A Dove's Tale

Chapter 163

The ball was nerve-wracking.

First, something was going on with Silvio and Rio again. They didn't get into a fight like they did at the twins' birthday party, but they vanished after a muted and apparently heated discussion, followed by Belle, Arianna, Luke, and Silvio's parents, who were in attendance for the wedding. There were more than a few curious murmurs among the crowd about it.

When they weren't muttering about Theresa and Leon, that is. The second point of tension.

Maid or lady-in-waiting, Theresa was still a commoner, and she and I both knew the nobility wouldn't appreciate her being a bridesmaid. She'd said from the start she would skip the ball and pack my luggage rather than raise more ire, but Leon must have talked her into coming, and she stayed for about an hour, dancing with him and his brothers.

Including Jin.

That turned out to be a larger problem than the grumpy nobility casting disparaging looks. The looks Leon gave Jin were decidedly unfriendly, and when he cut in on their dance to steal Theresa back, I feared the two would come to blows. Fortunately, Theresa left when that dance ended, and the silent animosity between the brothers vanished with her.

In better news, something much sweeter was brewing between Yves and Elise. I thought he was a much better match for her than Nokto had been, and even if it didn't work out, I couldn't imagine them having a disastrous break-up like the one I'd witnessed between her and Nokto.

Meanwhile, Nokto and Janet, a noblewoman chosen by Sariel to fill out the bridesmaid list, were well on their way to starting a relationship—or restarting one, if whispered rumors about a shared history had any grounds in truth. At the very least, I felt certain they would end the night in the same bedroom.

Then there was Nadia, the quiet woman paired with Licht in the wedding processional. She showed a definite but shy interest in him, hovering in his vicinity until he made his escape from the party. I had a feeling she would have left with him, had he asked her, but she was too meek to even approach him, let alone follow him.

The last bridesmaid and another of Sariel's picks, Regina, was a noblewoman with whom I had a passing acquaintance, as I did with Janet and Nadia. Regina had always struck me as a bright, bubbly, fun-loving type, so it wasn't necessarily a surprise to see her and Clavis were getting along. It was a surprise to see a glint of mischief in her eyes that matched Clavis', however, and suddenly, I was worried about the damage the pair could cause together.

I noticed all of this because the alternative was focusing my attention on Chevalier, the ultimate source of my anxiety. Just meeting his eyes was dangerous. He had the same intensity about him as he had on his birthday, increased tenfold, and while his refusal to allow any other man to dance with or even touch me probably looked like cute newlywed adoration to the well-wishers offering us their congratulations, to me, it was borderline frightening. He had always been a paragon of self-control, but I saw that control slipping, and I felt his impatience in every abnormally hot touch of his hand. My stomach was a bundle of tightly twisted knots by the time dusk fell and he whisked me away to the carriage waiting for us at the entrance.

The carriage door closed behind us, and his lips were on mine, as hot as his touch. I could taste his urgency, and far from bringing the warm fluttering of happiness, it brought a cold hand of dread tightening around my heart. But I kissed him back, because we were married now, and I'd made him wait nearly a year. Didn't he deserve this? After everything he'd done for me, shouldn't I give him tonight with a smile?

"Ivetta," he murmured, his breath heating my lips even more when he broke the kiss, "relax."

I swallowed hard and forced a smile. That was the second time he'd told me that today, and I didn't want to worry him. "Sorry. I just didn't sleep well last night, and it's been a long day."