Teddy leaned back and crossed his arms. “By making meactuallyshit myself?”
Stella burst out laughing. “I said I was sorry.”
Teddy arched a brow. “Yes, your sincerity is written all over your face.” He shook his head, but his lips tipped into a smile. “I missed my father’s birthday party because I was trapped in a washroom until dawn.”
Stella muffled her laughter. “Tell me—did I use enough herbs to dislodge that stick up your ass, or should I use more next time?”
Teddy glowered at her as she laughed harder. He leaned against the arm of the couch and waited for her to settle. When she finally composed herself, he grinned again.
“I’m sorry that I used a tongue-tie spell on you to make all of your words twist at the winter solstice party two years ago.”
“That was you?” Stella was utterly flabbergasted. “Teddy! My mother sent me to the healer because she thought there was something wrong with my brain. She went through my entire head after that. Do you have any idea what it’s like to hide private memoriesfrom your memory witch mother when she’s hunting through every dark corner of your mind for a problem?”
It was Teddy’s turn to laugh. “I hadn’t considered that, but now that you mention it, that’s very funny.”
Stella sat up straighter. “Well, I’m sorry that I cast a scent spell on you when you were meeting with the delegation from Aldrena at last year’s summer solstice and wrote the spell so that you wouldn’t be able to smell it.”
Teddy’s eyes went wide. “That was you. I was so confused why all of them would only speak to me for a moment at a time and would keep shifting farther and farther away as we were talking.” He scrubbed a hand over his face. “I didn’t know until Grace asked me what I’d had to eat to smell so ripe. That was diabolical.”
Stella leaned back in her seat and grinned. “Thank you for noticing.”
“I’m sorry that I messed with your measurements at the seamstress and had her shorten all your dresses for last year’s winter solstice visit,” Teddy said.
Stella shook her head. “How on earth did you manage to do that from a kingdom away?”
Teddy smiled sheepishly. “I used Uncle Evan’s network.”
Stella stared at him, slack-jawed. “Theodore Davide Savero. You used a spy network for a prank?”
Teddy burst out laughing. “Uncle Evan thought it was funny. We just had someone stop at the seamstress and tell her you’d been wearing the wrong shoes when you were measured.”
“I had to rip out all the hems myself. I looked like a mess all week.” Stella laughed in disbelief. “I can’t believe your commitment to being petty.”
“I recognize a worthy adversary when I see one—in pranks, I mean.” Teddy leaned forward, his elbows resting on his knees. “Is that all of it? Can we call a truce now? To be honest, I feel a little silly given that I started it over something small, but you know how it is when you see one of your siblings upset. You?—”
“Have me wipe their memory so they can’t compete in a tournament?” Stella suggested.
Teddy glowered at her. “You’ve made your feelings about that clear, but I swear I have good intentions.”
“I know that, but Alex is a grown woman, and she deserves to make her own choices. I understand the protectiveness, but you have to let her make her own mistakes.”
“There are mistakes I’d gladly let her make.”
“You coddle her.”
“I guide her. It might be different if she hadn’t been through so much recently, but she isn’t focused and I couldn’t risk it.”
Stella sighed. She understood, but she had a bad feeling about it. “You won’t be able to do that forever. If she doesn’t get the instinct to protect herself now, she won’t have it later when she needs it.”
Teddy dropped his head back. “I get it. I don’t need another lecture about it, okay? Can we just have a truce?”
He held out his hand. Stella hesitated a moment before shaking it.
“Truce,” she said. “For now.”
“For now,” Teddy agreed.
Stella summoned her parents back into the room, and they picked up where they’d left off.
