Nope.
Never mind.
No touching, and no thinking about touching.
“I’m not going to dance with you,” she said plainly, keeping her eyes straight ahead.
“I would be offended if you did,” he quipped back.
“Well, I’d be offended if you asked me.”
He raised his eyebrows at her. “I’m not going to.”
“Good,” she said, raising her chin.
“Good.” He could see a playful gleam in her eyes and the way she bit back a smile.
They stood in silence for a moment, watching the people in front of them.
“Are you enjoying the party?” Renna asked, nodding toward his hiding spot behind the pillar. “Because you looked strange over there, watching everyone from the shadows.”
“I was spying.” He turned his head and widened his eyes for dramatic effect. Renna snorted, giving him a rush of satisfaction. He loved to make her laugh.
“I’ve been thinking about the so-called spies,” she said.
“Really?” That surprised him, and he turned to face her.
“Yes, really.” She scrunched her nose at him. “Tolsten spies wouldn’t be able to get information about your military unless someone high up told them what the plans were. I don’t think your problem is spies. I think your problem is an informer.”
“An informer.” Trev let that sink in a moment. “You’re right. I’ve been so blinded by everything else, but you are absolutely right. Thank you.”
“You don’t have to thank me. I could be wrong, you know.”
“Well, if you’re wrong and I make a fool of myself, I’ll be sure to blame you.” He nudged her with his elbow.
Oops.
No touching.
No flirting.
Trev quickly turned back to the crowd of dancing people in front of them.
“I guess congratulations are in order,” she said. “I’m sure winning the tournament will help you with the election.”
“I didn’t do it for the election. I did it for the kiss.”
“Oh.” Her shoulders sank a little bit.
“No, not for the kiss,” Trev stammered, trying to explain. “I meant, I did it, so Joniss wouldn’t kiss yo—” He stopped himself, and their eyes met. He took a deep breath and swallowed back his real answer, replacing it with what he ought to say. “So he wouldn’t kiss Seran.”
Renna turned her gaze to the dancing, nodding her head dramatically. “Of course.”
Trev stared at her for a moment, definitely not memorizing every curve of her face.
“I don’t know what the big deal is between you and Joniss,” she said.
Trev stiffened, reminded of the reason he was there. “That’s what I wanted to talk to you about. I don’t like Joniss.”
“I can tell,” she smirked. “You two look like you want to kill each other all the time.”
“Maybe I do want to kill him.” He laughed it off, hoping she sensed he was joking.
“He’s not that bad,” she said, rolling her eyes.
“You’ve spent a couple of hours with him. You couldn’t possibly know the depths of his evilness.”
“Evilness?” Her neck cocked back. “Good grief. That sounds serious.”
“Why are you defending him so much?” His voice held irritation.
“He’s been nice to me.”
Now it was Trev’s turn to roll his eyes. “None of that is genuine. He’s using you. He’s made you part of this stupid competition we have against each other.”
Her eyebrows raised. “Is it impossible to believe that he might actually like me?”
“Trust me, I am very aware of how likable you are.” He couldn’t hide the bitterness in his voice. “But Joniss is trouble. I want you to stay away from him.”
Renna gave a sardonic laugh. “You want me to stay away from him? You don’t have a say in who I spend my time with.”
“Renna, I’m trying to help you.”
“I don’t need your help,” she snapped. “Instead, worry about your fiancée and what she needs.”
His hand rubbed the back of his neck in frustration. That was his cue to leave.
Renna
Renna’s anger flared as Trev walked away. Who did he think he was telling her who she could and couldn’t spend time with? He had no claim on her. He had no say.
She took a deep breath and decided to go find Joniss. She needed his distraction.
She had thought about Trev more than once today, of course, but felt surprised by how often she had also thought about Joniss, of his flattering smile and the easy way his chest muscles tightened and relaxed as he moved so confidently in the arena. Maybe she just liked thinking about attractive men. Or maybe she had too much time on her hands to think. Either way, she couldn’t deny that for the first time ever, she’d thought about Joniss in a romantic way.
She definitely found him attractive, but did she really like him? Or did she just like making Trev jealous? The answer was complicated and so was the fact that Joniss was challenging Trev for the crown. Renna didn’t like aligning herself with the competition, but she wasn’t going to marry Joniss. She just needed him to help pass the time in Albion.
Trev wasn’t available, and Joniss was.
At least, he had been until now.
Now, Joniss completely ignored her.
It seemed like Joniss danced with every woman there except her. Renna stood in the crowd and watched as he offered his arm to a new girl each dance. And dance after dance, each girl smiled up at him like he lit the night. He walked toward Renna more than once, and her heart fluttered, expecting his wicked smile to fall on her, but each time he reached for someone else and walked away without a single glance in her direction.
She finally saw her chance as he broke from the dance floor to get a drink of water. Her stomach tingled with nerves as she thought about what to say. She wasn’t good at flirting. Just as she reached to tap his arm, he suddenly turned, accidentally colliding their bodies into one another. They shuffled awkwardly side to side as they tried to get out of each other’s way.
“Is this your way of trying to dance with me?” Joniss raised an eyebrow.
She clasped her hands in front of her and nervously rocked on her toes. “I had to do something since you haven’t asked me yet.”
“So many women, so little time.”
He winked at her, but Renna flinched at his patronizing tone. She felt a coolness from him, like he suddenly found her presence completely uninteresting. It was jarring compared to his earlier flirtation. Hadn’t he said he wanted to kiss her?
Hoping to charm him into a better mood, Renna tried again, nudging him playfully. “You were really impressive in the arena today. I thought you did great.”
“You can’t win them all I suppose,” he responded dryly, looking away from her.
She blinked. “But you did win. A lot. You swept all the preliminary rounds.”
“Preliminary rounds.” He scoffed. “Those mean nothing. But don’t worry, the next time I go head to head with Ezra, I plan on winning.”
Renna had no idea how to respond to that. She gazed up at him, his jaw set in a hard frown as he looked over the crowd and wondered where this cold Joniss had come from.