couldn’t possibly. I might lose it and you would hate me—rightly so, of course.”
“I promise I could never hate you, Miss Mayles. Please—it will be safer with you than anyone else.”
Oriana’s cheeks flushed as she slid it onto her ring finger, where it fit perfectly. It wasn’t an engagement ring—not yet—but it was a start.
“Thank you. I promise I’ll return it as soon as the race is done,” she told him with a smile.
“Yes, very generous of you, Ryskamp,” Thaddeus added, his steel-gray gaze sweeping over Arden, assessing. “Though I don’t know if the ring has been as lucky a charm for you as you claim, from what I’ve heard.”
“Thaddeus!” Mavis chided, eyes wide. “Apologize at once—that was wholly uncalled for.”
Thaddeus looked like she’d slapped him across the face, leaving him shell shocked and bewildered.
Arden didn’t blame him—at first he thought she’d made a mistake and let her Delphinia Lindcourt mask slip, revealing the real woman underneath, but no, this was all another act—this one designed to push Thaddeus to break off their engagement.
When Arden had been where Thaddeus was, she’d picked fights about everything, her moods swinging wildly from one extreme to another.
She came at him with fury one moment, accusing him of flirting with a housekeeper old enough to be his grandmother, then immediately wilted into a weeping puddle babbling about how he never truly loved her at all, then, seconds later, she was giddily making a list of names for their future children—a list that included the likes of Englebert and Calamity.
It had never made sense to Arden how she had switched from the woman of his dreams to a nightmare so quickly after he proposed, but now he understood. It was all another part of her plan.
Thaddeus stared at Mavis, mouth agape, and Arden couldn’t help but feel a pang of sympathy for the man despite the fact that he’d just insulted him.
Finally Thaddeus cleared his throat. “You’re far too sensitive, darling.” He pressed a light kiss to her forehead. “But Ryskamp knows I was only joking, isn’t that right?”
Though Arden suspected Thaddeus was not, in fact, joking at all, he offered the man a genial smile. “Of course. No apology is necessary.”
“Good man,” Thaddeus said, seemingly oblivious to the daggers Mavis was glaring at him.
“We’d best be off—I’ll send a kiss from the winner’s circle.
” He started off toward the narrow road behind them, where Arden could just see a carriage waiting, Oriana following close behind, though she turned back to wave before they disappeared from sight.
Mavis watched Thaddeus leave, irritably tugging at the neckline of her gown, where the obnoxious lace ruffle was making her skin itch.
Things were not off to the best of starts.
She hadn’t expected Thaddeus would call off the engagement at the sight of her hideous dress or because she dared, for the first time, to berate him in public, but she had expected some sort of reaction from him.
Instead, he’d barely seemed to notice her dress at all, even telling her she looked lovely in the same disinterested tone he used to compliment her when she was actually trying to impress him.
And, to make things worse, Mavis was acutely aware of Rafe and Leif’s presence, the added pressure of proving she hadn’t lost her touch, especially when she knew she was already on thin ice because of everything with Arden.
If they knew how that moment in the back of the modiste’s shop had plagued her over the last two days, how the way he looked at her when she dropped her dressing gown was burned into her thoughts, they would truly lose all respect for her.
“Patience, Magpie,” Rafe said as the carriage drove off with Thaddeus and Oriana inside.
Mavis glowered at him, though she knew he thought he was being helpful. Mavis understood patience better than most people—patience was not what she needed now.
“Easy for you to say.” She sprawled back onto the picnic blanket, voluminous skirts flounced around her like the petals of some poisonous flower. “You aren’t the one trapped in a circus tent in this weather.”
Leif snorted, drawing her glare to him. “Sorry.” He held up his hands in a gesture of peace. “But now that you’ve said circus tent, I’m not going to be able to see anything else.”
“Now, now.” Rafe grinned at his brother. “You heard Mayles—she looks quite lovely. What do you think, Ryskamp?”
Mavis glanced at Arden to find his dark-blue gaze sweeping over her, though he looked away before meeting her eyes.
He cleared his throat. “She is, indeed, quite a lovely circus tent,” he said, making both brothers give matching snorts of laughter.
“But a man like Thaddeus doesn’t care about fashion. ”
Mavis rolled her eyes. “I didn’t expect him to be repulsed by the sweetheart neckline or the use of duchess satin in a day dress, but in my experience, there is a level of hideousness that even a man with no interest in fashion is repulsed by.”
Arden shrugged. “I’m only saying—I know men like Thaddeus. If you ask him tomorrow what color dress you wore today, he wouldn’t know. Hell, if I pulled him aside right now and asked him what color your hair was, he would be flummoxed.”
Mavis thought back to her previous conversations with Thaddeus. “You know, when he first started courting me, he did bring me a bouquet of lilies that he said matched my eyes. They were blue.”
Arden snorted. “I’m sure he isn’t the first of your marks to be so obtuse?”