Page 79 of Love & Letter Charms
He only smiled, entirely unrepentant. “You looked as though you needed cooling off.”
Without thinking—certainly without considering the consequences—Aurelise bent swiftly, cupped her gloved hand in the fountain, and flung water directly at his face.
The surprise in his expression as water dripped from his perfect blue hair was perhaps the most satisfying thing she’d seen all week. “My lady?—”
She pressed her other hand to her mouth, trying to smother a laugh. “I … I am merely returning the favor,” she managed to say around a snort of suppressed laughter.
“Oh? In that case—” He sent another splash, straight at her face this time.
She gasped, tensing, then started laughed, the sound bursting out of her before she could restrain it. From the corner of her eye, she saw the attendant stand, heard her make a helpless sound of protest, but it was quickly drowned out as all decorum vanished entirely.
Prince Ryden had already retaliated with a considerably larger splash that caught Aurelise full in the chest, soaking through the front of her dress.
“Oh, you absolute—” She didn’t finish the sentence, too busy launching her own counterattack. The two of them begancircling the fountain like duelists, each seeking the advantage, sending increasingly dramatic sprays of water at each other while the attendant fluttered helplessly nearby and the palace pixies giggled, having given up entirely on holding the mistcloth aloft.
Go for his hair!Spark cheered from his perch on the lemon tree pot.Destroy it completely!
His cravat!Thimble shrieked.
Prince Ryden hopped over the basin’s edge in one swift motion and stepped straight into the shallow basin. “Surrender!” he called out, using a burst of magic to send a truly impressive wave in her direction. “You’re outmatched!”
“Never!” Aurelise darted around the fountain’s circumference, still launching attacks from the edge while determinedly avoiding the water itself. “I’ve survived years of tedious etiquette lessons—I have remarkable endurance!”
“But I have the tactical advantage!” He waded closer, water streaming from his now thoroughly ruined clothing. “Come and face me properly!”
“I’m perfectly capable of defeating you from—” She leaned forward for another attack just as he lunged toward the edge. His fingers caught her wrist, and her balance—already precarious from her enthusiastic water-flinging—completely failed her.
She toppled forward with a shriek, directly into the fountain and directly on top of the prince, who tried to catch her but only succeeded in cushioning her fall as they both went under.
For the briefest instant, panic flared—born more of shock than true fear, for she knew perfectly well the water was shallow—and in that suspended moment, the memory of his words broke through her thoughts. Or were they R’s words?
I swear to you that I would never let you drown.
And then they surfaced, sputtering and laughing, absolutely drenched. Aurelise’s careful hairstyle had completely collapsed,wet strands plastered to her face. The prince’s hair hung in dripping disarray, his fine clothes clinging to him in a manner that was decidedly improper to notice.
“In case you had any doubt,” he said, “as to whether some of your recent activities count as ‘entirely improper,’ I believe a water fight in a palace fountain sufficiently covers dare number ten.”
A breathless laugh escaped her. “Yes, I believe I’ve quite thoroughly accomplished that particular dare by now.”
Their laughter gradually faded as she became intensely aware of their position—her hands braced against his chest for balance, his arm around her waist from when he’d tried to catch her, water dripping from them both.
“Tell me,” he said quietly, his voice low enough that only she could hear over the fountain’s spray. “Do you truly want me to keep my distance? Or is that merely what the proper, perfectly composed version of Lady Aurelise Rowanwood believes sheshouldwant?”
The question hung between them. She could feel her heart racing beneath her soaked bodice, could sense a tide of feeling gathering inside her, rising higher with every breath until it threatened to spill over.
“I … I …”
“Whatin the name of all the stars is happening here?”
Aurelise jerked back at the sound of that voice, mortification crashing through her in a cold wave. But her drenched skirts tangled about her legs, and she went down again, colliding with the prince in another graceless splash. His arm curved around her again, and he helped her upright, both of them dripping and breathless.
The High Lady stood at the garden path’s bend, flanked by two ladies-in-waiting who looked perilously close to dissolvinginto laughter. The High Lady herself looked as though she was witnessing something that defied all natural laws.
“Mother,” Prince Ryden said with remarkable composure for someone standing knee-deep in a fountain. “We were merely cooling off. It’s an uncommonly warm afternoon.”
“Cooling off,” the High Lady repeated flatly, her gaze taking in their thoroughly soaked state, the water spreading in puddles around the fountain’s base, and the attendant who’d been tasked with chaperoning them, who looked ready to faint from mortification.
“Your Grace,” Aurelise stammered, attempting a curtsy. “I apologize for—this was entirely—that is to say?—”
