AllFreeNovel
Share Us
An hour later,Edmund strode down the stairs from Lethorel. Jalissa stood to meet him, and he wrapped an arm around her waist. “Did you have a good afternoon?”
“It was lovely. Then again, it’s always lovely here at Lethorel.” Jalissa stood on her tiptoes, as if to kiss his cheek, but she halted as Weylind stalked by with an exceptionally dark glower. Jalissa raised her eyebrows at Edmund. “Why does my brother look like…”
“Like a bee stung his bottom?” Edmund couldn’t help his grin. That final game had beenquiteinteresting. Adding truth or dare to the child’s card game had been just the thing. Juvenile, perhaps, but worth it. “Let’s just say our card game got a little…interesting there at the end.”
Farther around the lake, Essie tilted back her head and laughed. Farrendel must have been telling her about the card game. She, at least, would find the humor in the fact that they had been playing a child’s card game, even if everyone else here didn’t know it.
Jalissa shook her head, a hint of her grin tilting the corners of her mouth. “Do I want to know?”
“Probably not.” Edmund was looking forward to dinner that evening. Between Weylind having to follow through on a dare to kiss Rheva in front of all of them and Farrendel having to recite a love poem to Essie that he would have to write himself, tonight, at least, was not going to be boring.
* * *
Edmund pushed awayhis empty plate and glanced around the oval-shaped dining table, which was held up by what looked like two tree trunks that branched into the tabletop itself. “So…”
At the head of the table, Weylind blanched before his face went too stiff and blank. “I do not think…”
“A dare is a dare.” Edmund leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms. This was going to be quite entertaining.
“I have completed mine.” Farrendel sounded supremely smug as a hint of something almost like a smirk playing across his mouth. “You neglected to specify that my dare needed to be executed in public.”
Edmund quickly stuffed down his own smirk before it could break free. Perfect. He’d hoped that Farrendel would figure out that loophole—a loophole that Edmund had purposely left in there, though he was never going to admit that to Farrendel. His brother-in-law’s smug satisfaction at thinking he had gotten one over on Edmund was perfect.
If Farrendel hadn’t noticed the loophole, then Edmund planned to stop him before he read his poem. Forcing him to do that in public would go past light teasing and into actual torment.
Edmund frowned and sighed as if he was disappointed. “I suppose I did.”
Farrendel’s smirk faded into something between a grin and a grimace. “I read my poem to Essie this afternoon.”
Essie winced. “I can verify that he did.”
The fact that she didn’t even comment on the quality of the poem meant that it must have been terrible in the extreme.
She and Farrendel shared a look. Farrendel gave a little shudder, and Essie’s mouth twitched as if she was trying to hide her laughter.
Good. That was what Edmund had been hoping for. They’d gotten an entertaining afternoon out of Edmund’s dare.
Edmund turned to Weylind. “That still leaves you. And I know I specified that your dare had to be completed at dinner.”
Rheva’s eyebrows rose, and she glanced from Edmund to Weylind. “What is thisdare?”
“He needs to kiss you in front of everyone.” Now Edmund let himself smirk.
Rheva’s eyebrows shot up even further. “Pardon?”
Weylind slouched just a hair in his seat, his frown so deep that furrows grooved his cheeks and his forehead. “That card game was ill-advised.”
Edmund leaned slightly closer to Jalissa. “If you need a demonstration of how it is done, Jalissa and I would be happy to provide one.”
Weylind straightened as if struck by lightning. “No.”
Shaking her head, her ears pink, Jalissa elbowed Edmund in the ribs. “Do not even think about it.”
Weylind gathered himself and sent Edmund one of his sternest, most forbidding glares. “I can still withdraw my blessing on your upcoming marriage. Do not try me.”
“Fine, fine.” Edmund slumped in his chair as if defeated. He wasn’t going to press if Weylind—or Rheva—were truly uncomfortable. He had just thought it might be a good little nudge in the right direction for them.
But instead of glaring like Weylind was, Rheva had a hint of a smile on her face and a gleam in her dark brown eyes. She glided to her feet and rested a light hand on Weylind’s shoulder. “Actually, I think this dare is a good idea.”
