Bookishly Ever After (Ever After #1)(32)

“Or you can just learn how to really knit.”

She waved her hand dismissively. For someone who loved history, she wasn’t big on actually learning historically accurate handicrafts. “Who has time to do that? I have a life, you know.”

“I know,” I said dryly.

“So, what do you think?” She looked up at me, and a little bit of insecure Em shone through her confident grin.

“It sounds awesome and you’re awesome, so how can they not pick you?” When the worry melted away from her features, I knew I’d said the right thing. “Can I sneak in when you’re on shift and play with the spinning wheel if they have one?”

“Maybe. Can you make it look like I was the one who used it so I can get extra awesome reenactor points?”

“Deal.”

“Great.” She leaned back on her elbows, letting the sunlight wash over her. After a minute of basking in the sun, she reached up to look over her sunglasses and said, lazily, “Looks like we weren’t the only ones who thought this might be a nice place to hang out.” I looked up to see Dev and a group of his friends dribbling around what appeared to be a soccer ball, then turned back to Em with a frown. She tried to shrug but only succeeded in wiggling her shoulders. “Don’t look at me. I didn’t tell them you were here.”

Dev seemed to say something to his friends before jogging over to us. “I’m surprised to see you here.”

I floundered for a good response. Witty. Maeve was always smart and witty. I changed around her prebattle comeback from Glittering to make it fit.

Rolling back my shoulders and tilting up my chin like she would in a situation like this, I said, “Do you think I just sit inside all day and read?” I did a mental inventory of my outfit. Sporty and loose, but nothing awful today. Grace would be pleased.

“Actually, yeah. And knit.” Dev said, and Em choked on a laugh.

“Well, then.” I tried to let my lips slowly grow into a smile like Maeve’s always did, and stood. Confident. This had to be awesome. “If I sat around eating bonbons all day, would I be able to do this?” I bent over to grab an arrow from the pile and ignored my racing heart. This was my turf. I could do this. Giving him one last glance, I took a deep breath and pulled back on my bowstring, counting my heartbeats. This wasn’t States, just practice. With a guy watching me.

A guy who, for some crazy reason, I was trying to impress.

I let out my breath and, with fingers that shook a little bit more than I would have liked, released the arrow. I grimaced as it skimmed the top of the target and landed somewhere in the grass behind it.

“Maybe you could.” Em said with a little note of snark in her voice. She looked over at the group of guys and sat up. “Is that Wilhelm?”

My sneaker suddenly planted itself right on the back of her sweater, jerking her back down. “No extracurricular activities, Em. We were supposed to hang out today.”

She extracted her sweater and rubbed at the dirt I had gotten on it. “God, just land a bullseye and impress Dev so I can go work on my German.” Both Dev and I stared at her. She rolled her eyes. “What?”

Dev shook his head and turned to me. He bent over to pick up an arrow and held it out. “Try again?”

All of my Maeve-esque bravado had melted into a slouch, a furious blush, and an overwhelming wish to roll back time. “I’m usually not that bad,” I said softly as I took the arrow. A little voice inside of me corrected that statement. Never that bad. At least not at this distance on this target.

“Prove it.” The sunlight brought out the green coloring in his eyes, and there was a little note of challenge in his voice. Very Aedan-like in that moment. I tugged on the arrow until he released it.

“Okay,” I breathed. My fingers gripped the carved wood of my bow, taking comfort in its warmth. I was Maeve guarding the gates. I had killed the first goblin to rush me and only had to prove my skill. And I would prove it. She wouldn’t let a cute guy throw her off-aim. She’d also be insanely dramatic.

I nocked my arrow and, before I could change my mind, whipped around, raised my bow, pulled back, and released in a split-second shot. And like something straight off the pages of Golden, it hit the bullseye. Slightly off-center, but still awesome.

“Damn, that was cool,” Dev said for me, his eyes focused on the target. “Like something out of a movie.”

“Yeah, she does that all the time, Little Miss Robin Hood, etcetera,” Em said in a bored tone. “Now, can I go steal Wilhelm away?”

It took a second to make my own voice work. I tore my eyes away from the target to look down at her. I was good, but that had been a one-in-a-million trick shot, at least for me. “You have such a one track mind.”

While Dev’s back was still to us, Em mouthed, “Oh my God.”

And I mimed back, “I know.”

Dev turned back to us and we quickly resumed our carefully cultivated looks—Em’s of boredom, mine of confidence.

“Uh, yeah, Wilhelm. Actually, we’re meeting some of the other guys for a game, so I’ve gotta go. I only came over to say hi.” He stared at the target. “Maybe I’ll stop by afterwards if you’re still here.”

I waved my bow at him. “Maybe.”

“Great.” He jogged off, waving. “And remind me not to tease you about your hobbies.”