Chapter 164: Our first date

Chapter 164: Our First Date

POV: Astrid Vale

I’d spent the walk from my room to the hallway thinking we were simply going somewhere together, Reed and Xander having organized some outing with their usual secrecy. It wasn’t until I caught Xander’s expression, something nervous beneath his usual confidence, that the realization properly settled in.

This was a date.

Our first actual date.

My stomach flipped unexpectedly, and self-consciousness crept in before I could stop it. I thought about the girls back at Moonshade, the way they talked about dates for days beforehand, getting their hair styled, picking out jewelry, perfecting their nails, layering on makeup until every detail felt carefully constructed.

I looked down at myself. Simple makeup, nothing fussed over. No jewelry beyond the small earrings I always wore. My nails plain and unpolished. Just the dress Reed and Xander had chosen, which suddenly felt like the only effort that had gone into any of this at all.

"Should I have done more?" I asked, hesitation creeping into my voice.

Xander glanced at me, understanding immediately. "You’re perfect exactly like this," he said, simple and certain enough that some of my sudden insecurity eased. "We didn’t want you to perform for tonight. We just wanted you."

Something in that steadied me, and I let the worry go, at least mostly, as we made our way outside.

A car waited near the apartment entrance, two guards standing beside it, and I stopped short, surprised.

"We’re leaving campus," Xander explained. "Aldric wasn’t exactly thrilled about letting the royal princes off academy grounds, especially after everything that happened. So we agreed to bring guards along."

I considered that, something settling uncomfortably in my chest despite understanding the logic completely. "That makes sense," I admitted. "Given everything."

It also reminded me, quietly, that even now, safely home, the danger hadn’t fully disappeared. Someone responsible for my kidnapping was still out there, unidentified, and apparently significant enough a threat that guards remained necessary even for something as simple as a date.

We settled into the car, and as Moonshade shrank behind us through the rear window, excitement slowly replaced my earlier unease. I had no idea where we were actually heading, and something about that mystery felt thrilling rather than frustrating now.

I pulled out my phone, suddenly remembering Ivy. Are you back at the apartment? I texted, realizing I hadn’t actually seen her since earlier in the day.

No response came immediately. I tucked the phone away, though I found myself checking it periodically throughout the drive regardless, some small worry nagging at the back of my mind even as I tried to focus on the evening ahead.

The city came into view eventually, and I pressed closer to the window, captivated instantly by what I saw. Lights strung across streets crowded with people, businesses bustling with activity far beyond what I’d expect on an ordinary evening, everyone dressed as though attending something significant.

"What’s happening?" I asked. "Is there some kind of celebration?"

Xander grinned. "You’ll see."

"That’s not an answer."

"We should eat first," he said, deliberately avoiding the question, and I huffed in mock frustration, though the mystery only deepened my fascination with the city stretching out around us.

We arrived at an upscale restaurant, its exterior elegant enough to make me suddenly aware of how out of place I might look despite the beautiful dress. Instead of leading us through the crowded main dining room, staff guided us immediately upstairs, and I realized, once we reached the top floor, that the entire level had been reserved exclusively for us.

"You reserved the whole floor?" I asked, stunned.

"I don’t particularly enjoy too many eyes on us," Reed said simply, pulling out my chair for me at a table set beautifully near a wide window overlooking the city below.

I understood, sitting down, exactly how much planning had gone into this evening, far more than I’d initially appreciated. "This is a lot," I said, still slightly overwhelmed by the privacy of it all.

"You deserve a lot," Xander said, settling into the seat beside me.

Dinner arrived shortly after, steak accompanied by an elaborate arrangement of sides I couldn’t fully name, everything smelling incredible enough that my stomach growled embarrassingly loud the moment the plates touched the table.

I started eating normally, cutting small pieces and enjoying the meal at a reasonable pace, until I noticed Reed watching me with careful attention, something calculating behind his expression that I recognized immediately as trouble.

"What?" I asked.

He reached across the table without answering, picking up a piece of steak from the serving platter and placing it directly onto my plate.

"I already have food," I said.

"You need more."

"I have plenty."

Xander, apparently taking this as an invitation, added a generous scoop of potatoes to my plate as well. "You’ve gotten too lean since Elaris," he said, entirely serious despite the ridiculousness of the statement.

"I’m eating completely normally."

"Normal isn’t enough right now," Reed said, adding another piece to my already overflowing plate. "You need to actually recover properly."

"I can feed myself," I protested, laughing despite myself at the absurdity of watching two grown men conspire to overfeed me at what was supposed to be a romantic dinner.

Neither of them listened. Xander picked up his fork and speared a piece of steak, holding it out toward me with the exact same insistent expression he’d used during our first dinner together weeks ago, back when this entire dynamic had first started between the three of us.

"Open," he said.

"Xander."

"You know you want to."

I rolled my eyes, though I let him feed me anyway, the warmth of their ridiculous concern settling somewhere comfortable in my chest despite my protests. Reed watched with an expression that managed to look both amused and genuinely satisfied, like my simply eating properly mattered to him more than any amount of romantic ambiance ever could.

"I’m not lean," I finally managed to say, pushing back against their continued assault of food. "I’ve been eating plenty since we got back. I promise you both I’m perfectly—"

Before I could finish the sentence, Reed calmly reached over and pushed another piece of steak directly into my open mouth, cutting me off entirely mid-protest.

I stared at him in complete disbelief, my cheeks puffed out around the unexpected mouthful, while Xander burst into laughter loud enough that I was fairly certain the guards waiting downstairs could probably hear him through the floor.

"You did not just do that," I tried to say, though the words came out thoroughly muffled around the steak still sitting in my mouth.

"I absolutely did," Reed said, entirely unrepentant, watching me chew with open satisfaction.

Xander wiped tears from his eyes, still laughing. "This is the best first date I’ve ever witnessed."

"You’ve witnessed one first date. This one."

"Exactly. Undefeated record."

I glared at Reed while forcing myself to chew properly, unable to fully suppress the laughter building in my own chest despite my best efforts to maintain some dignity. Whatever elegant, romantic evening I’d imagined walking into, apparently my first real date had somehow transformed into being forcibly fed steak by two overprotective, entirely unrepentant princes who seemed more concerned with my calorie intake than candlelight.

I found, swallowing the last of the mouthful Reed had so unceremoniously delivered, that I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.