And then I hugged Grand Prince Justin of Verania.
His arms stayed resolutely at his side as I laid my head on his shoulder, my nose near his neck. “This is nice,” I said.
“This is not nice,” he growled.
“It is,” I said. “You just don’t know it yet.”
“This is hugging against my will. This is assault.”
“If you hug me back, it’ll be over quicker. You smell like moonbeams and cookies.”
“Oh my gods,” Justin said.
“You’re my moonbeam cookie—”
His arms came up around me and held on tight. Really tight. To the point I was having trouble breathing.
“You’re too good at this,” I wheezed.
“Shut up,” he said.
“Do you want to talk about feelings now?”
“Sure. I feel like I want to murder you.”
“That’s good,” I said. “Getting it all out. I feel like I want to go get matching haircuts with you and tell people we’re brothers from another mother.”
“I feel like you two should kiss,” Dimitri said. “Because this shit is hot.”
“Is he masturbating?” I whispered to Justin.
“I don’t even want to look.”
“He ruins things,” I said.
“So do you,” Justin said. “Can we be done now?”
Not wanting to upset this delicate balance, I only held on for three more minutes.
By the time we left the Dark Woods, Justin had a promise from Dimitri to convene soon to discuss a new treaty with the Dark Woods Fairies and I had a new best friend, even if the new best friend denied it vehemently and said we were casual acquaintances at best.
“SO,” RYAN asked me a few nights later as we ate a quiet dinner in my room. “I have to ask you something.” He sounded a bit nervous.
I swallowed the salted pork calmly, put down my fork, wiped my mouth with a napkin, and said, “I can’t marry you just yet. I think we should date first for a while.”
His eyes went wide. “I wasn’t going to ask you to marry me!”
I grinned. “No shit, dude. Though I’m almost offended by how much you’re freaking out.”
“I’m not freaking out!”
“Um, your face is red and suddenly sweaty and you just bent your fork in half.”
“It was already like that when I got it,” he said, dropping the fork onto the table.
“Wow,” I said. “You’re a really fucking bad liar.”
“I am not a fu—”