“Excuse me,” Mr. Delany said, right behind me, and my heart nearly stopped. “Is that…Meghan Chase?” I turned to him with a sickly smile. “It is you. I thought so.” He gaped at me. “What are you doing here? Your mother told us you were at a boarding school in Maine.”
So that’s where I’ve been all this time. Nice cover, Mom. “I’m…uh…home for Christmas vacation,” I answered, saying the first thing that came to mind. “And I wanted to see my old school one more time before I went back.”
Mr. Delany frowned. “But, Christmas vacation was several…” He trailed off suddenly, a glazed look coming over his face. “Christmas vacation,” he murmured. “Of course. How lovely for you. Will you be coming back next year?”
“Um.” I blinked at his sudden change of mood. “I don’t know. Maybe? There’s still a lot of things to work out.”
“I see. Well, it was nice to see you, Meghan. Enjoy the dance.”
“See you, Mr. Delany.”
As he wandered back toward the punch bowl, I breathed a sigh of relief. “That was a close one. Nice save, Puck.”
“Huh?” Puck frowned at me. “What do you mean?”
“The charm spell?” I lowered my voice to a whisper. “Come on, you didn’t cast that?”
“Not me, Princess. I was about to turn his wig into a ferret, but then he went all sleepy-eyed before I could pull it off.” Puck sighed, gazing at the retreating English teacher in disappointment. “Pity, really. That would’ve livened up the party. There’s so much glamour here, it’s a shame not to use it.”
I looked over his shoulder. “Ash?”
The Winter prince gave me a faint smile. “Subtlety has never been Goodfellow’s forte,” he murmured, ignoring Puck’s scowl. “We’re not here to cause a riot. And human emotions have always been easy to manipulate.”
Like mine were? I wondered as we continued across the gym floor. Did you just cast a charm spell to manipulate my emotions, like Rowan tried to do? Are my feelings for you real, or some sort of fabricated glamour? And do I even care if they are?
At the tables, Puck stepped in front of me and bowed. “Princess,” he said formally, though his eyes were twinkling as he held out a hand. “May I have the honor of the first dance?”
“Um.” For a moment, I balked at the idea, on the verge of telling Puck that I couldn’t dance. But then I felt Ash’s gaze, reminding me of a moonlit grove and swirling around the dance floor with the Unseelie prince as scores of faeries looked on. You’re Oberon’s blood, his deep voice murmured in my head. Of course you can dance.
Besides, Puck wasn’t exactly giving me a choice. Taking my hand, he led me toward the floor. I glanced at Ash in apology, but the prince had moved to a dark corner and was leaning against the wall, looking out over the sea of faces.
And then we were dancing.
Puck danced very well, though I don’t know why this surprised me. He probably had loads of experience. I stumbled a few times at first, then closed my eyes and imagined my first dance with Ash. Stop thinking, Ash had told me that night as we swirled across the floor in front of several dozen fey. The audience doesn’t matter. The steps don’t matter. Just close your eyes and listen to the music. I remembered that dance, the way I’d felt with him, and the steps came easily once more.
Puck gave a soft chuckle. “Okaaaay,” he murmured as we spun around the room, “I seem to remember a certain someone swearing that she couldn’t dance at all. Obviously I must’ve been with her twin sister, because I was expecting you to step on my toes all night. Been taking lessons, Princess?”
“Oh…um. I sort of picked it up while I was in the Nevernever.” Not entirely a lie.
As we moved around the dance floor, I caught glimpses of Ash, standing alone in the corner with his hands in his pockets. It was too dark to see the emotion on his face, but his gaze never left us. Then Puck pulled me into a twirl, and I lost sight of him for a moment.
The next time I glanced in Ash’s direction, he wasn’t alone. Three girls, one of them the skinny blonde who had been melded to Scott a few minutes ago, had trapped him and were very obviously flirting. Smiling coyly, they oozed close, flipping their hair and giving him sultry looks from beneath their lashes. My hand fisted on Puck’s lapel. It took all my willpower not to stomp over and tell them to back the hell off, but what right did I have? Ash wasn’t mine. I didn’t have any claim to him.
Besides, he would probably just ignore them, or tell them to go away. But when I peeked at the corner again, I saw Ash smiling at the girls, achingly handsome and charming, and my stomach roiled. He was flirting with them.
The song came to an end and Puck drew back, frowning slightly, as though he knew my heart wasn’t in it anymore. I fanned myself with both hands, feigning breathlessness, but really drying the tears that stung my eyes. Ash was still there in the corner, chuckling at something one of the girls had said. My throat closed up, and my chest felt tight.