AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Indeed, I had been staring, unable to peel my eyes away. He looked every inch like the high lord of House Bellamy. He grabbed my left wrist, wrapping his hand around it, and when he pulled away, there was a dainty little bracelet with a chunky charm in the shape of a heart. Not a charm,a diamond, I realized. It had to be worth more than anything I’d ever owned.
“Luke,” I began to protest.
“Let’s go,” he interjected, not giving me a chance to turn away the gift as too nice.
“We’re going to have to drag Rhett and James out of their room, or we’ll be late,” he quipped.
Despite his pleasant mood at the beginning of the night, I was surprised to find my best friend in an unusually somber mood the rest of the night at the Summer Ball.
“I know, it doesn’t seem right, does it?” Rhett asked, tracing my stare in Luke’s direction. There was not a smile anywhere near Luke’s normally happy face.
“Being home always starts to get to him after a few days,” Rhett explained.
“Why?” I asked, turning away from Luke to take in Rhett’s handsome face.
He wore a fitted white suit with House Rein’s color, a ruby tie, and cufflinks. As usual, he looked perfect, not a golden hair out of place, despite the perpetual light sea breeze in Port City.
Rhett pressed his lips together, pulling the corner of his mouth in a contemplative expression.
“Well, you’ve met his parents,” Rhett replied, as if that were answer enough. “But it’s his brother.”
“Brad?” I questioned, furrowing my brows and looking around the room until I found Luke’s older brother. Brad was like a carbon copy of his father but with dark features where his father’s were light. But he seemed nice enough.
“No, Al. Hislittlebrother.Jacob,” Rhett answered.
“I didn’t—” I didn’t know Luke had a younger brother.
“He didn’t make it home from the war,” Rhett said, answering my question before I had finished it.
I looked back over at Luke, feeling the weight of the sadness for my friend for the losses that can accumulate when you live unlimited lifetimes. He was being a good host. He had been all night. Instead of just sticking with me and Rhett like he normally did at the High Court, he made sure to make the rounds and speak to every person who had made the trip into town. I had begged off from his side, taking a reprieve from the barrage of new faces.
“Come on,” Rhett said, taking my hand in his. “Let’s dance,” he said, already pulling me toward the floor in the center of the open hall.
It wasn’t until his hand was closed around mine that I remembered our conversation from earlier that day, the one all of us had purposefully avoided mentioning, especially with James around. I had actually been able to forget about it for the first hour or two of the Ball when I had been with Luke. But now that Rhett’s large hand was wrapped around mine, my skin felt hot under his touch. I had danced with Rhett plenty of times before, but now thoughts that had never been there before lingered in my mind.
The lively tune we had walked out to the dance floor during was replaced by a slow, methodical number. Rhett pulled me into the strength of his body, one hand going to the small of my back while he entwined his other hand with mine. He was tall, and even in my heels, I had to tilt my head back to look up at him. I took in a breath and was going to say something, anything, to try to imitate the comfortable friendship we usually shared. But at that moment, Rhett tilted me back, his hand pressing my lower body more firmly into him and causing me to arch into him.
I was self-conscious about things I’d never cared about before while dancing with Rhett, like the way the dip caused the white, delicate fabric of my gown to pull tightly over my breasts. When Rhett pulled me back to him, I had lost whatever words I had tried to muster before.
He spoke first, breaking the tension that had built between us in the silence.
Rhett leaned down and whispered in my ear. “I know it’s not what either of us planned, but if it turns out by some crazy chance of fate that you are my…”Mate. He left it unsaid. “Well, I’d be honored to spend my days with you, Al baby.”
He leaned back, eyes fixed on me. I inhaled a deep breath of the ocean air coming in through the opened ballroom doors. I thought there could be worse fates than being mated to one of my godly handsome best friends.
I met his enchanting, pure-blue eyes and pressed my lips together into a coy smirk.
“Me too, Rhett,” I replied, squeezing his hand.
We slowly revolved in a circle, my mind dancing with possibilities that neither of us had asked for or even considered before. As we made another rotation, I spotted Luke in the crowd. His eyes were trained on me, so when Rhett led me into the next move, his gaze moved with me. I didn’t look away from Luke’s unyielding stare until Rhett moved me again, putting Luke out of my line of sight.
Late that night, after the Ball, Luke and I fell into his overly large bed, silence replacing the usual fervor of our touches. But then Luke pulled me over to his side of the bed, tucking my small frame into the alcove of his body. He nuzzled his face into my hair, making room for himself along my shoulder.
“Luke?” I asked, unsure if I should break our silence.
“Hmm?” he replied softly, still holding me.
“Should we talk about this? This thing with Rhett?” I asked.
