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I hurried to the guest dining room, following Amity in her wolf form as she trotted briskly through the darkened halls. When I stepped into the dining room, small and cozy save for the vaulted ceilings and extravagant albeit dusty chandelier, the four women were already seated at the table.
“I’m so sorry,” I said as I hurried in. “I was writing a letter and lost track of time.”
“No worries,” Fina said with a smile. “We only just arrived as well.”
Rona sucked her teeth. “Just like a princess to invite guests and show up late.”
I started. Rona said that with such venom it shocked me. “It’s just as I said, I was only—”
“Evening, ladies,” Lady Glennis said as she strode through the back door of the dining room. I wasn’t expecting to see her but I was grateful for the interruption. I took my seat at the table and took a quick sip of wine, avoiding Rona’s burning gaze. “I heard you had decided to dine together. I hope I’m not intruding.”
“Of course not!” Fina said brightly. “The more the merrier.”
Wynona barely hid a scoff. Glennis didn’t seem to notice—or if she did, she didn’t deign to give it a response.
Glennis took the last remaining seat at the table and cast us all a discerning smile. “I hope everyone enjoyed their day exploring the Nightfall Manor?”
“The library is amazing,” Fina said. “I’ve never seen so many books in one place.”
“And the gallery of portraits!” Adora said. “Stunning. You must have artists from all across Frasia!”
The kitchen staff came in with platters of food: roasted vegetables, a fine ham, roasted duck, crusty bread. It was a little simpler than the meals served at the court of Daybreak, but it smelled incredible. I took another sip of wine.
“And the training facilities, Wynona?” Fina asked. “How were they?”
If I didn’t know better, I would’ve thought Wynona’s eyes were almost sparkling. Somehow Fina could get even Wynona talking.
As we ate and drank more wine, conversation flowed smoothly and easily between us. I even caught myself laughing, hearing tales of Wynona knocking over Nightfall wolves on the training mats, and Adora getting lost in the winding halls of the manor and ending up in the servants’ quarters. Lady Glennis didn’t contribute much. She seemed content to eat and drink wine and watch us interact.
I wondered if this was another way she was testing us—watching us interact at a casual dinner. How much pull did the Lady Glennis have in this competition? I couldn’t bring myself to worry too much about it, though. I was having too much fun chatting and laughing with the other women. No one in the competition knew me as the standoffish Ice Princess of Daybreak—here I was just another lady, another competitor, and maybe, to some of them at least, a friend.
When the night wound down, I’d had enough wine to redden my cheeks. I wasn’t drunk—it wouldn’t be ladylike to get drunk—but I’d maybe had half a glass too many.
“Get some rest tonight, ladies,” Glennis said as she stood from the table. “You’ll meet the king tomorrow morning.”
We all nodded in acknowledgment, though I saw Wynona suppress an eyeroll. Likely she was predicting tomorrow to be a repeat of today. I simply curtsied, then wished everyone good night, with an extra wink to Fina. This dinner had gone remarkably well. I found I wasn’t even anxious about tomorrow—I was almost looking forward to it.
Outside the dining room, Amity and Rue were both waiting to escort me, both in their wolf forms. Strangely, I was already getting used to seeing them as their big-pawed gangly wolf selves. Sometimes it was nice not to have to engage in the courteous small talk. Maybe they knew that, too.
I rounded the corner toward my quarters and nearly walked into someone heading my way. “Oh!” I said. “I apologize, I didn’t—”
“Fancy seeing you here,” the guard said.
I took a step back. In front of me was the same man from the library—except now, he wasn’t wearing the leather armor he’d worn earlier when he was, I assumed, on duty. Instead he was wearing plain dark trousers and a loose white shirt, which was open garishly low, revealing the dark hair on his broad, tan chest. I swallowed. My face was hot, but I was sure that was the wine.
At my side, the two wolves bent their front legs and ducked their heads low, ears back. Then they turned tail and scurried down the hall, back the way we’d just come, and disappeared out of sight. I almost wanted to call for them. Why would they just leave me with this stranger?
“I’m sorry,” I said with much less sincerity than my first apology, “what exactly are you doing in the ladies’ quarters?”
“Ah, I was just on a stroll earlier, and thought of our little encounter in the library.” He leaned one shoulder against the wall casually, like we did this all the time. He’d tied his dark hair back, which was a nice look for him—I shook that thought aside—but he still had on that irritating smirky expression.
I crossed my arms over my chest. The audacity of this man! Not only had he gotten into my business in the library—he was creeping around my quarters! I was prepared for Nightfall to be a bit more barbaric than the court of Daybreak, but this wasn’t animal behavior. This was plain old rudeness.
“I’m here for the King’s Choice competition,” I said, “and I don’t intend to spend my precious time in Efra engaging with rude manor employees.”
I intended to step around him, but my words only made his toothy smile bigger. Strangely, something about that smile kept my feet from moving. Again that prickly feeling ran down my spine, but it wasn’t entirely unpleasant.
“Well, I’d only intended to give you this.” He pulled a small sheet of folded parchment from his pocket and offered it to me.
