Page 176 of Enchanted Heir
I laughed as he trailed kisses along my jaw. “You’ll make us late.”
“I don’t care,” he whispered. “All this talk of being married has me in a mood.”
“A non-sulky mood?”
He pulled back and grinned the most beautiful smile I’d ever seen. “Decidedly non-sulky.”
* * *
Down at the ball,it took less than an hour to see there was far more drinking going on than usual. It was almost as if we were celebrating something. But I was fairly certain there wasn’t a holiday I had forgotten about.
Krew was busy. I saw him whispering to Owen and then leave for a moment, just to come back in and head over to some of his father’s men.
“What is going on?” Molly whispered to me where we naturally had met at our usual window. I noticed a thin line of her turquoise magic running up a vein in her arm.
“I have no idea,” I offered. “I was hoping you’d tell me.”
“It’s as if we have won a war,” Molly added.
But there hadn’t even been a war, the king had made sure of that. So what was he celebrating now? Had he completely taken control of the realm now? Even more so than he already had when he’d poisoned them all?
“Hey,” Renna said as she slid in next to us.
“How are you?” I asked with a tight smile.
“Good but nervous,” Renna admitted. “What is with the Savaryn men right now? And don’t think I didn’t notice he invited all of his commanders tonight. All but a few.”
My forehead scrunched as I thought on that.
Renna clinked her glass to mine. “Whatever the reason, we are sure to be in for an interesting night.”
By the time I got to dance with Krew, I was a nervous wreck. The men in the room were getting louder and drunker, so much so that some of the wives had already retired for bed. Though these balls had been getting more and more monotonous, whateverthiswas wasn’t better.
“Love,” Krew greeted me, pulling me in close.
I let out a sigh. It might have been the first time I’d felt safe since walking in the room that night.
Krew leaned in to whisper in my ear, “I know. Please try to smile and act like everything is okay. I don’t know what my father is up to, but I’ve been moving my people around all day in an effort to protect the people closest to us.”
I gave him a smile that wasn’t entirely fake. “Thank you.”
“I’ll get you out of here as soon as I can. Father told us he was making a speech to close out the night, and then he is bringing in some exotic dancers. Trust me in that you do not want to be here for that. Not because of the dancing, but just the behavior in general.”
“Got it,” I said with a nod. “Only one more week of this.” I paused. “Of feeling this level of helpless.”
“We can always move up the timeline, love,” Krew joked. “It wouldn’t hurt me any.”
“I wouldn’t be opposed to it,” I joked as he spun us around. He’d been the one hellbent on waiting a whole month anyway.
As soon as we were done, I went to find Molly and Renna.
“Can I join you?”
It was Isla. She had some Savaryn friends, so she rarely even spoke to any of us. We all looked to one another shocked.
“Of course,” Molly smiled.
I gave a nod of agreement.
