17. 17

17

Edi e

I 'm breathless from racing around the bar, the cheers and clapping echoing in my head, laughing every time Kalle's deep voice sings out, "I've been drunk for a month."

I've never been much of a dancer. I know for a fact that everyone at the castle, including Kalle, had to endure dance lessons when they were younger, but for once, Kalle makes me feel like I'm floating with the stars. I should be wearing one of the flowy, sequins-and-feather-type dresses on Dancing with the Stars, his big hand engulfing mine, his other warm on my back.

To be honest, it might be being held by Kalle that makes me a little out of breath as well. I've danced with Kalle plenty of times, even to that song, but that—

He holds me differently. Tight, but somehow wrapping himself around me as he leads me through the tables so I'm not getting bumped or bruised. People move out of the way as we fly around the room, but I don't worry about running into anyone because of Kalle.

It's like he's got me in a little bubble, and no one is part of it but him and me .

He's never smiled down at me like I'm the only person in the room.

So much so that when the song ends, I blink with surprise. "That was… I can't believe we did that," I gasp as the laughter rolls through the room. Another song comes on, something by Great Big Sea and the dancing starts again.

Except for Kalle and me, now standing off to the side.

"Yeah." It's Kalle's customary reply but the way he's looking at me isn't. His blue-eyed gaze roves around like he's checking for something, and his smile—

I step back, breaking his hold. "What?" I demand.

"What?" he echoes, still gripping my hand in his.

"Do I have something on my face?" I slap my free hand to my cheek. "The way you're looking at me…"

Like I'm a woman.

"Can't I look at you?" Kalle asks in a low voice, tangling his fingers with mine.

The way he says it—

"That was quite the performance."

I turn, and there's Mathias, his smile not quite meeting his pale blue eyes. "Looks like the dancing lessons certainly paid off," he says to Kalle without much of a glance at me.

My fingers slip out of Kalle's grip and it's as if I've stepped out into the rain.

Mathias is here. He texted and said he'd stop by, but seeing him here in the bar, with me breathless and slightly sweaty, makes the shots I had with Lyra and Kate begin to swim in my stomach. I can't help but feel like Mathias is intruding, like he's someplace he shouldn't be and reprimanding us about it at the same time .

Kalle's smile changes into something like a grimace. "I've never heard any complaints."

"You wouldn't, since conversation's never been one of your strong suits."

"With me, it's what I say that matters, not how much. Worthless conversation has never been my thing."

"Am I missing something?" I glance between them. Kalle, who had been laughing and pressed tightly against me only a moment ago, is now ramrod straight, jaw clenched with tension. "You're like two dogs trying to pee on the same stump."

Mathias stiffens, before he forces a laugh and finally looks down at me. His smile still hasn't reached his eyes. "Not at all. The two of you looked like you were having fun."

"I was." I tell myself to relax, that I haven't done anything wrong. It was just dancing.

"I almost got pushed out of the bar area by the crowd."

I glance over to see that some of those who had been dancing have followed Lyra off the floor to swarm around the bar. Bethie is with Tyler serving drinks with Chase flitting is around and trying to help.

I back away. "I should get back there." A roll of thunder, the loudest one yet, crashes overhead and I flinch.

"It's fine." Kalle reaches out like he wants to grab my hand, stopping just before he touches me. "They've got it covered."

Mathias reaches for me as well. He doesn't stop and his fingers tangle with mine, long and slender and cool to the touch. "How late are you working?" he asks, his smile finally reaching his eyes. "I thought if Kalle is back from his date… We should talk. "

Kalle's face instantly shutters and now he steps back from me like I've insulted him. "Leave whenever you want," he growls.

I watch him stalk back to the bar with a pang that feels a lot like regret. He's quickly swallowed into the group waiting to be served, leaving me by the pool table with Mathias.

"Always so cheerful," Mathias scoffs. "He should work on his manners rather than his dancing."

I turn to Mathias. "What was that all about?" I demand. "With you and Kalle?"

He smoothly shrugs a shoulder. "It's always been like this with Kalle. We like to needle each other. Cousinly teasing."

Mathias is always smooth. "I don't like it," I say flatly.

"Don't like what?"

I shake out of his grasp as a laughing Coy Schmidt passes between us, followed by Ken McKibbon, and I step back with a frown. "Your needling. Kalle is my friend," I tell Mathias after they pass.

Mathias's eyes flash before he returns to his smooth expression. "You work for him. How does that make you his friend?"

"He's been my friend longer than I've worked for him."

"Is that all it is? Because I get the sense…"

I roll my eyes. If Mathias had said anything two days ago, I would have laughed it off. We're only friends. But now I don't know what to say. Especially being faced with Mathias's jealous possessiveness, or whatever this is.

Because that's exactly what it seems to me. "I'm here until at least midnight and I should be getting back to work," I tell him in a cool voice. "Thanks for stopping by, and I'm sorry we didn't get a chance to talk. "

"Edie…" Mathias's expression shifts, changing into something not so smooth. Something that might be real, and makes him even better looking. "I wanted to ask you…" He chews his lip. Is he actually nervous? "Will you come and visit?"

"Visit?" I parrot.

"Come see my home. My part of the country. Get to know me, away from here."

To me, away from here means away from Kalle. And the thought of that…

I'm not sure what that does.

It makes me glance over at the bar where Kalle is now laughing with the group crowded around Lyra, lifting a shot that looks suspiciously like Screech, the high-octane rum that has left many a non-Laandian weak and woozy in the morning.

"That sounds great, but can we talk about this later?" I say automatically, forcing a smile. It's exhausting, jumping from growling Kalle to dancing Kalle and smiling Mathias to not-sure-what Mathias—and now he wants me to visit him? "Maybe tomorrow? I really should get back to work."

"Tomorrow." He frowns. "I hoped to leave tomorrow. With you."

"What?" Is he serious? "I can't leave just like that." I match his frown with one of my own. "I have a job. There are things I need to figure out, schedule—"

"Of course not," he says, back to smooth like the moment of vulnerability never happened. "Let's talk timing tomorrow. But I would like you to visit me. There are things to discuss."

My heart skips a beat—and not in a good way. "What things?"

He chuckles and leans closer. "Don't look so scared."

For me, discussions are a prelude to bad things, but I'm not about to tell him that.

Mathias leans down to kiss my cheek. "I've called for a car, so I'll let you get back to work. Hope it stays uneventful."

I watch as he winds his way toward the door, keeping as much distance from the group around the bar as he can. As the door shuts behind him, I glance back to the bar to find Kalle watching me.

There's something in his eyes that I've never seen before. I can't read it.

I stand motionless, caught in his gaze like a deer in the headlights.

I don't like not being able to read Kalle.

Thunder booms, and I'm not the only one who jumps. Lightning flashes outside, for a moment making it as bright as day, and I see Mathias out the window getting into one of the castle cars.

It pulls away from the curb and I still stand there.

Mathias wants me to visit because there are "things to discuss."

There can't be much to say, since we've only had one dinner. To invite me for a family visit seems quick, and out of place.

And then I remember Odin and Camille had planned for a six-week engagement.

Kalle just asked me to marry him out of nowhere.

Things move fast in the royal family, but that doesn't mean Mathias…

No. There's no way.

I glance back at Kalle and he's still staring at me. He gives me a lopsided smile, and I smile back because that's what you do when a man like Kalle looks at you like that.

And then the lights in the bar go out.