Page 15 of Bride of the Midnight Prince

He nods in acquiescence. A bead of sweat slides down his temple. “Your stepmother and I have been in discussions of marriage.”

I trip over my skirt. “Wh-what?”

“Marriage. Lady Agatha has agreed that a quiet ceremony—just family—in a fortnight’s time would be splendid.”

I stop dancing. In the middle of the ballroom. He flushes hot, glancing around as his hand tightens on my upper ribcage and tries to tug me back into the dance.

“Lady Vandermore,” he says with a strained chuckle. “Don’t embarrass yourself.”

Don’t embarrassmyself? If I had the strength to do it, I would pick him up and hurl him across the ballroom.

“I’m not marrying you,” I snap, losing every shred of the persona I try so hard to paint at these balls. I lean closer to him, wrenching my hand from his grasp so I can shake my finger in his face. “If you wanted to marry me, you should have discussed such arrangements withme, not with my stepmother.”

He stares at me, baffled, before looking around at the people staring at us. He grabs my hand and pulls me off the dance floor, dodging the couples still dancing. Everyone is staring at us, and I do not care one tiny bit. He does, however, and his attention is wasted more on his friend group than on me. I catch Alsbee grinning wickedly at the two of us and our obvious irritation with each other.

“She is your guardian,” says Boreham, trying to keep his voice low and pretend everything is normal—even though all the mothers in the room have suddenly seemed to materialize within hearing range, eager for a scrap of gossip. “Of course I should discuss marriage with her. I am titled. I have land. I am respected. I am young. I have need of a wife, and you have need of a husband. Since Lady Agatha is your legal guardian, it is only proper that I discuss marriage with her.”

Stop trying to play the level-headed victim here!I barely keep those words from flying out of my mouth, and instead manage to say, “I don’t care that she’s my guardian. If I—”

“Katherine, dear!” Agatha’s voice rankles down my spine.

I clamp my lips tight, hide my fists in my skirts, and turn around with a forced smile. “Yes, Stepmother, dear?”

Agatha waves her fan as she approaches us. The beading of her gown catches the flickering light of the chandeliers. Her shadow slides along the golden paneled walls, larger than her figure, prowling ever closer. Then she stands in front of where Boreham and I have sequestered ourselves between two tall potted plants. “I do hope you are not creating any trouble for handsome Lord Boreham.”

But Lord Boreham glares darkly at her before turning it on me. His face continues to redden. A muscle clenches in his rounded jaw. “I will be off. Lady Vandermore, you have three days to consider my proposal. I will call to receive your answer. Think it over.”

He leaves us at once, storming through the milling crowd of curious onlookers. When he passes his group of friends, Alsbee tries to hail him with a wine goblet, but Boreham shoves past him, grabs his coat, and vanishes out the door.

Serves himrightto be embarrassed and offended!

I fight the urge to cross my arms over my chest and stick out my tongue like a toddler. Instead, I accept a goblet from a passing servant in black livery and sip delicately. Whatever will be in the gossip column of the papers tomorrow?Lady Vandermore has fought off another suitor, and all of Ashbourne is beginning to wonder if the lady’s fortune isn’t worth putting up with her boorish manners.

Agatha sidles up next to me, the beading in her hair shaking as a vein stands out above her eyebrow. “If you just ruined—”

I swallow my wine and then pour the rest into the potted plant. The plant is probably jealous, after all, of watching the rest of us drink and dance without it. “Oh look!” I hold up my dance card. “I believe I have a prior engagement with one of these other fine gentlemen. Please excuse me.”

Lord Oliver Cranswick with his crooked cravat is there immediately, as though I’ve summoned him from thin air, and I practically throw myself into his arms.

“You had news for me,” I say, mustering a smile and endeavoring to put Lord Boreham behind me for the rest of the night. “Though I’m curious as to why you thought news of the fae concerned me.”

The young man returns my smile with a conspiratorial one of his own, holding my hand more possessively than my last unwelcomed dance partner. “You’ll see why. The news, Lady Vandermore, is that a fae is coming to town. Not many know this yet because it was only discovered an hour ago, but my father, Baron Cranswick, has the ear of the queen. Do you remember the tales of how a prince of the fae came to Aursailles and stole one of their princesses years ago? Queen Vivienne’s younger sister?”

“Of course I remember.”

“Yes, well, no one knowswhothis fae is—except that he is believed to be a warrior—but he sent his servants to purchase a house and property. Here, in Ashbourne.”

“A fae? Come to live here, in this very city?” The gears in my mind are spinning at once, more from possibility and opportunity than danger. This isveryinteresting news indeed.

“Indeed! And after the last fae came to steal a bride, it begs the question: Isthisone here for a bride too?”

“It hardly sounds like the same situation. The princess of Aursailles was taken back to the fae world.” I catch myself before I name the fae Court of Valehaven and give away that I have a much deeper understanding of the fae and their ways than the rest of the Harbright people possess. “Why would one come to live here?”

Oliver shrugs. “Some rumors say he is here as an ambassador from the fae world, now that our peoples are no longer at war with each other. Regardless, I thought to warn you.”

My eyebrows lift. “Warn me?”

His hand shifts on my shoulder blade slightly. “Forgive my boldness, but you are the rose of the city—of all Harbright. If this fae is seeking a wife, he will likely set his sights on you.”

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