“I wish I could dance,” Ember lamented.
Tilda opened her eyes and glanced down at Ember. “Just dance. It’s fun even if you’re alone.”
Ember stared forlornly out at the crowded dance floor. “When I was a kid, all I wanted to do was go to the palace and attend one of these balls. And now that I am, I’m stuck at the side, unable to join in or have fun.”
“You’ve joined in. You got to have a nice meal, you got all dolled up, and you’re listening to the music,” I pointed out, trying cheer her up. “You’re a part of it.”
“Maybe,” Ember said doubtfully, but then she shook her head. “No, you’re right. I guess I just spent too much time daydreaming about dancing with Prince Charming. Or Princess Charming, as it were.”
As the song ended, Linus politely extracted himself from the arms of a lovely but clingy Marksinna in her early teens, and he came over to where I was standing with Ember and Tilda. His cheeks were flushed, but he had a goofy, lopsided grin plastered on his face.
“How are you doing?” I asked Linus as he reached us.
“Good. I mean, I think I am.” He ran a hand through his dark hair and his smile turned sheepish. “Did I seem to be making any mistakes?”
“No, you look like you’re doing really good,” I assured him. “Are you having a nice time?”
“Yeah. It’s a little weird dancing with so many strangers, especially when I’ve never been that into dancing, but most of the people are nice.” He glanced back toward where his parents were seated at a table. “And my parents seem really proud.”
“They are,” I said.
Linus turned back to me, his eyes twinkling. “Are you having fun? You look kinda left out here on the sidelines.”
“I’m having fun.” I smiled to prove it to him.
“Why don’t you come dance with me?” Linus suggested. “Cut loose for a minute.”
“Thank you for asking, but I don’t think I should.” I demurred as graciously as I could. “It wouldn’t be proper.”
“Not even for one song?” His eyebrows lifted as he stared down hopefully at me, making him appear more like an excited puppy than a teenage boy.
I shook my head ruefully. “I’m afraid not.”
“I’ll dance with you,” Ember piped in and stepped closer to him.
“Ember,” I admonished her, but Linus had already extended his arm to her.
She waved me off as she looped her arm through his. “It’s one song. It’ll be fine.”
“That’s the spirit.” Linus grinned and led her out to the dance floor.
I looked to Tilda for support, hoping she would back me up even though Ember had already disappeared into the crowd and it’d be too late to stop her. But Tilda just shrugged, still swaying her hips along to the music.
“Let them have their fun,” she said, smiling as she watched them twirl clumsily away from us.
“Ember is such a rebel sometimes.” I stood on my tiptoes, craning my neck in an attempt to keep my eyes on Linus and Ember as they weaved in between other couples.
“They’re fine,” Ridley said. I’d been so busy watching Linus and Ember that I hadn’t noticed Ridley come up beside me. “I doubt anyone will even notice her dancing. Everyone’s having fun, and most of the royals are getting drunk on wine.”
“Linus actually asked Bryn to dance first, but she declined,” Tilda told him, ratting on me even though I knew I’d done the right thing.
She had a mischievous glint in her eyes—parties like this always brought it out in her. While she hadn’t had anything to drink tonight, Tilda seemed to get drunk on good music and good dancing. Her relaxed elegance made me feel so rigid in comparison.
“You probably should’ve said yes. He could actually use a lesson in dance moves.” Ridley motioned to where Linus stumbled over Ember’s foot, but she helped him keep his balance.
“In private I’ll give him a few pointers,” I said. “But it wouldn’t be proper here. He’s my charge. I shouldn’t do anything that might blur the lines of professionalism.”
“I love it when you talk clean to me, quoting training manuals like sonnets,” Ridley teased, but I found his usual flirtation off-putting since I didn’t know how to respond.
Seeing him with Juni last night forced me to realize that I had some type of feelings for him. That left me unsure of how to act around him, so I’d rather be around him as little as I possibly could. At least until the feelings went away. And they had to eventually, right?
