The Wish Granter (Ravenspire #2)(4)

“Princesses don’t make pastry dough,” Thad said, his dark eyes on hers.

Ari snorted. “This one does.”

“Princesses also don’t snort.” Thad’s voice was strained, but he didn’t sound angry. He hadn’t sounded angry since the night they’d fled from the bounty hunter who’d killed their mother and awakened to the news that the entire royal family had taken sick and died, leaving Thad, in the absence of any other blood relation to the king, with an uncontested claim to the throne. Instead, Thad sounded tense. Worried. And grieved in way that even Ari, with her shared heartbreak over their mother’s death, couldn’t seem to touch.

“I did not approve of her helping,” Mama Eleni declared as Ari straightened her shoulders and walked out of the pantry with Cleo at her heels.

“You specifically told me not to use so much butter,” Ari said.

“Lies! The king was very clear that you are only to do the things a true princess would do, and I would never disobey him. Even when I am understaffed, and he has yet to fill my requests for more help.” Mama Eleni reached out with her rough hands to tug Ari’s hair out of its knot and smooth it behind her ears. “Look at our princess in a gown. Ready to dance! Maybe you’ll find a nice young man tonight and be swept off your feet. Now, no kissing behind the ballroom pillars, and no—”

“Stop, Mama,” Cleo said as Thad tugged on his collar as if it were choking him, and the princess’s cheeks heated. This wasn’t a fairy tale. She was in more danger of losing her footing while dancing than of being swept away by a handsome nobleman’s kisses.

Ari’s stomach fluttered as Thad took her arm and turned toward the hallway that led to the ballroom. Casting a desperate look at Cleo, she asked, “You’ll be there?”

“Of course. I’ll be the girl with the tray of fizzy wine.” Lowering her voice, she cast a quick glance at Mama Eleni, who’d turned away to supervise the assembling of the fruit platters, and then gave Ari a reassuring smile. “If you need me to accidentally dump wine on anyone, just give me the signal. You’ll be fine. This will be over before you know it.”

“No dumping wine on anyone.” Thad pulled Ari out of the kitchen. “No sending signals of any kind.”

“Cleo was kidding.” Ari pushed her nervousness and her longing for her mother into a corner of her heart and tried to pretend she felt up to the task ahead as she matched Thad’s pace down the white stone hallway that connected the kitchen to the ballroom. Arched windows lined the passage, and long, sheer curtains fluttered in the sea breeze that swept in through the open windows and chased the lingering heat of the summer’s day out of the palace. Bells rang from the palace’s tower, sonorous and deep, announcing the beginning of the coronation ceremony.

The same bells had announced the royal family’s funeral three weeks earlier, and black bunting still fluttered from the tower in honor of their deaths.

“I know Cleo better than that,” Thad said. “She may be the accomplice instead of the instigator when it comes to the two of you, but dumping beverages on unsuspecting people is a habit of hers. Remember what happened when we were twelve?”

Ari snorted. “You deserved it.”

“Maybe I did.” He slowed his pace as the door to the ballroom came into view, spilling a cacophony of voices and music into the hallway. “Ari, I’m serious about you acting like a proper princess tonight. It’s important.”

“Why? You’re the king. You’re the one everyone is here to see.”

Thad glanced at the doorway and spoke rapidly. “We can’t hold a kingdom without alliances, both from within and without. Tonight there will be a host of potential allies in that room. Members of Súndraille’s Assembly, royalty and nobility from seven of the ten kingdoms—”

“Including Eldr?”

“Yes.” He gave her an exasperated look.

Ari brightened. “I’ll be in charge of courting a relationship with the Eldrians. Draconi make excellent allies.” And if she was really lucky, maybe she could convince one of the Eldrians to step outside and shift into a dragon for her. She’d always wanted to see a dragon in real life. Maybe the dragon would even give her a ride. Thank the stars she’d had Cleo cut her out of that corset. The night was starting to look interesting.

“I’m being serious, Ari.”

“So am I.”

He looked at the ceiling and drew a deep breath. “You have to be a proper princess. No snorting in scorn.”

“Even if someone richly deserves it. Understood.”

“You dance with everyone who asks.”

“Wait . . . everyone? Even if they’re old?”

“Yes. And you make polite conversation. No wayward opinions about how boring you think small talk is.”

“It’s not just boring, it’s entirely useless.” Ari twitched her skirt to the side as the first trio of maids from the kitchen, carrying trays of food for the buffet table, hurried past.

Thad lowered his voice. “It’s not useless. Think of it as an interview to see if you both understand how to be diplomatic.”

Ari sighed. “So to be clear, I’m not supposed to show my true opinion—”

“If your true opinion is something other than polite, diplomatic interest.”