A Dove's Tale

Chapter 153

I didn't know what to expect for the rest of the night. I thought I'd known what to expect from the baking portion, but then Gilbert, Silvio, Keith, and Arianna had shown up, and Silvio and Rio had nearly gotten into a fight. Now, they were all in the lounge, along with Chevalier's brothers, Belle, and Theresa, and I was getting more nervous the closer we got there.

"We don't have to go," Chevalier suggested.

I shot him a glare. He'd made it clear he'd rather spend some one-on-one time with me than join the group in the lounge, even offering what had sounded like a teasing request to enter my room when we'd stopped there so I could change. Except I'd known it was only half-teasing, and I'd also known what kind of trouble we could get into if I said yes.

So, I'd made him wait in the hallway.

"This night is for Licht and Nokto, not you," I reminded him. "And since I put it all together, I really should be there for the rest of it."

Chevalier's smirk remained firmly in place. He leaned in and murmured in my ear, "I hope you aren't planning something similar for my birthday."

Well, that hadn't stayed a secret for long. Not that I'd thought I could keep it a secret from him, since he was far too observant for that, but I'd barely begun to plan.

"No, you don't have to worry about that," I reassured him. "But could you please at least pretend to be surprised about something on your birthday?"

He chuckled and kissed my cheek, and I giggled, too. His facial expressions were so subtle and understated that simply imagining him feigning surprise was comical.

The lounge was up ahead, marked by a general murmur from the crowd inside and a small line of golden light shining through the crack at the bottom of the door. We were in for some teasing when we arrived, and since Chevalier still had to change into his pajamas, I'd have to deal with it on my own for a few minutes. I steeled myself as he opened the door.

And watched Leon punch Jin in the face.

I stared, frozen in shock. The only movement came from Theresa, storming toward the door, and Leon, shaking his hand out. I stepped aside just in time to avoid Theresa knocking me over.

"I don't want to talk about it," she snapped at me.

If her green eyes hadn't been flashing so angrily, maybe I would have run after her, but I knew she needed her space. And I was still too stunned to move.

"I told you to keep your mouth shut," Leon said to Jin, his voice as relaxed and good natured as ever. "Man, you've got a hard head."

"And you've got a mean right," Jin commented, rubbing his jaw. "Oh, hey, Ivetta."

Why did this sound like a normal conversation?

Licht stood from a lounge chair and walked toward me and the door, his face as impassive and his dark crimson eyes as cold and empty as the day I'd first met him. A horrible sense of foreboding settled in my gut as he brushed past me without a word. Tonight was supposed to be for him, to give him a reason to smile and to keep his mind off the violent events on the eve of his tenth birthday party. Now, he was leaving, and I had a feeling I knew what he was going to do.

I took off after him without a second thought.

"Licht," I called, my heart clamoring in my chest. "Licht!"

His long, fast strides had already taken him to his door before I caught up to him. I grabbed his sleeve with his hand halfway to the doorknob.

"Ivetta—"

"I'm sorry," I blurted out. "None of this is going right. I didn't plan for Gilbert, Keith, or Silvio to show up, and then that fight with Rio, and whatever's going on with Theresa—I just didn't want you to be alone tonight, and I thought—I thought maybe this would help, but it's all falling apart, and maybe I shouldn't have even planned it in the first place, because maybe you weren't even ready for something like this—"