“There’s nothing wrong with being professional,” I told him coolly with eyes straight ahead, staring at the dance floor.
“There’s nothing wrong with dancing either.” Ridley moved so he was standing in front of me, forcing me to look at him. “Come on. Why don’t you dance with me?”
“We’re working,” I replied quickly, making him smirk.
“It’s a party, and everyone’s dancing. And as the Rektor, I am your boss.” He held out his hand to me.
“So this is an order?” I asked, eyeing his outstretched hand and hating how tempted I was to take it.
“If I say no, will you still dance with me?” he asked.
Tilda elbowed me gently in the side. “Just go dance, Bryn.”
Without thinking, I reached out and took his hand. His hand easily enveloped mine, and it sent flutters through my stomach, which I tried to suppress. His smile widened, and as he led me away, I glanced back over my shoulder at Tilda, who smiled reassuringly at me.
Once we’d lost ourselves in the sea of well-dressed trolls, Ridley stopped and I put my hand on his shoulder. I was careful to keep some distance between us, but when he put his hand on the small of my back, he pulled me closer to him.
“This isn’t so bad, right? Nobody’s gawking at us or chasing us with pitchforks,” Ridley said, smiling down at me as we danced in time with a dramatic cover of “Love Is Blindness.”
“Not yet, anyway,” I admitted.
I glanced around just to be sure we weren’t getting any dirty looks, but nobody really seemed to be paying us any mind. But I supposed that, based on the formal way both Ridley and I were dressed, and the fact that there were so many royals here from other kingdoms who didn’t know each other, they didn’t realize that we didn’t belong here, dancing alongside them.
Ember spotted us through a break in the crowd, and her jaw dropped. Instinctively, I tried to pull away from Ridley, but his hand was unyielding and warm on my back, holding me to him.
“So what’s going on with you?” Ridley asked, and when I looked up, his smile had fallen away and his dark eyes were strangely serious.
“Nothing’s going on.” I tried to brush him off with an uneasy smile.
“I feel like you’re mad at me.”
I hedged my answer and lowered my eyes. “Why would I be mad?”
“I don’t know. But you’ve been giving me the cold shoulder all night.” He paused. “You’ve barely even looked at me.”
“It’s not like I spend all my time staring at you,” I said, finding it hard to look up at him even now.
“Bryn. You know what I mean,” he insisted firmly, and I did.
I hadn’t meant to put a wall between us, but I really didn’t know how else to deal with things. He was apparently with Juni now, and even if he wasn’t, he was still my boss, and a tracker getting romantically involved with a Rektor was definitely a bad move, one that could cost us both our jobs. It opened up too many possibilities for corruption, manipulation, and nepotism.
So there was no way Ridley and I could ever be together, even if he wanted to. Or even if I wanted to, and I didn’t. Not really.
I finally willed myself to look at him, meeting his mahogany eyes, even though it made me flush with heat when I did. “I’m not mad at you. I promise.”
“If I did something to upset you, you can tell me,” he said in a low voice, distressed at the thought that he’d done something to hurt me. “That’s, like, the foundation of our fr
iendship. We’re always honest with each other.”
“I am,” I lied as convincingly as I could.
“Good,” Ridley said, not because he believed me, but because he didn’t know how else to push me.
“Is this why you asked me to dance?” I asked, trying to lighten the mood. “So you could interrogate me?”
“No. I asked you to dance because I wanted to dance with you,” he said simply. “You’re a good dancer.”
With that, he extended his arm and I stepped back away from him. Then he pulled me close, twirling me as he did, and I stopped with my back pressed against his chest. His arms were wrapped around me, and his breath felt warm on my neck.
We stayed that way for only a second, our hips swaying slightly, and my heart pounded so loudly I was terrified he could feel it, but I didn’t want to pull away from him. I actually wanted to stay that way forever, with the orchestra swelling, and the singer reaching her crescendo as she warned about the blindness of love. Under the dim candlelight of a chandelier in a crowded ballroom, with Ridley’s arms strong as they crossed over me, my body bound to his, I closed my eyes, wishing the moment would last forever.
