Page 32 of The Mirror and the Curse

“I expect it can be ornery. This time it let you in because you’re with me, and I’ve been to the center before. To be fair, the time Tor and I solved it, we had magical help. I suspect I get celebrity treatment for being Pukai’s daughter.”

“And now I’m enjoying your perks. It’s all in who ya know,” Eddi joked.

“It really is, and it goes both ways. You and Beatrice made all the difference for me, taking me under your wing like you did.”

“Beatrice is like that. Always taking in lost chicks.” Eddi spoke wistfully.

“She was a great encouragement to me during those stressful days,” Kammy said, tossing a lock of glossy hair over her shoulder. “I would so much like to see her again. Why isn’t she here with you?”

Eddi sighed. “When I turned eighteen, my father decided I no longer needed a paid companion, so Beatrice had to find another position. I begged him to keep her around as my social secretary, but he wouldn’t buy it. He thinks Jakinda, my stepmother, is all the companion and help I need.” A hint of bitterness crept into her voice.

“I’m so sorry. I wish Beatrice could come to the Summer Ball. It’s this coming Saturday, right? I’m planning to bring Tor if my mother will agree to babysit. We’re terrible dancers, but it would be fun for old times’ sake. Sort of an anniversary celebration.”

Eddi gasped in delight. “Are you serious? That would be beyond awesome! Do you think your mother will do it?” The great and glorioussahira,Queen Pukai, in the role of babysitting grandmother was difficult to imagine.

“I’m sure I’ll wear her down eventually. If she won’t babysit, my aunt might.”

“Madame Genevieve?” Eddi exclaimed. “I thought she hated you!”

“She has mellowed a bit during the past two years. I suspect there might be a romance going on, but she won’t tell me a thing.”

Eddi mused on the idea of Madame Genevieve in love and found it every bit as difficult to grasp as the notion of Queen Pukai the doting granny. The resort’s director had always been a hard-working, efficient, yet remote and unapproachable entity in her mind. Although now that Eddi thought about it, Madame was quite handsome in her cold, refined way. But then, she had once been a siren, so beauty was almost a given.

“And how about you, Eddi?” Kammy asked. “Who’s your latest crush?”

With that opening, Eddi proceeded to talk for the next quarter hour about Prince Fidelio, including her competition with Raquel Cambout. “Last year there were three of us—Lady Gillian chased him too, but now she’s engaged to marry his cousin in just a few weeks, so it’s down to the two of us.”

Kammy listened with interest while Eddi related more recent events, and once the tale ended, she admitted, “I look forward to meeting this paragon of virtue at the ball. He sounds better suited to you than that flirtatious lord who played volleyball, but—”

“Dino? Yeah, I lost interest in him long ago. He dates a different girl every month or two, I think.”

“But what about Kai? You two are awfully cute together.” Kammy’s smile had a knowing edge. “I sensed a lot of chemistry between you today.”

With a strange sensation in her gut, Eddi tried to chuckle. It came out more like a nervous titter. “Kai? No. We’re great friends, that’s all. I mean, he’s known me since I was seven.” She forced a little laugh. “Besides, can you imagine what my father would say if I brought a non-royal dwarf home to meet the family?”

“Hmm.” Kammy gave her a thoughtful smile. “Speaking from personal experience, ‘great friends’ is a great place to start, and parents can adjust to disappointment.”

“Sure, but for it to work, there would have to be something more than friendship between us.” Slightly irked, Eddi changed the subject, and the girlfriends soon headed back to the lake.

“I’ll see you at the ball,” Kammy promised, hugging her. “If you talk to Beatrice again, give her my love, okay? Oh, and once I’m gone,” she added with a wicked little grin, “you’ll have time to read that note Kai slipped you. Maybe it’s a love letter. Who knows?”

By the time Kamoana swam away it was nearly dark, but Eddi pulled the note from her pocket anyway. Kai had carefully concealed it from his mother, so it probably wasn’t a cancellation of her lesson in the morning. What else could it be?

“A love letter. Right,” she growled, imagining his sarcastic remarks if he’d heard Kammy’s comment about how cute they were together.

Yet she closed her fist around the paper and scrunched her face, remembering his intent look when he slipped it to her.

For as long as Eddi could remember, she’d crushed on boys. Usually several at once. But always Kai, from the day they met. No one was supposed to know. He’d been a safe crush—three years older, part of a different world. Admiring his pretty face was no big deal, but anything approaching serious was out of the question. They both knew it, so spending time with him was harmless.

Not until she reached her room and locked the door did she pull out the note and read:

Meet at the usual time and place. I’ll bring breakfast. If you’ve made other plans for later in the morning, we’ll just do your usual lesson and a short flight. K

Eddi pressed the side of her index finger over her mouth, trying to maintain a neutral expression. It was a losing battle. Squeezing her eyes shut, she whispered, “Yes!” with a double fist-pump. Other plans? Not hardly! He wasn’t getting out of this that easily. A flight into the mountains just for fun, not for training—and all morning, with a picnic breakfast! Where would he take her? What would they see this time?

All the while, a question niggled at the back of her mind, pressing to be acknowledged. She refused to let herself think it in actual words, yet it kept slipping through and making her heart pound. Might spending time with her mean something more to Kai?

Eddi arrived early at the stables, yet Kai and the two fterotá waited for her. “I knew you’d be early,” he said with quiet satisfaction.

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