I dared a glance behind me. Fury filled the prince’s face when Nuwin’s arm curled around my waist, and then Prince Norivun was striding across the dance floor, his gaze intent on his brother.
“Just get me out of here,” I pleaded as I gripped his arm.
Nuwin grinned. “This shall be fun.”
CHAPTER 24
True to his promise, the youngest prince whisked me to the side doors that opened to a sprawling lawn of frost-nipped grass, ice flowers, enchanted fountains, and a covered icy topiary maze that had nobles running about it.
Nuwin grabbed two flutes of champagne off a floating tray, and then we were outside, running through the throngs of fae across the frosty landscape until he pulled me into the maze, and we disappeared around one corner.
Breathless, I did my best to keep up, especially when I heard the prince’s enraged bellow.
“Nuwin!”
A flutter of giggles and nervous laughter followed from the fae we passed, and within seconds, the maze swallowed us whole. We dipped and turned through ice caves and tunnels. Everything was covered. Nobody flying overhead could see us.
“Where are we going?” I gasped as puffs of mist clouded from my breath.
Somehow, amazingly, Nuwin managed to carry both flutes of champagne without spilling them, as though he’d done acts exactly like this before.
“There’s a hidden exit just up ahead. Nori knows about it, but since there are several hidden exits, he won’t know which one we take.” He gave me a cheeky smile, as we slid around a corner, right past a couple kissing passionately in the corner. The male had the female’s leg hooked around his waist as his other hand plunged into her hair.
She sighed, then moaned when the male trailed his lips down the column of her neck.
“Looks like those two are having fun.” Nuwin bumped his elbow against mine and gave me a conspiratorial smile.
I snorted when he waggled his eyebrows.
We darted around another turn, and the young prince stopped at an ice wall.
“Hold this for me, will you, darling?” He handed me the two champagne flutes as a crashing sound came from the maze and another bellow. “Oh my, it sounds like my beloved brother has worked himself into quite a tizzy.”
Nuwin bent down and hooked his fingers against something under the ice wall just above the ground, and then the ice melted before us, falling to the side in a wall of water to reveal a door. “This way. Hurry, darling. He’ll catch us if we’re not quick.”
He opened the door and ushered me through. The ice wall formed again on the other side just as he closed the door behind us.
A dark tunnel greeted me. It was so black I couldn’t see. “Nuwin?”
His warm hand brushed my waist, drawing me close before he took the champagne flutes. “Follow me.”
He led me down the path, his footsteps sure and quick. He moved as nimbly as a snowgum in the Gielis Mountains, as though he too could see in the dark.
“How do you know where we’re going?”
He laughed. “I’ve been playing in these tunnels since I was a boy.”
The sound of rushing water reached my ears a second later, and I instinctively inched closer to him as images of plunging into an icy underground river flooded my thoughts, but a second later a warm breeze caressed my cheeks, and we were moving upward.
Light appeared ahead, just a sliver of it around the outline of a door. Nuwin loosened his hold on me and ran his hands near it. The door clicked open, and we stepped into a large room filled with books lining the walls.
“The castle library,” he explained. Music strummed through the walls, carrying the same beat as what had been playing in the throne room.
“Are we . . .” I frowned and gestured toward the door. “Did we just pass beneath the throne room?”
“Indeed we did, clever girl. The exits from the maze will drop you off at various locations in the castle. I just happened to pick the one that Nori would least expect since it took us right back to where we’d just fled.” He winked and handed me one of the flutes.
My lips parted in a smile at his mischievous expression before bringing the glass to my lips and letting a flood of bubbly liquid tingle my tongue. After I swallowed, I eyed the drink in amazement.
“This is delicious.”
“The ball’s champagne always is. They flavor it with berries and chocolate to heighten the taste.”
I took another drink and then another.
Nuwin chuckled. “Careful there, Ilara Seary. You’ll be drunk before you know it if you keep that up.”
Ignoring him, I swallowed more. “Maybe drunk is what I want to be. If you’d heard the way your father and brother just spoke of me—” I cut myself off, realizing who I was speaking to. “I’m sorry, my prince. I don’t mean to speak ill of them.”
But instead of being angry, Nuwin just cocked his head. “He’s not as bad as he seems.”
“Which one?”
That got a bark of laughter from him. “My brother.”
I rolled my eyes. “Then he obviously hasn’t murdered half of your family, taken you prisoner, and then treated you as though you were an object to own instead of a living fairy with a beating heart.”
Nuwin took a sip from his flute, his expression impossible to read before his lips kicked up. “I can tell he’s going to have his hands full with you.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
But instead of replying, Nuwin whisked my empty flute away, then swept me closer to his side. “Shall we return to the ball? I do enjoy dancing with beautiful females.”
“I’m not much of a dancer, and I’d rather not be the center of gossip.”
“Then we shall drink and eat and watch the dancers if you prefer.”
I sighed. Staying in the library and hiding away from the court’s prying eyes sounded more appealing, but I couldn’t hide forever, and I wouldn’t have my first impression to the court be that I was weak and afraid.
Sighing, I nodded toward the door. “Lead the way.”
Nuwin led me back to the throne room, and after we slipped inside, he nabbed me another flute of champagne.
My fingers curled around the cool glass as the tantalizing taste of berries hit my tongue again. I scanned the crowd, searching for the large fairy with talon-tipped wings, but Prince Norivun was nowhere to be seen.
“Do you know where he is?” I took another sip of the drink as a pleasant dizzying feeling swept through me. I lowered my glass. Despite what I’d said to Nuwin earlier, I didn’t actually want to be drunk. It would be stupid to allow alcohol to cloud my thoughts on a night such as this.
Nuwin shrugged. “Still in the maze is my best guess. Or, he’s exited and is searching in the wrong area of the castle, depending upon which secret door he thought we took. Regardless, he’s not here. You should try to enjoy it.”
Perhaps Nuwin was right. Music floated through the room, the symphony working toward a crescendo as fae paired in sets of two waltzed across the floor. Laughter and conversation drifted in the air like a melody unto itself. Not surprisingly, the dancing, drinking, and eating continued despite the scene the prince and I had caused earlier.
Forcing my shoulders to relax more, I focused on Nuwin and ignored all prying eyes that had landed on me.