But it was only a split second, and then he had my hand, and he spun me around again. This time, when he pulled me back into his arms, I extended my leg, the way the dance required. He dipped me down so low, my hair brushed against the floor, and my eyes stayed locked on his as he pulled me back up.
I stayed in his arms, my body pressed against his, feeling breathless and dizzy, and I knew it wasn’t just from the dancing. I stared up at him, and I’d never wanted to kiss anybody as badly as I wanted to kiss him then.
But instead I found myself blurting out, “It’s too bad Juni couldn’t be here.”
“Yeah.” Ridley sounded out of breath himself, and he blinked, clearing his eyes of whatever had been darkening them. “Yeah, it is.”
The song ended, so I pulled away from him and smoothed out my dress. I wanted to rush off the dance floor, retreating back in the shadows to stand with Tilda, but Ridley hadn’t moved. He stood in front of me with a puzzled expression on his face.
“What?” I asked.
“Nothing.” He tried to smile at me but it faltered. “Thanks for dancing with me.”
Ridley turned and walked away, leaving me alone in the middle of the dance floor.
FOURTEEN
mission
Even though I hadn’t drunk much at the anniversary party, I awoke the next morning feeling hung over. I would’ve been happy to spend the entirety of the day snuggled deep within the recesses of my blankets. It was barely after daybreak when Ember came pounding up the stairs to my loft and threw open the door.
“Unless my building is on fire, go away,” I told her as I buried my head underneath the pillow.
“Don’t be such a grump. I have good news.” Ember hopped on the bed with such force, it bounced me up. When I landed, I peered at her skeptically. “I’m leaving.”
“Why are you leaving?” I lifted the pillow from my head and rolled onto my back so I could look up at her. “And why is that good news?”
“I got my next assignment.” She beamed at me. “I’m heading out to get a new changeling.”
“Congratulations,” I said, but thanks to my sleepiness it came out a bit weaker than it should’ve.
Like me, Ember preferred being out on missions to being cooped up here in Doldastam. So even though it would be less enjoyable for me to be stuck here without her, I was genuinely happy for her.
“Thanks. I just came to say good-bye, and then I have to get going.”
“You’re leaving right now?” I pushed myself up so I was sitting, and glanced at the alarm clock on my nightstand. “It’s not even seven in the morning. When did you get the assignment?”
“Like, twenty minutes ago. Ridley called me to the Rektor’s office and gave it to me,” Ember said. “He did not look excited to be up this early. I think he drank too much wine last night.”
“Wait.” I rubbed my forehead, trying to clear my head. “None of this makes sense.”
Usually we got our assignments a few days to a week before we left. It gave us time to go over the changeling’s file and get to “know” them before we met them, and we got our travel arrangements in order, like booking hotels and plane tickets, if needed.
On top of that, it had only been a few days ago that the King and Queen had ordered all the trackers to stay in Doldastam until after all the guests had cleared out. Some of the guests were leaving tonight, but the majority of them weren’t heading out until tomorrow morning.
So, barring some kind of emergency, I didn’t know why they would send out a tracker before Monday afternoon. It didn’t make sense.
“Ridley said that the King had called him early this morning saying that they got a tip, and they needed someone to get this changeling in right away,” Ember explained.
“Which changeling?”
Ember pursed her lips and gave me a hard look. “You know I can’t tell you that. Our missions are confidential until after we return.”
As a matter of privacy and safety, we were never allowed to tell anyone where we were going or who the changelings were. It was to prevent things like what had happened with Linus, as well as the fact that the royals didn’t always want it getting around how well-off (or how not-so-well-off) their offspring had been in the human world.
“I know, I know.” I waved it off. “But what was the King’s tip? What’s so important that he roused Ridley in the middle of the night to start organizing your mission?”
