Page 36 of The Midnight Blizzard

“If you see your father tomorrow morning,” I said in a rush, “would you encourage him to sign the bill? I used to teach at a school for young mages, but it was recently shut down. I’d love to see mages be granted equal rights.”

“I’ll do what I can,” Stephen answered with a smile. “We share the same goal. I wish you luck with your meeting and look forward to hearing all about your school tomorrow night.”

He led me back to the ballroom, and the second he kissed my hand in farewell, he was mobbed by three of the remaining ten women, all clamoring for his attention.

I did my best to fade into the background, near Jack and the other advisors. “You were gone a long time,” Jack said in my ear. He had his notes out in front of him and pretended to be scribbling on the papers, but his quill never touched the parchment. He raised his head and addressed another advisor. “Has anyone danced with Noelle tonight besides the prince?”

The other man consulted his notes. “Not yet. Want me to?”

“I can handle it,” Jack said, calmly handing over his notes.

No one paid us any mind as Jack slowly revolved with me until we were in the darkest part of the ballroom, unnoticed and forgotten. Across the dance floor, Stephen had selected another girl to walk with, and the advisors were milling around the nine other ladies, asking them questions or steering them onto the dance floor.

It was infuriating to maintain the distance between me and Jack for the remainder of the evening as we danced then staged a lengthy interview at a far table while he jotted down notes. Most girls hurried back to their rooms after they’d had their turn walking with Stephen, well aware that their time with him was ended for the day. As the last girl left, the orchestra ground to a halt and packed up their instruments while Stephen came to bid me good night and the other advisors trickled away.

Finally, it was just me and Jack left in the ballroom. Every sound echoed in the vast, empty space, but it was peaceful without the commotion of everyone else. For several minutes, we sat in silence, waiting until the last distant footsteps faded. I stayed seated while Jack rose and looked out the door down the hall. As he re-entered, he kicked the doorjambs out so the heavydoors slowly thudded shut, closing us into the dim, empty ballroom together.

“Would you like to dance again?” Jack asked quietly.

“I’d love to.”

He pulled me to my feet and pulled me into his arms even though there was no music. This time, I rested my head against his chest and wrapped both arms around his neck, breathing in his peppermint scent that I loved so much.

“I wish I could kiss you,” he breathed.

“No one is watching,” I whispered back. “They wouldn’t ever know.”

“It’s still illegal,” he reminded me, but his hands flexed on my waist.

My pulse quickened and I leaned back so I could face him instead of resting my head against him. “Technically, it’s only illegal for you to becourtingsomeone. You could probably kiss whomever you want.”

“I’m still the prince’s advisor. I need to set an example.”

“You need to set an example for all the vast crowd here?” I inquired, nodding at the completely vacated room. “What if…what if a woman kissed you?” I could barely breathe as I asked. “If you were just innocently standing there and a wild woman was the aggressor, you wouldn’t be at fault in the slightest.”

His features were lit up as a sly smile elevated the corners of his mouth. “You’re right. I would be entirely blameless.”

My ears rang with a tinny whistle as I dropped my gaze down to study his mouth. A sudden shyness battled against my brazen suggestion.

“You wouldn’t feel attacked?” I asked, trying to build up the courage to close the final gap between us.

“I would welcome it,” he breathed, tilting his head down toward mine. “Please attack me all you want.”

Fueled by the irrational fear that we might be seen, I felt compelled to pull Jack into the shadows, even though no one else was around. “I don’t want you to get in trouble,” I explained, looking for some excuse to procrastinate the kiss that I desperately wanted but suddenly felt shy about. “Just in case someone misinterprets what they see.”

“We can’t have that, can we?”

We were in the most shadowed part of the deserted ballroom, quite alone. There had been so many opportunities to kiss in the past and we had held ourselves back each time. Now that we were on the eve of having the bill signed that would allow our romance, it still felt forbidden and dangerous enough that I couldn’t stop staring around, waiting for someone to jump out and catch us in wrongdoing. “I’m nervous,” I admitted.

“You aren’t the only one.” He visibly swallowed. “I think the other advisors already suspect we may have something going on. You’ll notice that they made themselves scarce and no one offered to take over questioning you.”

“They suspect us?” I squeaked. “What are we supposed to do?”

Jack stroked my face. “There’s nothing much we can do if it’s true. But if I’m going to be punished for a crime, I at least want to have committed it.”

I could barely breathe. “You really have a penchant for breaking rules, don’t you?”

“If there is a cause worth breaking rules for, yes. Look.” He pointed upward.

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