Page 55 of Royal Rising

I lean down so I don’t have to shout above the music. “Does that make you happy?” Edie only shrugs, so I try again. “Are you still mad at me?”

Instead of answering, Edie moves even closer. I don’t realize she’s smelling me until she scrunches up her nose. “Are you drunk?”

“I don’t get drunk.” My hand is still splayed on her back and she’s still very close… and that’s okay with me.

“You do get drunk if you drink with your brothers, which you did this afternoon,” she points out. “Plus, if you have a bottle of wine—” She sniffs again. “—possibly several bottles of wine…”

“What wine?” I grin down at her, and the way she smiles back at me tells me peace has been restored.

That makes me very happy.

“You’re going to ruin my floor again, you know,” I tell her.

“Just so you know, it was the pitcher of beer that spilled and someone forgot to mop up that ruined your floor, not the dancing,” she says in a pert voice that makes my grin widen.

“Is this your idea or my sister’s?”

“You left, so you’ll never know,” she shoots back.

“I’m back now,” I tell her, holding those big brown eyes, until someone smacks my butt.

Mabel Crow. Mabel Crow just smacked my butt with her hand. There’s no way Mabel should be around Lyra and Kate, given their history, because that would lead to—

Lyra laughs out loud, and Kate covers her mouth with her hand. They’re dancing together. Lyra and Kate are right there with Mabel Crow, and Edie is here too…

I shake my head. What did I miss?

But I’m not missing this chance.

The song changes abruptly to Home for a Rest and I look at Edie.

One night, before The King’s Hat opened, a group of us hung out in the gutted downstairs of Bruce’s attempt at a gentleman’s club and sampled Dad’s latest mead offering. Bo had been here, and Jonathan McKibbon, Kate’s brother, and a couple of guys I played high school ball with, and one of my curling buddies, and Edie.

Edie was always there.

Someone had put on Spirit of the West, and I got up because Home for a Rest is the best song to dance to. I grabbed Edie, and wedanced, whipping around the room doing a quickstep in fast forward.

I convinced her to come work for me that night. If she had said no, I would have made a move on her.

And now, I look at Edie, and she looks at me and I know she’s remembering the same night. The connection that’s always been there. The pull between us and the disappointment I felt when I picked friendship over more.

Maybe Edie had been disappointed too.

I slide a hand around her waist. “There’s no room,” she warns, taking the hand I offer.

“There’s always room.” And with Edie’s laughter trailing after us, we’re off.

People are jumping and stomping and clapping as I lead Edie through the dancers and into the maze of tables. I resist the urge to flip Mathias the finger as we flash by the bar, my hand wrapped around her waist, holding Edie as tightly as I can so that her laughter rumbles through me.

We’re flying, Edie and I, and this time, I wonder if it’s really time to take off.

17

Edie

I’m breathless from racingaround 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.

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