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She shot me a short frown, but then her shoulders slumped and she mumbled, “Yes. Exactly.”
“Just for the record,” I offered, still grinning madly. “I didn’t mind the explosion.”
Huffing out a breath, she kept scowling. “I didn’t think you would, but—”
“You minded it,” I ended for her, growing somber. “Yeah, I could tell they had upset you. A lot.”
Apology filled her expression as her large, brown eyes peered up at me. “It wasn’t so much that I minded them, as…”
“You didn’t think you should like them,” I supplied softly.
She sighed and went back to watching Nicolette swing Anniston up to a stand and twirl the baby in a laughing circle. “You really shouldn’t be able to read my feelings so well.”
I could only shrug. “I’ve been paying attention.”
She looked up at me and blurted, “Maybe we should stop trying to prevent them. The dreams,
that is.”
My heart leapt with joy. I wanted to yank her into my arms and kiss her right there. But I managed to contain myself and nodded stoically. “Alright. If that’s what you wish.”
She bit her lip and began to frown. “But if we do that, you swear you won’t—”
“Vienne,” I said, holding up one hand and setting the other against my heart. “I know you’re not trying to lead me on. You’re not giving me false hope or anything else you’re worried about. They’re just dreams.”
Dreams that just might sustain me for the rest of my life.
She nodded. “Okay, then.” Blowing out a breath, she nodded some more. “Okay. I guess we’ll just…We’ll…”
“Carry on as if everything is absolutely normal?” I asked, lifting my eyebrows. “Because it is?”
She sent me a quick look. A small smile hitched up the corner of her lip, and she nodded. “Exactly.”
“Oh!” Nicolette’s voice cried in surprise, causing Vienne and me to jerk away from each other, even though we hadn’t been standing all that close.
We glanced up to find Nicolette nestling Anniston to her chest and hurrying to cut off Caulder, Yasmin, and Soren as they wandered up the path, straight toward us.
But the trio hadn’t spotted us yet, which gave Vienne and me a moment to look as if we hadn’t been talking so we could shift closer to Nicolette and appear as if she’d been between us the entire time.
“Happy Donnelly Day, Sister,” Caulder greeted jovially, smiling wide when he spotted her.
“Happy Donnelly Day,” she returned, bounding toward him for a hug, only for him to pause when he saw the babe in her arms.
“Why, you’ve got…” Blinking at the infant, Caulder frowned slightly before lifting his face and glancing over Nicolette’s shoulder to finally spot me and Vienne.
“Vienne,” he greeted. “Prince Urban. Good day to you two as well.”
Soren and Yasmin had been talking together while the queen had walked between the two men, her arm looped through Caulder’s. But when Caulder spoke our names, they lifted their faces in surprise.
Soren’s expression immediately darkened. “What the hell are you doing near my wife?”
“Oh, tha-that was my doing,” Nicolette explained, already stumbling over her words. Her eyes widened with worry. “I invited Urban to walk in the garden with me, you see, and—”
“And Anniston and I wandered across them on our own stroll,” Vienne added easily, smiling at her husband and then the queen and king. “So we decided to walk together. Now, all seven of us can enjoy this fine weather in a bigger group. Wouldn’t that be delightful?”
“Yes,” Yasmin agreed in a saccharine sweet voice, even though her gaze turned to vinegar when it slid my way. “Delightful.”
Oh yeah, the queen was still pissed that I’d rejected her.
