Now he just needed to get his hands on the bottle of root beer he’d promised her. By the time he returned, night would have fallen. Perhaps a starlit walk with donuts and root beer would be just the thing.
Chapter
Fifteen
As the sunrise splashed the horizon behind her pink, the sun not yet peeking over the horizon, Pip tromped next to Fieran up the hill behind the hangars and swallowed at the bubbling, churning feeling filling her gut. The sun-burnt summer grass crunched beneath her boots while the thin coating of dew wasn’t even enough to get her boots damp.
She had to extract her hand from Fieran’s to swipe her palms on the front of her trousers. “You’re sure your dacha doesn’t mind?”
Fieran held his hand out, waiting for her to clasp it again. “He’s the one who invited you.”
“And you don’t mind me taking away your time with your dacha?” Pip couldn’t look at Fieran, and she definitely couldn’t think of his dacha as anything but his dacha. Not as Prince Farrendel Laesornysh.
She was going to join a morning practice withPrince Farrendel Laesornysh. Her heart hammered in her ears again.
“No, I don’t mind at all.” Fieran halted and studied her. “You don’t have to come if you don’t want to.”
“I know, I know.” Pip tried to take deep breaths to steady herself.
“Pip.” Fieran cradled her face with his free hand, tipping her chin up so she was looking into his blue eyes. “I’d like you and Dacha to get to know each other. But if you aren’t ready for that yet, it’s all right. I know it is a little unfair that you’ve met both of my parents, and I have yet to meet yours.”
Because her parents were still somewhere in the dwarven mountains, trying to negotiate a closer treaty with the dwarven kingdoms.
“I’d like to get to know your family better too. It’s just…” Pip released a long breath, hating how it shuddered out of her.
“He’s not just a normal dacha.” Fieran also sighed, as if he understood all too well. His thumb traced over her cheek.
“No, but…” Pip drew in a deep breath and forced her shoulders straight. “I can do this. I’ve talked to him before. Surely I can do it now when your life isn’t hanging by a thread.”
“As I don’t intend to make nearly dying a habit, that would be best.” Fieran’s smile sent a sparkle to his eyes. “If you’re ready?”
“Yes.” She faced the top of the hill again and marched up it. She could do this. She was just going to demonstrate her magic to her childhood hero. Worse, her childhood hero was Fieran’s dacha, and she really, really needed him to like her. No big deal.
And if he didn’t like her or if she broke Fieran’s heart, then she could just kiss any future working at the AMPC goodbye.
Nope. Don’t think about kissing. Not around Fieran’s dacha. Were her ears red? Her ears were definitely red. Her whole face was probably red.
Then she and Fieran reached the top of the hill, and she found herself facing a hollow on the far side. At the bottom, Prince Farrendel stood with his silver-blond hair drifting around the hilts of his sheathed swords. Despite his resemblance to Louise—or her resemblance to him—there wasn’t a trace of the ever-present smile that Louise and Fieran wore. Prince Farrendel’s jaw seemed rather hard, his eyes flinty.
Pip squeaked and half-ducked behind Fieran before she caught herself. No hiding. She could do this. Be confident. The rest of Fieran’s family seemed to like her. At least, the ones she’d met. She hadn’t met his sister Adry yet.
“He’s going to be impressed,” Fieran whispered into her ear, his breath stirring her hair.
She forced her legs to move, though her steps remained stiff, as Fieran strolled down the hill. At the bottom, Fieran gestured between them. “I know you’ve met before, but, Pip, this is my dacha, and, Dacha, this is Pip.”
Fieran’s dacha tipped his head to her, but he didn’t speak. He flicked a glance to Fieran, and something in it was almost…pleading. But surely that couldn’t be right. Why would Prince Farrendel be scared?
Fieran grinned and released Pip’s hand. “Why don’t we start with Pip showing what she can do? Pip, would you please create a shield around us?”
Right. A shield. Something simple. She called up her magic and cast a shield. It shimmered in the early morning sunlight, a solid bubble around them.
She’d kept it close, close enough that Fieran had no trouble reaching out and placing a hand on her shield. A heartbeat later, his magic flared over his hand, then raced over her magic in that eager way it had.
Prince Farrendel still had that hard and impassive expression on his face as he took in the play of magic overhead. After another moment, he reached out one of his hands, his magic already twining around his fingers. “May I?”
Pip swallowed, nodded, and poured more of her magic into the shield.
A moment later, Prince Farrendel touched the shield. His magic crackled over hers with that electric taste of powerthat she recognized from the handful of times her magic had interacted with Prince Farrendel’s during battle.