Ember opened her mouth like she wanted to say something, but she couldn’t seem to find the words. And that’s when it hit me. It was so obvious, I couldn’t believe I didn’t figure it out instantly. I blamed my sleep-deprived brain for it.
“Konstantin Black,” I said.
“They don’t know for sure.” Ember rushed to ease my anxiety.
“This is ridiculous.” I threw the covers off me and leapt out of bed, barely noticing how cold the wood floor felt on my bare feet as I stomped over to my wardrobe.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m getting dressed.” I threw open my wardrobe doors, hard enough that the wardrobe nearly tipped forward, but I caught it just in time. I grabbed a sweatshirt and pulled it on over the tank top I’d slept in. “I’m gonna go find Ridley and give him a piece of my mind.”
“He’s probably back in bed,” Ember said.
“I don’t care.” I turned to face her. “I just can’t believe he would do this. This should be my mission, not yours. If Konstantin is back, then I should be the one going after him.”
Ember had been sitting on the bed, but she stood up now. Her hands were balled into fists at her sides, and she took a fortifying breath before speaking.
“Bryn. Stop.” She spoke harshly enough to break through my frantic agitation, but by the tightness in her voice I could tell she was doing her best to keep calm and not yell at me. “First of all, what you’re doing is incredibly patronizing. I am strong and smart and capable enough to handle this mission.”
“No, I know that, Ember,” I hurried to apologize. “You’re an excellent tracker. I don’t mean it like that.”
“I know what your deal with Konstantin is, better than almost anyone,” she went on. “So I get it. But I also know what a massive jerk he is and how much of a threat he is. I understand the danger, and I also understand how important it is to bring him back to stand trial for his crimes.”
“I know,” I said.
“But—and I mean no offense by this—I’m not clouded by my own personal feelings about him.”
I wanted to argue with Ember on the last point, but I couldn’t. Only a few days ago I’d confessed to Ridley that I wanted to kill Konstantin and that I wouldn’t let him get away again. Since I’d seen him last week, I’d been replaying my fight with Konstantin again and again, thinking about how much worse I would hurt him if I saw him again.
My own need for revenge would make it impossible for me to think as rationally and impartially as Ember, so I fell silent and lowered my eyes.
“I understand the severity of the situation, and I’ve got it under control,” Ember said at length. “That’s why Ridley chose me and not you.”
“I know that you’re right and that he made the right choice. I just…” I trailed off.
“You still want to be the one going,” she finished for me.
I looked up at her and nodded. “Yeah.”
“I get it. But it’s actually a pretty big if that it is even Konstantin. The reports were sketchy. They’d just heard rumors that he might be in the area of another prominent changeling.”
“How do they know?”
“After the incident with Linus, they sent out Konstantin and Bent’s pictures to all the tribes so their guards could keep a lookout. They’re, like, Trolls’ Most Wanted now,” Ember explained. “A Trylle tracker was getting one of their changelings, and they thought they saw someone that looked like Konstantin, and that happened to be nearby where this changeling I’m going after lives.”
“I know you can’t tell me who or where, but can you tell me if you’ll be close, at least?” I asked. “In case you need backup.”
“I’ll be less than a day’s drive from Doldastam, if I need you.”
“And you will call me if you need me? Or Ridley or Tilda or somebody, right?” I asked, and I was thinking more of Ember’s safety than my own vendetta. Ember was a good fighter, but so was Konstantin, and he wasn’t working alone.
“Of course I will,” she promised me with a smile. “But I shouldn’t. I’m sure everything will be fine. The Trylle tracker was probably mistaken, and I’ll find a perfectly safe changeling and bring her home.”
“How long do you think you’ll be gone?” I asked.
“On the off chance that things get dodgy, Ridley wants me to try to make this a quick mission. I’m hoping a week will be good enough, but I also don’t want to risk scaring the changeling off.”
Frostfire Page 12