A Dove's Tale

Chapter 151

"I'm not going to the party."

I stared at my dressing screen, following the dove, winging its way across the panels of roses and wildflowers while Theresa unlaced my dress. Her statement wasn't entirely unexpected, but I had a feeling there was more to her decision than a simple desire not to overwhelm Licht.

"Is this about what happened yesterday with Jin?" I asked.

Her heavy sigh answered for her.

"That was embarrassing," she admitted. "I've never wasted any time waiting around for him to ask me out, because I know he never will, and Leon already knew I liked Jin when he asked me, but..." She sighed again. "I expected to walk through the door and see you freaking out, not see Jin showing off that gorgeous chest and narrating my favorite fantasy."

"Too much information," I said, grimacing.

"I'm normally better at hiding it than that," she continued unabated. "I just...it's too weird right now. Leon is the best thing that's happened to me in a long time, but I still have the hots for his older brother. There's no way I can spend an entire night in the same room with both of them. So Leon and I talked about it, and I'm not going."

She left me alone behind the dressing screen to give me privacy while I finished undressing. I'd gone about my lessons and studying as usual to keep Licht from finding out about the surprise party, and his brothers had acted normally, too. But now, I needed to change into a simpler dress and start baking.

"At least he and I got a good make-out session out of it," Theresa called out from the other side of the dressing screen.

I groaned. "I really didn't want to know that, Theresa."

"You know how he and his brothers are," she said dismissively. "They could have a literal hole in their stomach and still say they're fine. So, I had to check him out. And once I got his shirt off—"

"That's far enough," I interrupted, reluctantly stepping around the dressing screen and coming face-to-face with her mischievous smirk.

"You really should check Chevalier out," she said suggestively. "He left some nasty black and blue marks on Leon, but Leon said he got a few good hits in on Chevalier, too."

I brushed past her, ignoring the warmth creeping into my cheeks. "Chevalier is fine."

"So is Leon. Not as built as Jin, but bulkier than Chevalier. A nice in-between."

An unfamiliar feeling settled in my stomach, something uncomfortable and unhappy that made me accidentally pull my hair when I yanked too hard on a hairpin. I winced and grumbled, "I really wish you wouldn't include Chevalier in that comparison."

Theresa's reflection in the vanity raised an eyebrow at me. "Why, Ivetta, are you jealous?" she asked, a knowing smile curling across her lips.

Was that what it was? This bitter taste in the back of my mouth and this churning sensation in my gut? Whatever it was, I didn't like it, and I averted my gaze from hers. "I just don't want you lumping him in with all the men you've ever seen shirtless."

"Because you're jealous."

My face flushed redder. "N-no, because—"

"Don't worry," she said, laughing. "I'm not interested in stealing Chevalier away from you. I don't have a death wish, after all. Here, let me do that."

I dropped the last hairpin into its jar and grabbed my hairbrush before she could get to it first. "I can manage brushing my own hair."

"Yeah, but it's my job," she said, deftly plucking the brush from my hand. "Just a ponytail, right?"