“That’s too bad,” he whispered, and Olivia flinched. “Like I said, lots of wine.”
Their dance ended, and he excused himself to mingle with the other guests while Olivia tried hard to keep a smile on her face when her heart sunk in her chest. The room grew hot, and for a moment, the walls appeared to close in around her. In all the time they’d spent together, she’d never seen that look in his eyes. He was angry, but there was something else behind it. Regret maybe? His smile didn’t reach his eyes as he spoke with Gigi and the other women gathered around him, and she longed to go to him. She wanted to hear his laughter and see his eyes light up, but when he caught her eye from across the room, she sucked in a breath at the pain suddenly there.
“Princess Olivia? Are you alright? Do you need some air?” Edric asked as he approached her.
“Yes, air would be good, thank you. I think this dress is tighter than I thought.”
He escorted her to the courtyard, empty except for a few other couples strolling in the moonlight. Olivia’s hands were folded in front of her as she’d been instructed by Allete to do, though all she wanted was to hold her stomach. It ached, and she felt sick but forced herself to breathe and swallow. Bad enough she ran out on one ball. She was not going to be sick in the courtyard.
“Are you sure you feel alright, Princess? You look pale.”
“Maybe I just need to sit down,” she murmured and made it to a stone bench beneath a large palm tree. It helped, and she managed a few deep breaths as she watched the other couples milling about. The flowers around them were brightly colored oranges and reds, framing the paths. “You know, this is the first time I’ve actually sat out here.”
“Really? But you live here,” Edric said with a smile.
“Yes, well I’ve been busy with all these balls and dinners… It takes a lot to be a princess, apparently.”
“I forget, sometimes, that you are not used to this life, Princess.”
“When we’re alone you don’t have to call me that,” she said. “It’s still weird. I’m just plain old Olivia from Nebraska. A girl who misses her blue jeans and flannel shirts.” She laughed as she stared at her dress. “I wake up some mornings and think I’m dreaming.”
Edric laughed with her. “I can’t picture you in flannel and jeans, Olivia.”
He really was a nice guy, and it didn’t hurt that he was easy on the eyes. Why had Quincy said what he did about her not liking Edric? She pushed it from her mind for the time being and focused on the conversation at hand. She wasn’t going to get any answers until the ball ended anyway, so she might as well enjoy herself, even if the man she really wanted to speak with was busy inside the ballroom, surrounded by women vying for a heart he’d already given to her.
Chapter 14
Olivia pushed Allete out of her room as nicely as possible and locked the door behind her. She leaned against it, sagging in her tight dress, and kicked her heels off, sending them flying across the room.
“If those were your shoes, I resent that! They weren’t even that tall, miss!”
“Go to bed, Allete,” Olivia called through the door. She heard the woman yelling about shoes and princesses but stopped listening and shook her head. She needed to get out of the dress and open a bottle of wine.
Quincy had still been talking with Gigi when Olivia had finally called it quits and headed up to her room. Edric and she had spent the last part of the evening talking in the courtyard, laughing about her life and how he wished he could get off the isle someday and travel. It made her like him a little more, knowing what he longed for, but no one would replace Quincy in her life—unless, of course, whatever the prince was coming to tell her changed that.
She’d just opened a bottle of sweet red, her favorite new alcoholic beverage, and poured two glasses when a knock sounded at her balcony door. Her heart leapt in her chest, knowing Quincy waited on the other side, but she thought of his eyes during the ball and it sank again. What was he going to tell her?
“Sorry I’m late,” he said once she let him inside and quickly closed the doors again. “Gigi would not let me leave. Persistent pain-in-my-ass.”
“I poured some wine,” she said. “You going to tell me what happened tonight?”
He picked up both glasses and handed her one while he gulped the other. “My father and I had a discussion tonight,” he said as he picked up the bottle and refilled his glass. “Apparently, there is more to this marrying situation than I was told.”
Olivia stared into the red liquid swirling in her glass and swallowed the nausea roiling in her gut. She set the wine down and cleared her throat. “What do you mean?” She pressed her hands against her stomach and frowned. What did I eat tonight?