D.C.’s face fell. “You can’t tell anyone. Please, Jordan. There’s a reason people don’t know who I am. I just want to be ‘D.C.’, not ‘Princess Delucia’, especially at the academy.”
“Hey, relax,” Jordan said, pulling her in for a side-hug. “Your secret’s safe with us.”
Bear nodded his agreement and D.C.’s expression lightened.
“So, this is a birthday, right?” Jordan said. “Does that mean there’s cake?”
“It sure does,” D.C. answered. “And lots of it.”
Jordan bowed with a flourish and held out a hand. “Then lead the way, Your Highness.”
“I’ll go get those drinks from earlier,” Alex offered. “Second time lucky.”
“Do you want company?” Bear asked.
Knowing he was more interested in the cake option, she let him off the hook. “I’m good, thanks. I’ll meet up with you all in a minute.”
Alex headed across the middle of the ballroom, lost in her thoughts about the past half hour and oblivious to her surroundings. She was startled when a hand grabbed her arm roughly and pulled her into an uncomfortably tight embrace.
“What a fortunate surprise.”
Her heart leapt into her throat momentarily before her panic quickly turned into annoyance.
“I can’t say the same for you, Marcus,” Alex said, trying to wriggle free from his grasp.
“Be still, Alexandra. You don’t want to cause another scene, do you?” Marcus hissed into her ear. “Why don’t you dance with me instead?”
Without waiting for a response, he tightened his grip and forced Alex into a stiff waltz.
“You’re a stubborn little thing, aren’t you?” he said, keeping a fake smile plastered to his face even when she deliberately stomped her spiky heel on his foot for the third step in a row.
“The word ‘stubborn’ has such negative connotations,” Alex said. “I like to think of myself as determined.”
“You’re certainly determined to make my life more difficult than it needs to be, I’ll give you that,” Marcus said. “We never did get to finish our New Year’s Eve discussion, you know. And your mind remains silent to me. I don’t like unsolved mysteries.”
She tried to shrug, but he was holding her too tight. “I don’t like to wear running shoes without socks, but you know what they say. When life gives you lemons…”
Marcus clenched his jaw and his eyes narrowed. “You don’t seem to understand the predicament you’re in. I have questions that only you can provide the answers to—and you will answer them, Alexandra, one way or another. Unfortunately, I have no easy way to spirit you out of here, not after your humiliating display earlier. Every single guard in this place has their eyes locked on you as if they’re waiting for a repeat of your imbecilic behaviour.”
“Imbecilic, huh?” Alex said. “Ouch, Marcus. That hurts.”
“You need to stop testing my patience,” he said through gritted teeth.
She returned his glare. “And you need to let me go before I deliver that encore performance you’re so worried about.”
“You can make a scene all you want—as soon as we’re gone from here.”
Alex felt her stomach dip unpleasantly at his implication.
“In case you hadn’t noticed, we’re in the middle of the royal palace,” she said with much more confidence than she felt. “I’m not leaving, and you can’t make me.”
Marcus looked at her with a knowing glint in his eyes. “I believe you’ll find I can, in fact, make you.”
He released one of her hands and reached into his jacket, but Alex didn’t have a chance to be concerned about what he was reaching for because Kaiden chose that moment to tap on Marcus’s shoulder, diverting his attention.
“May I cut in?”
Marcus seemed just as surprised by the interruption as Alex was, and he loosened his hold on her enough that she was able to yank herself away from him.
“Absolutely,” she said, facing her would-be saviour. Thankful for the perfect timing of Kaiden’s intervention, Alex had to resist the urge to throw her arms around him in a grateful embrace.
“I apologise for the interruption, Mr. Sparker, but your dance partner is just too lovely for you to keep to yourself,” Kaiden said charmingly to the older man.
“She’s all yours,” Marcus returned politely, as if he hadn’t just been threatening her. He walked away from them with only a hint of a ‘we’re not finished’ glance towards Alex.
Exhaling with relief, she looked back at Kaiden. “Thank you. Really, really, thank you.”
“Do you want to tell me what that was all about?” he asked as he drew her close and led her into a smooth waltz.
“Not particularly,” Alex said, easily following his confident lead. “But needless to say, we don’t get along.”
“I could tell.” Kaiden nodded towards the pink marks blossoming on her upper arms from Marcus’s rough grip. “Marcus Sparker isn’t someone you want to have as an enemy.”
Alex sent him a bland look. “I promise to keep that in mind next time he invites me over for tea.”
“I’m serious, Alex. He’s dangerous.”
She stared into his troubled blue eyes before she broke the contact and focused on his shoulder instead.
“I know,” she said quietly.
They moved in silence for a few moments before Alex decided to speak again. “You’re really good at this. Dancing, I mean.”
“We’ve danced before,” he replied, and when she looked up, his eyes were no longer troubled—in fact, they were sparkling with amusement. It was a startling change from the serious expression they’d held just moments ago.
All the same, Alex frowned slightly, having no memory of ever dancing with him—and that was something she would definitely remember. But then she understood what he meant and replied, “Sword fighting hardly counts as dancing, Kaiden.”
“I disagree.” He spun her away from his body in a complicated three-step manoeuvre before guiding her back to him, keeping perfect time with the music. “It’s all in the movement.”
“Now you’re just showing off,” she said, now smiling herself. She was impressed he’d managed to not only surprise her with the move, but also guide her in and out of it without her having to do anything but follow along. She hadn’t even stumbled— which was quite the miracle considering the heels she was wearing.
“Maybe,” he admitted, with humour in his voice. “But it’s not every day I get to dance with ‘The Inebriated Guest’.”
Alex groaned and leaned forward to hide her face in the crook of his neck as he laughed at her.
“It’s not funny,” she muttered.
“I disagree again,” Kaiden said, and she moved her head back so she was looking at him once more. “Both the act and the explanation were the textbook definition of ‘funny’.”
She scrunched her face up. “Good to know I’m still a verifiable source of entertainment.”
“I heard a rumour that you’ll actually be participating in Combat this year,” Kaiden said. “If that’s true, I’m sure the entertainment will continue.”