Page 63 of Enchanted Kingdom
She burst out laughing and put a hand over her mouth as if she shouldn’t laugh.
“Or perhaps a new coin currency?”
She swatted at the air toward me while she got the container of ointment out.
“Do you have something for headaches?” I asked.
She nodded. “I can send for some right away. Do you need some?”
My lips twitched. “I shall after tonight and all these shimmering dresses.”
Silvia glared at me, but based on her smile, she wasn’t too terribly put out. “You’re horrible.”
I lifted my nose in the air in faux confidence. “In only the best ways, I’m sure.”
An hour later, we made our way down to the evening dinner. The pressure was off for the evening. Keir would ignore me. All I had to do was talk with the women and also avoid the king. I wondered if Keir would show up at my room later or not.
“Good grief,” Owen muttered from next to me.
All the gold and silver in the room, all the shining dresses, was a lot to take in. “However should you decide which one to gawk at?” I asked him.
He glared at me. “I’ll be gawking at you, since you’re the one I’m here for.”
I snorted. “And we both know how seriously you take your job.”
“I fell asleep one time,” he argued.
“Twice,” I corrected.
“Fine. Twice.”
With a smile, I took off into the skirts to find Rinaldi.
* * *
I stoodat my ballroom window with my favorite view, but it also gave me a nice position to see the entire room. I watched as Keir went from woman to woman, like he normally did, but I knew this time he would not be coming to me. Or if he did, it would be brief. There’d be no walk out to the balcony tonight.
Molly found me and stood chatting with me by the window. Suddenly, she wrinkled her nose while watching the room. “Well we don’t like that.”
I looked to where her eyes fell to see Keir laughing with Aiyana.
“Go interrupt them,” she told me. “I dare you.”
I shook my head. She was quite spirited tonight. “No way. The farther I stay away from Aiyana, the better.”
“Fine,” she said with a deep breath as she squared her shoulders. “I will.”
I grabbed her by the arm and pulled her back. “You will do no such thing. You aren’t even in his harem.”
Molly’s eyes went wide as her eyebrows reached for her hair. “Harem?”
“Dammit,” I muttered. “Assemblage. You knew what I meant.”
Molly cackled with laughter in the most unladylike way.
Keir looked our way, as well as a few others, while I shushed her. His eyes locked on mine for a brief moment before he reached down and played with the cuff of his tailcoat.
I looked back to Molly and played with the jewel on my bracelet. “You are causing a scene.”
