I felt a hand on mine and looked at Nico. “It is less they want to watch you embarrass yourself and more they are perfectly happy to catch it on film if it happens.” He gave me a cheeky grin and I smiled in thanks.
“Because that’s better.”
The car pulled to a stop and I saw someone coming over to the car. I looked to Dad in panic and he gave me a reassuring smile. The car door opened and Dad got out, followed by Nico who turned and held his hand out to me.
“Allow me, Lady Tatiana.”
He gave me a smooth as silk smirk, his eyes shining, and I fought to remind myself exactly what game he was playing here. I tried valiantly to suppress my return smile as I let him help me out of the car.
“Thank you, your highness.” I gave him a stupid little bob that was meant to be a somewhat polite curtsey and he smiled widely.
He offered me his elbow and I took it, finding his smile infectious. “So far, so good. Yes?” he asked, leaning his lips towards my ear, as he led me towards the doors of the theatre.
I nodded, my nose wrinkling as I tried not to laugh and found walking through this crowd of people far less scary than I just had. “Yes. But if I take you down, it’s not my fault.”
We paused for a photo and Nico nodded at a couple of people with a polite smile before we kept walking. But I didn’t really pay attention to much because I knew I’d panic otherwise.
“I’d gladly go down for you, my lady,” he whispered and I turned to him quickly with a laugh.
“Really? Here?”
He looked around as though he wanted to say or do something more than he could. “Any time. Any place.” He caught my eye and we shared a laugh.
I leant towards him as we started up the stairs. “I thought you were going to behave tonight?”
“I told Uncle Max I’d be on my best behaviour. I didn’t say what sort of behaviour that was going to be.”
I bit my lip to keep the smile at bay. “Well I’m going to addendum that, or I’m probably going to be further accused of being your latest squeeze.”
“Would that really be so bad?” he asked me, his voice low and tempting.
But it would be bad, and not just because it wasn’t really something I wanted. I was saved answering when I saw Lia smile and incline her head at me and I waved as we made our way to each other through the people in the foyer.
“I was probably not meant to wave, huh?” I asked her.
Her eyes shone with humour, but she kept her expression neutral. “Not so much. Prince Dominic, pleasure to see you.” She curtsied perfectly.
Nico gave a short head bow. “Likewise, Lady Malmont. How have you been?”
“Fine. Thank you. Just finishing off some assignments before the holiday break.”
Nico nodded. “Wonderful.”
“How long until we need to go in?” I asked.
Lia looked around. “I’d say fifteen minutes, maybe?”
“Okay. I’m going to find the little girls’ room then.”
Lia pointed about as surreptitiously as she possibly could. “It’s over that way. There’s signs. You shouldn’t be able to miss it.”
“It’s okay,” I said with a smile. “I will make doubly sure not to accidentally end up in the men’s this time.”
Nico looked between us with humoured surprise. “I will need to hear this story.”
“Maybe not in public.” I smiled at Nico as I took a couple of steps backwards.
I just saw the look on his face as I turned and face planted into someone’s chest. The lingering scent that tickled my senses was vaguely familiar and my stomach plummeted as I took a guess as to who it was as his hand took mine as though he was intending to stabilise me.
“Lady Tatiana.”
Nailed it.
I took a step back and steeled myself before I looked up at him. “Your highness. Pleasure to see you again.” It was only as I started to curtsey that I realised we were still holding hands.
We both looked down at the point that was touching and I’m not sure who snatched their hand back first, but we disconnected very quickly.
“And you. You look very…festive tonight.”
“Is that your way of disapproving of my outfit, your highness?”
The jaw in his muscle twitched and his hand rose slightly too high for the fact he shoved it in his pocket. After a muttered string of Gallyrian, he said, “Nie. You look lovely,” almost begrudgingly.
He was dressed once again in a perfectly fitted tuxedo and he also looked lovely. So lovely in fact that I had the sudden fantasy of him standing in front of me – perhaps later that night – with his hair dishevelled as though someone (not me, obviously) had been running their hands through his hair, his bowtie and top…two buttons why not undone, and that coy smirk I’d only barely glimpsed so far playing at his lips while his eyes burned up a smoulder. My heart beat rapidly and my stomach tingled unnecessarily at the image.
Then I heard someone laughing behind me and I blinked as all fantasies thankfully departed.
Dmitri cleared his throat. “May I escort you to your seat, my lady?” he asked, a tenseness to his shoulders that told me he was just being polite again.
My fantasies were still making me feel a little weird, like some kind of emotional hangover, so my mind was a little blank and I needed to get out of there fast.
“Uh, thanks but I’m…lavatory bound.”
He inclined his head stiffly. “I will let you go then.”
Something in me rebelled at his words, but I gave it a swift kick in the shins. To Dmitri, I gave a stupid little wave as I nodded my head once and then pointed in the direction I was heading before going that way. I took a deep breath as I walked away, chastising myself for acting like an idiot yet again.
Still I made it to the toilet and back to my sister, father and Nico with no more incidents before the bell to go in sounded and we went to our seats. Nico sat on one side of me and Lia on the other, and I forgot all about idiocy or smoulders or flirty princes as I got lost in the magic of the ballet.
