Book 5: May I Have This Dance?

Amval

Ingrid eyes me suspiciously. Of all the risks I’ve taken coming up here, this may be the riskiest. This is the one that saw me breaking into my memorial chamber to pilfer my own clothes, the one that stands the greatest chance of destroying everything I’ve earned over the course of this conversation.

“You’ve mentioned the night we met,” I say. “And how you didn’t particularly like me.”

She nods with a wry smile, her golden hair loose and flowing. Goddess above. I may be dressed in royal colors, but she looks like a work of art in just a simple nightgown.

“I didn’t have the same experience,” I admit. “I thought you were lovely, if a bit confusing.”

She laughs. “I’ve seen you with your siblings now. You had heard a joke before.”

“Not at a royal function,” I say honestly. “And not the way you make them. That man you met, he wasn’t prepared for that.”

“And this one is?”

“I would like to think so.” I straighten my dou