Page 144 of Fortress of Ambrose
“Not my problem.”
No, but sort of your fault.
I smooth my dress. Before the news tonight, he hadn’t been himself. He’s been less willing to listen, harder to compromise with, and now he won’t talk to me at all. The world is in pieces. We should be closer than ever. But I’m not sure I’ve ever felt more distant from him.
“If we want the culprit to feel safe enough sneaking off, we need to liven up this atmosphere. Dance with me.” I pull him toward the dance floor, and he refuses, rigid in place. I am asking a lot of him after the news he just learned and clearly hasn’t processed. “Well, keep an eye on the doors. I’m going to try to perk things up.”
He glares at the main entrance to the ballroom.
“No one is going to try to sneak out with you standing guard like that. Grab food or sit down. At least pretend to be distracted.” I reach for hishand, and it’s ice cold, the toushana in him highly agitated. I pull out a chair at the nearest table. Jordan meets my eyes with a steel glare, but he sits. I flag one of the servers to set a plate and drink in front of him. And I hurry off to try to inspire some revelry. The first table I visit is Willam’s.
“I hope your night was alright.”
“Nice ball. Right back to the old ways, huh?” Willam eyes me warily. This is the first ball they’ve ever been to. I hadn’t considered whether they’d want to go to a ball at all. Another pair makes their way to the dance floor.
Knox dabs her mouth with a napkin. “How long will we be restricted in our rooms?”
Dimara watches with a sneer.
“I’m not sure.” I whisper to Knox, “We need to be very cautious right now.”
“Oh?” She says in a tone that is colder than her stare.
“Yes. We’ve come into some information. We need to be careful with people wedon’treally know.”
“You’re perfectly fine locking us in our rooms after basically kidnapping us?” Dimara scoffs.
Am I?I didn’t want this. But Jordan…And now he’s…The longer I think on it, the sicker I feel. “Things will be back to the way they were soon.”
“Something tells me this is the new way of things,” Willam says, tossing his napkin on the table.
“You understand what I mean, right?” I pull at Knox’s arm, but she only gazes at me, eyes first, then my heart.
I suppose we could ask those who I do know are on our side to spy. Would Dimara help? I want to pull my hair out. Jordan would never go for it. He is the one with the world’s magic inside him. We’re halfway up this stream. We have to swim it now.
“This isn’t my choice!”
“No, it’s just your House.” Knox returns to her plate. “You should get to your guests.” She slides a bite into her mouth without looking at me.
I march over to Jordan and spot Yaniselle attempting to talk to him. She tenses when I approach. He stares past her at a thin crowd moving toward the dance floor.
“Shouldn’t you be enjoying the dance?” I ask her.Or stealing the diadem?“Everyone in the entire House is here.”
She looks at the doors and elbows Jordan to make sure he doesn’t miss it.
“I’m sure one of them interests you as a dancing partner,” I say.
“Sure. Have you seen Ube?”
“He refilled his glass with punch three minutes ago,” Jordan says, still not looking at either of us.
“I guess I’ll go find that dancing partner.” Yani disappears into the crowd.
“Do you think she bit?” I ask.
He doesn’t respond. He must feel awful.
“Jordan, I’m really sorry.”