Chapter Seven
Dad was pacing backwards and forwards agitatedly as he snapped at someone in that super-fast Gallyrian on his phone.
Nico – who was still at Genovich on Thursday – looked at me for a second and there was actually a tinge of concern on his handsome features.
He called to Dad and I caught Dad’s name and something about there being a problem. So obviously my Gallyrian was improving somewhat. That or I just had a relative grasp of language and tones of voice, and could put two and two together.
Dad looked at us and seemed to rethink whatever it was he was about to say to Nico when I gave him a little wave. When Nico walked over to Dad, I started to look for Nikolai but then remembered we were at Genovich and he wasn’t shadowing my every move anymore. I frowned in annoyance because Nico and Dad were talking to each other in Gallyrian and that meant they specifically didn’t want me to know what was going on.
If Nico was looking concerned, then it was going to be something awful. That or the game was on, meaning it was probably something I should be concerned about, even if he wasn’t really. Of course, that made me think that whatever they were talking about had to do with Lia. But what could have happened for Dad to be so agitated about Lia?
“Lady Tatiana?” I looked around and saw Nikolai had arrived at my side without me noticing.
I wouldn’t have stopped my smile for him if I’d have been able. “Kol, hey. I didn’t expect to see you today.”
Which wasn’t a lie. I’d gone whole days since I’d arrived at Genovich without seeing him and even then it might have been an accident. Well not accident like I wasn’t supposed to, but it had only been us walking past each other. I was actually starting to miss him a little.
Nikolai looked over at Dad and Nico, and I knew him well enough to know there was something worrisome going on by the facial expression he wore.
&n
bsp; “Is it Lia?” I asked Nikolai.
He looked back to me quickly. “Everything is fine, my lady.”
I glared at him. “Everything is quite clearly not fine, Nikolai.”
I tried to keep up with whatever Dad and Nico were saying, but there was too much too quickly for me to get more than a general gist of it. Basically it sounded like…someone had said something bad about…something. I thought it was something to do with rebels, but maybe I just had my fantasy brain on and it was bored enough to come up with the most ridiculous scenario going. Quite clearly something had happened and it was not good.
I heard Nikolai breathe in. “There has been some developments in the south, my lady,” he said. “There have been reports that…” He paused and I knew he was listening to Dad and Nico’s conversation. When he frowned he seemed to pause…harder. “There have been some threats for violence against…some prominent people close to the king. His Grace is concerned, naturally–”
“Does he have to go back?” I asked quickly, not sure if I was worried about if Dad would be less safe somewhere else, or if I felt bad if he had to work even harder during the holidays.
Nikolai shook his head. “Nie. I do not think so. I believe he will be handling anything the king needs of him from here. His highness is offering his assistance and…” Nikolai failed to hide a self-satisfied smirk fast enough.
“What?” I asked with a laugh.
“His highness believes that the matter should wait until the New Year and that he is sure the crown prince is taking care of it.”
I could tell by Nikolai’s tone that he was being perhaps less professional now that he was supposed to be, and I was pretty sure I’d been a bad influence on him since we’d met. But at least I knew what was going on…sort of. At least it didn’t sound like something I’d understand even if someone explained it to me. It didn’t mean it was good, it just wasn’t something I could change by worrying about it.
I snorted and Nikolai and I shared a smile. “Okay then.” I checked the time and pointed behind me. “I’m due for a Gallyrian lesson. So…I will see you later?”
Nikolai nodded. “Ja.”
I nodded as well. “Cool. See ya, Kol.”
“Have a good day, my lady.”
I gave him a wave, didn’t think it worth interrupting Dad and Nico while they were still muttering among themselves, and headed off to meet Miss Karonov for my Gallyrian lesson. I was still nowhere near proficient – I’d been learning for something like five weeks after all – but my tutor seemed slightly less exasperated with me than she had been when we’d first met.
I had a reasonably decent lesson in which I didn’t even see Nico be all adorably annoying and I think Miss Karanov had the best lesson she’d had in a while.
Then I went to lunch where Dad seemed more agitated than usual – by which I mean at all. The man was pretty good at hiding when he was super agitated. My whole life I’d known when things bothered him because he’d go a little quiet or his eyes would look a little hazy or he’d get this almost wistful tone to his voice. But that day, he was snapping at people and muttering and left lunch by storming out of the room while yelling for Sergei.
He seemed better as we waited for Lia’s car to get from the front gates to the front door. When he called for Sergei as he went back to his office after greeting my sister, he’d managed to get a handle on himself and I presumed he’d spent the afternoon fixing his issue.
Nico, Lia and I hung out for a while, then had dinner. After which Lia and I banished Nico for some girl time, at which he bowed with a wry grin and bid us a good night. But the girl time wasn’t going as well as I’d hoped and I realised that Lia had been a little more stilted than usual. It was just that without Nico it was more obvious.
“How was the end of…term?” I hedged and Lia nodded, still not looking at me.
“Sure. Good.”
