Alex chuckled as he finished reading the letter and offered it back to me. I shook my head. I had already read it three times. "I wonder what he would think of that stunt you pulled during our trip back to the Academy!"
I shoved him. "You wouldn't dare!"
"Oh, but I would. You know Derrick would find it hilarious." Alex cleared his throat loudly and several apprentices looked over at him over the noon meal. "'I. Forgive. You,'" he declared in a high falsetto.
Several people snickered into their stew.
I put my hands on my head and Ian wrapped an arm around my shoulder.
"Let Ryiah be, Alex, I think we've all teased her enough – it's been over two months." Then he grinned. "After all… We. Forgive. You."
I lurched to my feet.
"Oh, Ryiah, we were only playing," the fourth-year began.
I raised a brow. "You tease me for the night I declare my love, yet I seem to remember you being rather enthusiastic when I was kissing you."
Ian's eyes twinkled mischievously. "That was a good night." He snorted. "Until Darren had to catch me in his arms."
I cringed. I had forgotten that last part.
Ever since that night I had avoided the prince at all costs. When our paths did accidentally cross in practice or passing I had made a point to show it was not anger but humiliation that kept me distant. I thought I'd played the part very well. No one was accusing me of being in love with Darren now.
"Ryiah!" Ella had arrived late to lunch and she was frowning. "You promised you would let me help you get ready for the solstice tonight – why are you still eating?"
That was today? I stared at her, horrified. I could not believe we had been at the Academy for almost three months.
"Come you." She grabbed my arm, dragging me away from the table to begin our elaborate dress. "You'll have plenty of time to flirt with Ian tonight."
****
Ella and I descended down the ballroom stair and I felt like royalty. "You want to look beautiful for the boy who loves you," was her justification for the dress that had cost me three month's apprentice wages. "You can always wear it when you are at court as a visiting mage. You'll need something fancy that goes with your new status." I shouldn't have listened. But the second we had entered the dressmaker's shop in Langli I had forgotten any protests I had.
Now I was entering the Academy ballroom in a sweeping dress fit for a princess with my hair done in long, soft curls - quite the opposite of current fashion but undeniably stunning in the mirror once I had seen Ella's creation. I didn't have any costly gems to adorn it like Priscilla and some of the other highborn girls, but I didn't need them – my scarlet red hair was enough of an accessory.
My dress was a striking maroon, a giant silk skirt with gold tissue-thin gauze beneath that sparkled whenever the light caught its movement. There were small gold-embroidered blossoms at the corset that flowered out into a deep, swooping neckline. It was a dress that up until my apprenticeship I had only dreamed of owning.
A sneering voice caught me as I reached the end of the stair. "Are you really wearing the dreadful thing without sleeves?"
I blushed. The dressmaker hadn't had quite enough time to finish the dress in the port, and after seeing the silhouette without I had decided to leave it unfinished. "I like it this way."
"You shouldn't. Only lowborn wenches expose their arms."
Ella stepped in to defend me against Priscilla. "We expose our arms every day in practice. Why should it matter while she's wearing a dress?"
"It's an insult to all highborns."
Ella rolled her eyes and then noticed Darren standing next to his betrothed. He had remained oddly quiet throughout the entire conversation. "Darren, you're a prince, is Ryiah's new fashion offending you?"
His eyes met mine and I thought I would die from the wait. He didn't say anything and I only grew more uncomfortable.
Ella sighed. "Well, it doesn't matter what either of you think. The court was wearing dead birds in their hair five years ago so clearly fashion is very subjective." She hooked her arm in mine, steering me away from the awkward silence.
When we met up with our escorts the boys' jaws dropped and when they finally seemed capable of talk they rushed off to bring us our drinks for the evening.
"Now that is how you greet a lady," Ella remarked, approvingly. Alex couldn't seem to look at her without blushing, and Ian kept staring until I thought I would crawl out of my skin.
Finally Ian overcame his shock and pulled me to the side, grinning wickedly down at me. "Do you remember how we met, Ryiah?"
I blushed. "Of course, you were so charming. You told me everything I wanted to hear."
"And then I kissed your hand for luck."
"And I said you'd probably done that to all the young ladies."
"And I told you it didn't make my gesture any less sincere."