Page 205 of Cursed Evermore

I raised an eyebrow, smiled back at her, and looked from her to the deep crimson wax. “Obviously?”

“Well, let's just say you shouldn't light that one unless you want someone climbing through your window at midnight for bedroom action.”

I laughed, covering my mouth. “Gods, Arielle.”

She laughed with me, then set the candle aside and gave me a knowing look of mischief. “Well, you're the one with the broody Fae prince and his senior guard all worked up just from the idea of you.”

My cheeks flushed, and I gasped. “Um... what?”

“Don'twhatme.” She giggled, flicking her wrist. “You know exactly what I mean. Garrick watches over you like a mother hen, and he's always looking at you.”

“Because he's supposed to be guarding me and protecting me from danger.”

She gave me a deadpan stare. “Yes. Protecting you from big, scary monsters in the house, like Sirril.Ohwoo.”

I laughed again. I couldn't help it. “Arielle. I'm sure Garrick doesn't harbor such feelings for me.” If he had, I was probably so focused on Wolfe I hadn't noticed.

“Believe me, he does. I grew up around these guys, so I know. That said, Garrick is the ladies' man. The Fae prince, on the other hand...” She held up a finger and squinted one eye as if she were thinking hard. “My bet is on him. The whole don't-touch-my-mage threat he gave Garrick kind of gave him away.”

Oh gods.What should I say? Shewasright. When Wolfe had that outburst, I was more focused on the spell and the Nyzith strands.

His admission to caring about me earlier pushed us marginally outside the nebula of vagueness, but that line was still there. Because of what my father did.

Father's crimes made anything between Wolfe and me feel impossible.

The familiar ache seized my heart, but I tried to focus on the wonderful day I'd had so I wouldn't ruin the special memories, including how the day had begun with Wolfe.

Arielle giggled again. “I also heard about your little... drunken rendezvous yesterday. I'm guessing that was because of him.”

My stomach squeezed and I covered my burning cheeks. “I was kind of hoping we wouldn't talk about that.”

“I've been trying not to say anything all day, but I couldn't resist. It kind of sounded hilarious. I wish I'd been there.”

“No. I'm glad you weren't.” I groaned and buried my face in my hands. “Please don't make me relive it. I lost my mind a little.”

“Oh, I'mdefinitelygoing to make you relive it.” She leaned forward with gleaming eyes. “Sirril thought he'd lost you to the dark side. The poor guy wanted to accompany us today because he was so worried about you.”

“Oh no.” Poor Sirril. He'd done his best to help me. He even turned everything back to normal—no more swallows, no more frogs, and no more furniture running throughout the house. I apologized profusely to him and the other staff when I saw them at breakfast. “That wasn't like me at all. I always go for a lighter ale, never wine and never anything strong.”

“But I'm guessing acertainsomeone drove you to drink.” She raised her brows again.

My shoulders slumped, and I gazed at her, wondering what I could and couldn't say. There was so much about Arielle's personality that reminded me of Emabelle. When we got talking, I felt the same comfort, like I could be myself and talk to her aboutanything. But in all our conversations, we'd never discussed anything like this. It was new, sensitive territory, terrain I wasn't certain I should cross.

“Hey, in case you didn't notice, we're alone.” She noticed my hesitation and motioned around the carriage and ahead to the elk, who were steadily focused on getting us back to Vyrenth Hollow.

Apart from them, we truly were alone. Garrick wasn't with us. We didn't even have a driver to worry about.

“And I would never say a word if you told me a secret.” She raised a hand and made a show of tapping across her heart thrice, the sign of the mages' promise.

The gesture warmed something deep in my chest, and the last of my resistance crumbled. All the words I'd been holding back began to rise to the surface.

“I... don't really know what to make of Wolfe. Or if I should be thinking about him in such a way.”

“Does that have anything to do withyour Thaydenback home?”

Hearing Thayden's name made bile churn in my stomach. “No. It's not.” The subdued tone of my voice said it all, and the smile on Arielle's face faded.

“I've wanted to ask you about him. At first, I thought you missed him. I felt terrible that you were taken away from him on your engagement celebration. But then I realized in all the time you've been here, you never mentioned him once.”