Page 57 of Royal Rising

“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 isalwayssmooth. “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 heremeans 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 lookso 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.

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