Chapter 150: Gathering [3]

As the formal part of the evening wound down and the hall shifted back into the noise of a banquet, Alden found himself standing slightly apart from the main crowd.

His eyes had drifted to the far corner of the room.

Princess Aurelia was there in conversation with Arvendis. She looked composed and proper and said all the right things.

But twice while Alden watched she glanced toward where the Leon was standing and her eyes stayed there for a beat too long before she pulled them back.

Alden’s mind was running.

He had written the Calyndor royal family. He knew their history and their politics and every relationship in that Kingdom. He had drafted all of it.

But he had never written anything between Leon and Princess Aurelia.

Which meant whatever had happened between them was something this world had built in the space between his Chapters.

And Leon’s reaction had been too specific to be simple. That cold formality. The refusal to meet her eyes. The hands that had been just slightly unsteady before he got them under control. That wasn’t discomfort with a stranger. That was someone managing themselves very carefully around a specific memory.

What happened between you two?

Alden was still thinking through it when a cool voice appeared directly at his ear.

"Where exactly are your eyes wandering, Mister?"

He went rigid immediately.

Seris was standing right behind him.

He turned around and she was close and her crimson eyes were narrowed into very dangerous slits and her arms were folded in a way that said she had been watching him for longer than just now.

"Are you cheating on me already?" she said pleasantly.

Alden’s hands came up. "Wait what?!"

"I turn my back for five minutes," she said moving one step closer, "and you’re staring at another woman like you’re memorizing her."

"I wasn’t staring at her like THAT—"

"Then explain yourself."

Alden let out a breath and ran a hand over the back of his neck. "Okay. It’s complicated."

Seris’s expression said this was exactly what she expected a guilty man to say.

"I’m not guilty of anything!" He lowered his voice and leaned in slightly so it stayed between them. "She’s Princess Aurelia of Calyndor. I wasn’t staring because I was interested. I was trying to figure out why Leon completely shut down the moment she walked over earlier."

Seris’s narrow expression softened into something more curious. She tilted her head. "Leon?"

"Yeah." Alden glanced briefly toward Aurelia’s direction. "Leon is usually the loudest most energetic person in any room. He jokes about everything and talks to anyone within ten meters of him. But the second she walked over it was like someone turned him off completely. That cold voice, stiff posture and he wouldn’t even look her in the eye. That’s not just discomfort with a royal. There’s something that I can’t figure out what because I never—"

He stopped himself before he said something he would have to explain.

"Never what?" Seris asked.

"Never had the full picture," he finished.

She looked at him for a moment. Then let out a quiet amused exhale. "Fine. I accept your explanation."

She brushed a loose strand of silver hair behind her ear.

"Though you should know," she said with a particular tone, "I’m a princess as well."

Alden blinked.

"Princess Seris Ravenveil." She stepped slightly closer. "Of Korvath."

Alden stared at her.

Then a warm smile broke across his face before he could stop it. "Wait. Are you actually jealous right now?"

Seris didn’t look away or deny it or redirect. She just met his eyes directly with her chin up and her crimson gaze steady. "Isn’t it obvious?"

Something in his chest did a full embarrassing flip.

He had spent so many months thinking about the version of her he had written.

The calculated elegant villain with the sharp mind and the dangerous smile who operated on motive and manipulation. He had written her to be terrifying and compelling and three steps ahead of everyone in the room.

And she was all of those things. But she was also this. Standing in front of him in an obsidian gown at a royal banquet being completely openly jealous because he had been looking too hard at a corner of the room.

’This is really the same person I made up?’

He shook his head once at himself.

He reached out and caught her gloved hand and laced his fingers through hers. "Okay. I promise I won’t go looking at anyone else."

Seris squinted at him. "Really."

Alden raised their joined hands slowly until the silver rings caught the chandelier light the same way they had when she had done it earlier for the group.

"My eyes are staying right here," he said.

The look that came over her face was different from the sharp victorious smile she had worn for the others.

"Much better," she said softly.

Alden laughed. "Come on. Let’s get out of this noise for a bit."

"A wonderful idea."

He led the way and she stayed right beside him and they moved through the crowd together toward the far side of the hall. People stepped aside without really deciding to.

Alden pushed open a set of heavy glass doors.

The noise of the banquet cut down to almost nothing instantly.

Cool air came in from the balcony and after the warmth and perfume and noise of the hall inside it felt like taking your first real breath after a long time underground.

The balcony was wide marble stretching out above the academy grounds. Below them the courtyard and the spires of the academy sat quiet and silver in the moonlight. Above them the night sky was clear and enormous and the moon sat in the center of it round and bright.

Seris stepped to the railing beside him. The dark fabric of her gown moved softly in the breeze and the silver threading caught the moonlight the same way it had caught the chandeliers inside.

For a moment neither of them said anything.