I passed her the block of chocolate and she shook her head as she rearranged, her eyes still glued to the screen. I mean I didn’t totally blame her. Zac Efron’s and Dwayne Johnson’s abs on the same screen at the same time? I was having trouble not obsessively staring at the screen myself.
“I trust Neil’s scaring off any potential suitors as usual?” I asked, trying to get her to engage or smile or something.
“I guess.”
I was starting to get a little agitated at her quietness. When she’d arrived, she’d hugged me and given me a small smile as usual. But since it had just been us and we’d put movies on, she’d started getting a little… Well she was answering my questions but with far less detail than she usually would. And I wasn’t sure what had happened.
“How about that nice guy in that comms course?” I asked her.
She shrugged. “He’s okay.”
“But I mean, has he spoken to you again?”
“Not really. He asked me a question about the assignment last week. It was sort of weird because the lecturer had just covered it in class, but I guess he wasn’t paying attention.” Lia’s tone was that one you used when you didn’t really want to be talking about something or talking to someone but you were trying to hide it and were doing a really bad job at it.
I nodded, thinking if I just talked to her like usual then maybe she’d loosen up or whatever. “Yeah. Or maybe he wanted an excuse to talk to you and he couldn’t think of anything else.”
Lia reached for her drink. “I don’t know. Maybe.”
“How did your assignment go?” Maybe another topic of conversation would make her talk to me.
“I think okay. We won’t get our marks back for another few weeks. Probably mid-January, maybe?”
“Well you usually think you’ve done terribly and end up with like ninety-five or something. So I bet it’ll be great.”
Lia looked at me with a small smile. “Thanks, Tati.”
I felt more excited than I probably needed to be that I’d managed some kind of even slightly positive reaction out of her. “What’s it look like after break?”
She waved her head around. “Uh, I’ll have the end of term tests. I think there’s a couple of essays for things. And a speech. It goes for something like fifteen minutes.”
I couldn’t think of anything worse. “Bloody hell. What’s it on?”
Lia gave me another small smile. “It’s a city council presentation. But it counts as our final test.”
I nodded. “Phew. Okay. What about charity stuff? Don’t you have a thing for orphans or something coming up?”
I saw the point at which she brightened. “Yes. The bi-annual fundraiser for the Franciscan Children’s Home.”
Lia had been involved with the Children’s Home since she landed in Gallyr. “What are you doing this time?”
“Charity auction with a lunch. There’ll be artists and booths. The kids will do a lot of it themselves, and I’ll go and help them with it all for a bit if I can get a handle on my assignments.”
“When is it?”
“First week of February or something I think. I’ve convinced Kostin to attend and I think Rex is trying to convince Mitya to go. Something about good PR before the announcement.” Lia looked at me out the corner of her eye and cleared her throat. “If you want to come, that would be good too.”
“Do you want me embarrassing the shit out of you?”
Lia’s smile was smaller and it didn’t reach her eyes. “Maybe we’ll just put you in flat shoes, yeah?”
“Sure sounds good,” I snorted and nudged her but, for once, she didn’t nudge me back.
“Okay. Cool. Thanks, Tati.”
We went back to watching some very fine cuts of abs for a while until I heard myself say, “Dmitri’s abs aren’t half bad you know,” as I ate more chips.
“Sorry? What do you know about Dmitri’s abs?” Lia asked, almost totally normally, indignantly surprised.
I shrugged. “I saw them by accident once.”
“How do you see some
one’s abs by accident?” she asked.
“I went to the kitchen looking for ice cream and found him down there in nothing but tracksuit pants,” I told her, passing her the packet of skittles she was reaching for.
“Nothing but tracksuit pants?” she clarified.
I nodded. “Yeah.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen him in less than suit pants and a shirt. How were they?”
I smirked. “In Jenn’s words, I very much wanted to explore every crevice with my tongue.”
Lia burst into laughter even as her cheeks went bright pink. “That I don’t doubt,” she said as she shook her head. “What did he do?”
“Offered me to join him in a coffee and I introduced him to a Gaytime.”
Lia was caught between a smirk and a nose-wrinkle of disgust. “I hate both those things.”
“Then it’s good you weren’t there, isn’t it?”
Lia laughed. “I can’t understand how you do.”
“Well of course not. You hate caramel and have no taste.”
This time she did nudge me. “I have taste. I just don’t like coffee or Golden Gaytimes. Plus you have to chew the biscuit bits, but the ice cream’s too cold to chew it–”
“But you have to chew it!”
Lia giggled as she pointed at me. This was an argument we’d had so many times. “No. You don’t chew ice cream. You know you don’t.”
I laughed. “Oh no. What do you do? You swallow it like a baby bird, all gulpy and weird.”
Lia whacked me playfully. “I’m not gulpy and weird. I mean I sort of…squash it on the roof of my mouth, then you swallow it because it’s really not hard enough to be a solid.”
“It is definitely a solid.”
“It’s not a solid.”
Our argument continued on as we finished our movies and laughed and debate moved on to whether we liked the all-man of Dwayne Johnson best or if Zac Efron was old enough now to be totally all man or if he still had a few years to go. She wasn’t quite as animated as usual, but if I stuck to uni and charities and movies then she seemed okay.
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