Flame of Frost (The Caelestian Chronicles: Book #1)

Chapter 27 - A Pure Love

The next morning starts with light exercise and dance lessons for today evening. That could have been one activity in the palace I actually enjoyed, had Ceran not stepped on my toe a bazillion time.
We were all told to choose partners for the lesson and I chose Ceran because he was the only person I knew, other than Grace. Although he had warned me a couple of times that dancing isn't his forte, it didn't make it any less painful when it came to my toes.

Now, I'm trying to slip away from the room, since our instructor said to change partners and everyone in the room is staring at me — gods know why. Grace notices my discomfort and approaches me like a normal person would.
"Hey, how are you?" She says, a little too loud for it to be subtle.

"I'm having a bit of a headache," I lie, hoping everyone heard that as well.

Her hands pull at my arm. "Come, let's go drink some water."
She pours water into a glass and hands it to me. I take a mouthful of the cold bliss.
"You look like a cornered dog." Grace crosses her arms.

Wincing, I nearly spit out the water. "The people there were looking at me like I'm a walking burrito and they haven't had food all day."

She chuckles aloud. "I'm sure they have a lot of food here, the reason they were looking at you was something else."

My hands touch my cheeks by reflex. "Do I have something on my face?"

"Those pretty eyes," says a deep voice behind me, startling me out of my skin. I jump and grab Grace by her arms, who is just as startled as I am.
When I turn to look at the source, it's just a boy my age — to my surprise.

"Sorry to startle you, Your Highness." The boy dips his head in apology.
Grace takes the glass of water from my hand and goes back to the dispenser, helping herself to a glass and leaving me alone to handle this situation.

"Did you follow me out here?" My fingers twitch.

Hey, be nice! Grace says. He's really cute.

"I apologize again, Your Highness." This time he bows lower, raven black hair falling into his eyes. "I just couldn't resist." He straightens and smiles. His smile is just as cold as his icy blue eyes, and for some reason, I can tell he doesn't mean a word of what he says.

Uh, Grace. I call out to her telepathically. Can you come back here? Please?

I can hear everything, she reassures me.

"Is there a reason why you're here?" I cross my arms, needing to do something with my fidgety hands.

"Just to meet our Princess." He shrugs and extends a hand. "Xander Oakes."

"I don't think I need to introduce myself." I take his hand and give it a slight shake. A thin stream of water slides from his hand to my wrist like a snake and wraps itself there, transforming into a thin pearly band. I resist clawing at it.

Gods, Grace scoffs in my head. You make your situations so awkward.

"That's true." Xander chuckles, leaving me to wonder if he was agreeing with me or Grace. "That's a small introductory gift, so you remember me."

What gift? Grace asks incredulously.

You can't see what's going on here, I reply.

"I'm a High troop leader of Aquanym, by the way. Ranked best of all current troop leaders." He offers with a smirk.

Save me! I scream at Grace. I have no idea what's he saying!