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I smile back. She takes both my hands and leans closer.
“Is Nolan coming?” she whispers.
“I invited him last night, but I haven’t seen him yet. Have you?”
She shakes her head. “Maybe we should wait for him outside. It’s still early, so maybe he hasn’t arrived yet.”
“Maybe.”
We slip through the crowds, heading out the hall and through the atrium. Many more people are pouring into the Arcanium now, and descending the stairs is far from an easy task, since everyone is going in the opposite direction.
When we reach the bottom, we come to a stop before the statue of Grandmage Delmont Blackwood. He stares down at us with his unblinking eyes.
The moonlight silvers the other statues which guard the Arcanium’s entrance. Behind us, music echoes from the hall. Hopefully the reason my father has ordered the enchanted instruments to start playing is because there are now so many people, and not because Archmage Calton has arrived.
“How did things go last night, anyway?” Eliya asks far too loudly for my liking. “You hardly told me anything about your date when you got home.”
“I was tired.”
“So you said.”
When I say nothing, she raises a brow at me. “Well, what actually happened? Spit it out.”
“Like I told you last night, we went to The Shimmering Oyster.”
“Yes, yes, I know. But I want to know the more interesting parts. It obviously went well, since you said you invited him here tonight. So, the reason you’re being so close-mouthed about it isn’t because things went badly—” She cuts herself off, a devilish smirk curling onto her lips. “You kissed him, didn’t you? That’s the reason you won’t tell me anything!”
I flush. “I didn’t kiss him. He kissed me.”
“I should have guessed it sooner!” She claps her hands together in delight. “So, tell me about it!”
“Tell you about what?”
“Was he a good kisser? Or was there too much tongue? Too much drool? Or did he have really bad breath? Though I suppose he must be a good kisser if you were willing to see him again.”
“No, he was a perfectly acceptable kisser.”
“Perfectly acceptable?” Eliya scoffs. “I bet that means he was really good.”
“He was quite good,” I admit.
“Anyway,” she says, waggling her eyebrows, “did the two of you get up to anything else other than kissing?”
“Of course not!”
“I’m not here to judge.”
“You know exactly what time I came home, since you were busy keeping watch. How would I have had the chance to do anything but kiss him?”
Eliya opens her mouth to speak, but I interrupt her before she can respond.
“On second thought, please don’t answer that question. I don’t want any of your stories.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to hear them?”
“Very sure.”
She pulls a face at me but spares me from her answer.
