“So, you don’t approve.”
“I can’t say I do.”
“Of what? The lab or the party?”
He cleared his throat. “Blade’s in the library, preparing for your lesson on royal popularity, if you’re looking for him.”
“Right.” I nodded once. “I get it. You don’t approve of either.”
“Only because both situations put you in position to end up in trouble.”
“Blade will be there tonight, and you’ll be there at every training session.”
“I wish I could say that gives me comfort.”
“Well—” I turned away. “It’s too bad, Falcon. If David agrees, you can bloody-well get over it.”
“Yes, Your Majesty,” he said resolutely, following me up the stairs.
I wished I could tell him to go away. He’d made me mad now, and I really didn’t even want to be in the same space as him. In my old life, I could’ve stormed off and slammed my bedroom door, but this version of me had to wear any disdain under her sleeve and express only composure. It sucked.
“I’m sorry, Ara.”
I stopped and angled my neck slowly to see Falcon. He’d stopped about six paces behind me, hanging his head. “What for?”
“You have every right to celebrate this. What happened at training the other day was spectacular, and if it weren’t for Jason, it wouldn’t have happened.”
I walked down a few steps and stood on the one just above him so we were almost the same height. “Look, I respect you, Falcon. A lot. And I. . .” I thought about it for a second. “Your support would mean a lot to me, you know.”
He looked up, his face swapping the sternness for a smile. “I support the result. Just not so much the process.”
“Then you’ll come to the party tonight?”
He laughed. “I can’t say I’ll go that far, but I won’t stop you from going.”
“Well, I didn’t think you would.”
He wet his lips, nodding. “I was planning to.”
“What?”
“Come on.” He walked ahead of me. “Let’s go find Blade and tell him the good news.”
“I can’t believe you were going to stop me.”
“Hang on.” He cordoned me off from the last step with the back of his forearm.
I stopped abruptly against his sleeve. “Why are we hanging on?”
“Em and Mike are in there.” He nodded to the Great Hall.
“So?”
“So, they’re arguing.”
“Are we listening in?” I asked with a laugh.
“No.” He lowered his arm. “We’re respectfully not trespassing.”
“But we’re going to the library.”
“And if we walk past now, they might think we heard them.”
“So what if we do? They should take their business somewhere private.” I shoved past Falcon and nearly tumbled backward down the step as Emily flew past us suddenly, her face in her hands. “Em?” I called, but she evaporated.
“You okay?” Falcon asked.
“Yeah.” I let go of the railing and dusted myself off. “She was in a real hurry.”
Falcon looked over his shoulder. “Trouble in paradise.”
“So it would seem.” I considered the doors to the Great Hall for a second. “I’m gonna go see if Mike’s okay.”
Falcon nodded once and fell back into guard mode behind me.
The lone figure sitting at the right hand of the king’s chair didn’t notice Falcon and I on the balcony above him. His head was in his hands, his troubles somewhere on the ground between his feet.
I tiptoed down the curvy staircase, my hand tracing the railing and, once at the bottom, appeared at vamp speed beside him. “Mike?”
He lifted his head and our eyes met. I expected to see tears, but he just looked worn. “Hey, Ara.”
“What just happened? Emily all but caused a tornado on her way outta here.”
He sighed and his brow landed against his thumb, his elbow on his knee. “I can’t do it anymore.”
“Do what?”
“This business with Emily.” He sat tall again. “Ever since she left university and moved here, she’s been really needy and whiney. I just. . .”
“She’s probably just bored. I’ll assign her a task other than council member. Maybe she—”
“She gave me back the ring.”
“What?” I screeched.
“She gave it back to me—last night. She just walked up and said she was done, that she didn’t want to get married anymore.”
“Oh, Mike.” I sat down in David’s chair.
“It’s okay.” Mike spun around to face me, tucking his legs under the table. “I mean, she took it back this morning—she was over it, you know, whatever made her break up with me. But—”
“But?”
“But I didn’t want her to take it back.”
“Why?” I reached out and wound my fingers in the ball of his fist.
“I’m exhausted, to be honest, Ara. And I think maybe I jumped into a relationship too soon after we broke it off. I just—” He leaned back in the chair and looked up at the roof. “I just need some time to clear my head.”
I nodded. “She’ll understand.”
“Well, she didn’t.” He presented the room, aiming his hand off to the path Emily had taken in haste. “She ditched the ring at my head.”
I tried not to laugh. “She did?”
“Yeah.” He looked around the floor for a second. “I don’t even know where it landed. For all I know, with a throw like that, it went through twenty-odd walls and ended up in the library.”
I laughed then. So much for sensitivity. “We’ll find it.”
“I know.” He nodded. “But she’s not getting it back this time, Ara. I’m done.”
“You’re ending it?”
“No.” He stood up. “She ended it.”
“Mike?” I started, but he walked from the room, and I just watched, deciding then that inviting him to our lighthouse celebration was a bad idea, especially considering how much he hated Jason. “This party is getting smaller and smaller,” I said to Falcon.
“I’m sure Emily will go.”
I looked up to where he stood on the balcony of the second floor. “Can you go ask her?”