She yelps.
I find her nipple beneath her clothes and flick it hard with my tongue.
She shoves me away from her, and I stumble back in relief. “You have feeling in your nipple! Thank gods!”
“What the fuck, Arienna!” she shouts as the two men spin around.
Nicholas moves towards her, then stops. There’re so many emotions on his face, but my attention stays on my friend. “You’re really okay,” I say as I start to giggle. “Your nipple was already quite hard.” I freeze as understanding dawns. She said she was only against taking off her bra in front of Jace. Which means shewasn’tagainst taking it off in front of Nicholas.
Excitement starts to drown out my worry. Because if they actually get together, she’s going to be my sister, and that’ll make her a princess, and then she can’t protect anyone. She’ll need to be protected. By a whole host of guards.
“Arienna, I swear to the gods, if you say one more word, I will stab myself just to see what it feels like. Because I was thinking while I fell off my crow,” she says, advancing like a jungle cat, “that I have been describing the feeling of being shot wrong all this time. It’s not a sharp stabbing pain that makes you scream. It’s more like being hit by a giant fist that knocks the wind out of you. The arrow is so fast, you don’t feel its cut, only the pressure of its impact.”
I gasp, remembering all too clearly how she drank poison just to make sure she described it accurately in her books.
“They have really good healers here,” she threatens.
Knowing she is dumb enough to follow through, I press my lips together.Fine. If I can’t play matchmaker directly, then I’ll do it sneakily.Smiling wide, I nod.
Her eyes narrow, but she doesn’t push – perhaps worried I’ll continue this conversation.
Turning to Jace, I ask, “When’s dinner with the ladies and lords?”
I skipped lunch, too upset to eat, but now my stomach is growling. And the gears in my head are turning.
“In about an hour.”
“Will Richard be back by then?”
He shakes his head. “Probably not. The debate ends in half an hour, then he’s meeting Evangeline.”
“So you’ll need to attend in his place?” I ask Nicholas.
His jaw tics, but he nods.
“I shall attend as well,” I say, clapping my hands together.
Fabia pins me with her signature look. The one that says she thinks I’m actinghighly suspicious.
But I don’t care. I’m going to protect her the only way I know how. I’m going to get her to fall in love with Nicholas.
Twenty-Five
A good little slut does not set their friend up on a blind date with a praying mantis. Even if she’s really cute.
In my defence, I thought Fabia was both a monster fucker and a lesbian…
- Arienna
Well, bugger.
I didn’t think about this at all.
Standing at one head of the large dining table, I frown as Nicholas takes his place at the other. I wanted to sit beside him so I could talk up Fabia. How is he going to learn how awesome she is when he’s all the way over there? It’s way too far to shout, with nearly a hundred seats in-between us.
As my best friend pulls my chair out for me, she pins me withthe look. Her eyes are narrowed. Her lips are in a flat line, and she’s positively screaming at me:
“Why are you acting so suspiciously, Arienna?”
