Which did not surprise Blythe at all.
"I've got a plan for that," the prince promised his tipsy friend. Then he turned to Blythe. "Did you want something? As you can see, I've got my hands full."
"Can I help you get her to her room?" Blythe thought it might be just slightly less scandal worthy if she helped the younger woman undress and get ready for bed than if Tor did.
And by slightly, she meant hugely.
Besides the idea of Tor helping Else in that way did not sit well with Blythe.
Not even a little bit.
"You don't mind?" the prince asked warily.
"Not at all."
Blythe and Tor lifted the young woman between them and he led them down unused corridors to the guest wing of the palace. The prince was way too good at avoiding detection to have never done so before and she told him that.
"Making judgments again?" he asked instead of answering.
Blythe winced. "Point taken. I came back to tell you that I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said the stuff I did to you."
"You thought it. Why not say it?" All the vulnerability she'd seen in him earlier was gone now.
This man was one-hundred percent invulnerable prince. This Tor would not plead so charmingly for a second dance.
"Well, I didn't really think it. Look, I just didn't want to get involved with you and chose a poor way to express myself."
"You could have just said no." This was Else's slurred contribution.
"I did try. He didn't believe I meant it."
"Did he try to kiss you anyway? If you say yes I'll know you're lying. Tor wouldn't do that." Else answered her own question.
"No, he did not try to kiss me." Tor had been a perfect gentleman.
It had been her own desire and his honest reciprocation that Blythe had had to fight so hard.
"He kissed me once. I asked him too," the other woman stressed.
They were in her bedroom now.
Else giggled. "That's when I knew he was my brother, by another mother."
"No sparks?" Blythe asked, not able to fathom that.
If Tor ever kissed her, she was pretty sure she'd combust with the flames.
"Not a one. Too bad. He'd fulfill all my parents' requirements."
"I'll get some water and headache tabs to put by the bed," Tor said, heading into the en suite. "Could you get her in her pajamas?" he called to Blythe.
Blythe did just that, helping the younger woman get out of her designer gown and don sleep shorts and a t-shirt.
"Not exactly high fashion, huh?" Else asked with a burp. "My mom would be appalled."
"I'm sure it doesn't matter what you wear to bed."
"You're wrong about that. Everything matters to my parents. Everything. But you're wrong about lots of stuff, aren't you?"