Chapter 7

7

N eve kept the smile plastered to her face until the king dismissed them with a negligent wave. Pine put a guiding arm on her back, but she sashayed out of his grasp.

Don't make a scene.

Don't make a scene.

She wanted to scream.

Without looking or caring if he followed, she found an archway that led to a large balcony that circled the ballroom where several other partygoers had sneaked out to get fresh air.

"Neve—"

"What the hell?" She spun around at him as soon as they were out of earshot from the greater part of the ball. It would serve him right if she blew up at him in the middle of everyone, but she didn't want to be at the heart of the spectacle. "We had an agreement. I came to the party, I danced, I dazzled, I spoke highly of you to every man that twirled me around like I was a freaking ballerina. And now I'm supposed to go home. So what was that ?" She jabbed her finger towards the door, vaguely in the direction of the king.

"What was I supposed to say?" Smoke swirled around him for a moment, quickly swallowed by the breeze.

"You could have pretended to ask me first!" Her hands were shaking, and she could feel angry tears threatening to fall, which only made her madder. This man, this dragon, didn't get to see her cry.

"And you would have said no to the king?"

"He's not my king." That was a little loud, and she took a deep breath before palace guards showed up to carry her off to the dungeons. "I have a life back on Earth. I don't want to stay here and be used by you."

"I'm not using you." Pine took a step forward, one hand reaching out.

Neve darted back. "That's the whole deal here. I played my part. You looked good. No one's going to try and find you a wife."

"I'm not using you," he repeated. There was a thread to his voice that sounded almost desperate. His eyes were pained; his whole face was. And he seemed to be unconsciously inching closer. They were in the middle of the balcony now, several steps from the hidden corner they'd started this argument in.

"Using me is the entire basis of this deal." Go to the party, play nice, go home. She'd done her part perfectly and ruined the holidays in the process.

Next year she was going somewhere they didn't have Christmas.

Like a deserted island.

"I know I asked you to stay for that purpose, but can't you feel something between us?" He was close enough to touch now, but Neve refused to give any more ground.

"You mean the one kiss we had where you ran away like my mouth was made of acid?" Not that she'd been dwelling on that at all.

"There's something here." He gestured between the two of them. "But I'm not holding you prisoner."

"So you'll get me that flight you promised?" It was a gauntlet thrown down.

Pine's jaw ticked. "Please consider staying. Not for the party. I don't care about that. Just?—"

"I need a minute." And before he could grab onto her or say anything else that dripped with deception, Neve stalked away.

What in the name of all that was holy was Pine thinking? If Neve were a dragon, she'd be shooting fire right about now. She could almost feel the heat of it in her gut, a swirling bellows ready to rain death down on anyone who dared get too close.

She reined the fury back in. She was mad at Pine, not anyone else. Well, maybe the king, but being angry at kings never got a person anywhere good.

She wandered to the far side of the balcony and rested her elbows on the thick stone railing that ringed the place, overlooking a dimly lit garden. There were stairs somewhere that would allow her to descend into it, and she could see figures darting around, but she stayed where she was.

"What's Lord Pine's lovely human doing out here all alone?" a masculine voice asked, sliding up next to her and leaning back against the railing.

He was one of the men she'd danced with earlier. Lord Toro. He was about the same age as Pine, with devastatingly handsome dark hair he'd styled in Viking-like braids, who wore a black suit with accents of dark blue and a gemstone around his neck the size of a baby's fist.

He might have been hot, but she'd been glad the song they danced to was short. His hands had been threatening to roam, and he had a permanent leer that would take him from handsome to creepy if he wasn't careful.

"I have a name." It came out harsher than she intended, but at that point she didn't care.

"Lady Neve." He gave a slight bow of his head.

"Just Neve." If being a lady came with all this party bullshit, she wanted none of it.

"Just Neve, then." He reached out a hand but dropped it when he realized that Neve was holding her own arms close to her body.

Good. She'd been touched enough by strangers tonight.

"I couldn't help but overhearing your little … discussion … with Lord Pine. Parts of it, anyway. Are you alright?" He almost sounded sincere, but there was a serpentine quality to his voice.

Neve could recognize an opportunist when one slithered her way.

"Just tempers flaring from aching feet and a hot room," she lied. She wasn't sure why her first instinct was to defend Pine, but her instincts were screaming at her that Lord Toro was dangerous, and not in the sexy, fun way.

"Pine has always been delicate." He smirked the words out as if she was his co-conspirator.

Neve kept her mouth shut. Nothing about Pine had seemed delicate to her. The man was grieving and trying to keep his family together. He was doing the best he could, given the circumstances. Even so, she was still kind of pissed at him.

"A lady doesn't speak ill of her escort." Her parents had put her in etiquette lessons when she was ten, and it was disconcerting to hear Miss Emmeline's rules coming out of her own mouth. Of course, back then, Miss Emmeline had been admonishing her not to yell at Tommy, who kept trying to pluck a fancy clip from her hair.

The stakes felt a bit higher talking to Lord Toro.

"The music will be starting up again soon. Would you like to dance? Get whatever you're thinking off your mind?"

A lady also didn't turn down a dance from an appropriate suitor. But Miss Emmeline was in another galaxy, and she'd never know. "I'm sorry, I have to go."

Neve knew which dragon she'd rather take her chances with.

Pine wasn't far from where she'd left him. His face lit up for just a second as he saw her before he schooled his expression into something cool and casual.

Could there really be something there between them?

The smart move would be to demand a ride home right now and forget this whole thing. But when was Neve going to get an opportunity like this again?

"Two weeks," she said. "That's it. Then I'm gone."

Pine smiled. "You won't regret it."