Page 83 of Prince of Storms
She gave me a hard stare. “He’s throwing a ball in your honor, Mia. To show everyone in his life that you are all he cares about. The man isclearlyin love with you.”
“He barely knows me!”
Ally waved that away. “When you know, you know. And that is a man who knows. Trust me.”
“I don’t think that’s what he was going to say. Are you serious?”
Tor … in love with me? Could that really be what he was about to say at the end when he’d hesitated?
“Are you that much of a dolt, girl? He’s throwing you a ball. The sole purpose of which is to show you off. He’s also sending you to … Let me see that,” Ally said, using her free hand to grab the card from my fingers and turn it over. “Holy shit!”
“What? What is it?” I asked, looking at her and Axel, worried that something had happened.
“Mia, he’s sending you toLafreniere’s.”
My eyebrows shot up. I’d heard of them. Every girl had heard of them. They weretheexclusive dress designer. Prom dresses for the rich and famous. Wedding dresses for the same. Only the wealthy went there because they didn’t carry a thing under ten thousand dollars.
“That’s excessive,” I whispered. “I don’t need a dress like that.”
“Maybe not,” Ally said. “But hewants youto have one from there. Gosh, you’re going to look so amazing. I’m so jealous. I wish my wedding dress were from there. Not that I needed it to be, but I wouldn’t have said no if someone wanted to buy me one! Mia, youhaveto go! Mainly because I have to go with you to see.”
I laughed at her honesty.
“I’m serious. It’s so obvious now,” she said, nodding along to her own thoughts.
“What? What’s obvious? It’s not to me. What are you talking about?”
“He’s going to tell you that he loves you at the ball. Where he can properly show it.” Ally pointed at me. “You are going to that ball.”
“I don’t know,” I said, hesitating.
“This man is crazy about you.”
“Maybe. But …”
Ally was shaking her head. “No buts. You’re going, and that’s final!”
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Tor
“She’ll be here,” Ty said, slapping me across the back in encouragement.
It didn’t work.
“Maybe,” I growled, flexing my hand into a fist and then relaxing it. “But you didn’t see or hear her. The reluctance, thefear, Ty. I might have overdone it. She might have needed something slow and easy to get used to this.”
“She had over a year to try it that way,” Ty said. “Now she needs a push to realize what’s in front of her. Besides, who would say no to all ofthis?”
His hand waved across the room, encompassing all that we’d done in the three days since Mia had left the Manerium—and me. Around us, figures danced, ate, or stood in groups of ones or twos, talking among themselves. Dragons from across the storm lands had come at my invitation. Nearly sixty were spread throughout the main ballroom, dressed to the nines.
Tuxes and sharply cut suits adorned the men, almost all of them black or dark blue. It was the women who brought the color to the party. Fabulous ballgowns of reds, purples, blues, and even a daring forest green swirled around, hems swishing as the women danced gracefully to the music that filtered in from the various speakers. We’d considered getting a live band but, in the end, decided prerecorded music was more than enough.
“It’s all for nothing if she doesn’t come, though,” I pointed out, clenching my jaw. The invitation’s “appointed” time had been nearly an hour ago. While I hadn’t expected Mia to show up on time, Ihadbeen hoping she wouldn’t wait that long.
“Trust me,” Ty said. “She’s going to show, Tor. She cares for you. A lot. She’ll realize that, and then she’ll walk through those doors looking like a million dollars. Your jaw will hit the ground, and I’ll be forced to translate the gibberish you spew into actual words so that she doesn’t turn around and leave right then and there. After that, you’ll drink and dance with her, and she’ll laugh. You’ll kiss her at some point, and then …”
“And then what?” I asked as he purposefully trailed off, inviting comment. I decided not to address his thoughts on how it would all go down.
