She smiled softly. “Yes, I'm certain. David loves you, okay. And it is real love. I can sense it.”
“And you’re sure mine isn't?” Blade said.
She looked at him. “Yep. Sorry, Blade, you just have to get over it.”
“Should I quit?” He looked at Morg, not me. “Maybe I should work in the general Core? I might be too close to Amara to ever break free of the spell?”
“Is that what you want to do?” I asked. “Work in General?”
“No,” Blade said, rubbing his brow. “I really don’t, but I can’t seem to stop thinking about you.”
“I'm sorry, Blade. If I’d known about this curse, I’d never have even talked to you.”
“It’s not that big a deal,” Morgaine said. “The curse only works on men whose hearts don't belong to another.”
“Really?” I looked up then.
“Yes.” Morgaine reached down and took both of Blade’s hands, drawing them up to her lap. “When you fall in love, the curse will break.”
Blade exhaled, his shoulders dropping. “So, like, what—true love breaks its spell?”
Morgaine laughed. “Yes. So, all you have to do is find a nice girl and get her to fall in love with you.”
He rubbed his hairline with the heel of his palm. “Story of my life.”
Morgaine’s eyes glistened and she flicked her cherry hair from her face. “Story of all our lives, Blade.”
I stifled a cough in the back of my throat that tried to escape as laughter. For once, I totally ‘got’ Morgaine, and it was hilarious.
Blade stood up and walked across the room, still rubbing his head. “No offence, Your Majesty, but I'm glad I'm not really in love with you.”
“Me too,” I said, then frowned. “Hey, why are you glad?”
“Because it’s wrong. I'm supposed to protect you—not fall in love with you. It goes against everything I've been trained to do—against everything I believe in.”
“Well, then, I guess we need to find you a girl as soon as possible. Got a preference?”
He turned around, his grin lighting the room, the shadows on his face making the contours around his nose and mouth look like a moustache. “Blondes.”
“Blondes?” Morgaine scoffed. “Why?”
“Just do.” Blade shrugged. “I'm a bit shallow. That was the dead giveaway that something was wrong when I started thinking about Amara in all the wrong ways.” He extended his arm, an upturned palm pointing to me. “No offence.”
“None taken.” I raised both hands then looked to Morgaine, but she was gone. “Hey, where’d she go?”
Blade looked to the stairs. “Weird. Don't know.”
“Maybe she went to see where the rest of the Council are.” I turned back and made patterns over the cracks on the tabletop.
“You okay.” Blade sat down carefully beside me. I felt his hesitation.
“Yeah. I'm okay. I guess it explains why guys would possibly ever fall for me.”
“Aw, hey, don't be like that.” He carefully tilted my chin upward. “One of the first things I noticed about ya was how pretty you are. That’s why guys fall for a girl. From there on in, it’s to do with personality. But, put a pretty face like this in front of a guy and he’s bound to want your affections, curse or not.”
His English accent made me smile; somehow, everything sounded better coming out of his mouth. And I realised then—that was how it happened. I felt an attraction to his accent, his cute smile, his cheeky mannerism. I dropped my head into my hand again. “I pity any guy who ever walks in a room with me if he has an accent and a cheeky grin.”
“Sucker for it, huh?”
I nodded into my hands. “Uh-hu.”
“Then I guess a cheeky grin is my curse.” He sat back then, resting his knuckles by the corner of his lip, his elbow on the table. “You haven't felt anything for Falcon, have you?”
I laughed. “God, no. He’s Mike reincarnated.”
“Ha! That's what we say over at the barracks.” He rolled back with laughter. “We all reckon Falcon and Morgaine should get together—since Morg is so much like you, red hair aside.”
“Why Falcon and Morg?”
“They’d be the Mike and Ara that never happened.”
I smiled. “Well, Mike has Emily. That’s the way it was always meant to be.”
“Emily?” Blade scoffed. “You mean that fiancé we never hear about?”
“Huh?”
“He talks more about Morgaine than he does Emily. I was starting to think she was just a trophy.”
I sighed. “No, he just…he keeps his heart closed off. Besides—” I grinned, looking back up the stairs to make sure no one was coming. “I have sneaking suspicion Morgaine might actually like you.”
“Me!” He jostled, rolling his neck so he almost had a double chin. “No way. She throws her shoes at me.”
“Ha! Really?”
“Yeah.” He rubbed his elbow. “She got me real good, too.”
“I got news for ya, Blade. Girls pick on guys when they like them. Didn’t you ever go to kindergarten?”
“No.” He shook his head.
“Oh. Um—well, she’s being mean to you because she’s insulted you haven't taken her very subtle signals that she has feelings for you and done something about it. You're expected to read her mind.”
Blade nodded, his lips turning down with thought.
“So, do you like her?”
“Uh, not really. It’s hard to like someone when they’re calling you names.”
I chuckled. “Ask her out on a date; if she stops calling you names, it means she likes you.”
“And what if she doesn't like me?”
“Then start collecting the shoes she throws at you until she has none left.”
He laughed, and I couldn’t help but join in. I knew I shouldn’t, but it felt so good to laugh. There was this moment, when finding something funny, where you could actually completely forget all your problems.
“Okay.” He stood up, giving the table a soft whack with both palms. “A date then.”
“Who’s going on a date?” Mike asked, stepping into the room. “Not you two?”
“No, Mike.” I sighed and stood up. “Blade and Morgaine.”
Mike smiled at Blade. “I thought she hated you?”