ds.”
“Oh. Oh. I see what you did there.”
“Pretty cool, right?”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “Dude. Are you trying to psychoanalyze me?”
“I’m pretty sure it would take a group of people far more qualified than I years to even remotely come close to being able to analyze you. Dude.”
“That… sounded like you insulted me with a compliment.”
“I feel like a lot of your life is insults through compliments.”
“Why does no one else see this?” I asked without meaning to.
“What?”
“You. This. I don’t understand. The King said you don’t smile.”
“So you’ve said.”
“But here you are.”
“Here I am.”
“Smiling.” And he was. And it was wonderful.
“Would you rather I not?” he asked as his knee bumped into mine and when exactly had he gotten so close?
“I don’t get you.” I frowned.
“Why?”
“Because.”
“Succinct.” There was laughter in his voice.
“You’re a knight.”
“You’re observant.”
Suddenly it felt very important that he understand this. “The King said you don’t smile. You’re a knight. People say you’re stoic and ruthless and hardworking and brave. You’re supposed to be. That’s what a knight is. But you’re also kind and ridiculous and a complete and utter dork and I see you smile all the time. I don’t understand.”
The music slowed around us into something surprisingly sweet. The cheerful voices and the raucous laughter died down as men and woman joined together and swayed along the dusty, wooden floor. I was suddenly very out of my depth and thought that running away was possibly the best idea I’d ever had.
And I almost made it. I really did.
But before I could turn completely, Ryan grabbed my hand and said, “We should dance.”
“Should we?” There was more in that question than just those two words.
And of course he squeezed my hand and my magic rolled under my skin, and I swore I could almost hear it speaking. It was saying yes and yes and yes.
He said, “Sam, it’s just a dance.”
I wanted to argue with him. I wanted to tell him it would never be just a dance. What a cornerstone meant to a wizard and how it could never be just a dance. That all of this was a bad idea because out there somewhere was the man he loved being held by a creature that apparently only I could understand. His prince was gone. His hand was in mine. And we were here, far from home, away from most all the people we knew and loved and my magic said yesyesyes.
“Just a dance,” I said.