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“I need your help.”
Quinn paused, suddenly focusing her entire attention on the mirror in her hand. It wasn’t the first time she had heard those words. From Angelique, however, those words carried a certain weight.
For one, Quinn had never seen such a stark look of terror on her friend’s face. Anything that could scare someone who’d unflinchingly faced down a goblin army was worth noting.
“What do you need me to do?” Quinn asked, because she was certainly not one to back down from a threat, no matter how dire. “Should I get Emerys?”
“No, do not get Emerys!” The force of Angelique’s shout nearly made Quinn drop the glass.
Quinn stared. “Er. All right, I…won’t let my extremely powerful elf king husband know of whatever possible threat has you so rattled?”
“Quinn. Please don’t tell him I called you about this.”
Quinn was thinking she needed to reevaluate the situation. She dropped into a plush chair, angling the mirror so she could get a better look at Angelique. “Is everything alright with you?”
“Yes. No? I don’t know!” came the panicked, half-strangled reply. “I don’t know what to do! I never, ever expected this. Not from him. Not from anyone. And certainly not now!”
“Angelique, who ?”
“Him! Evariste!” Angelique peered over her shoulder, as if worried she’d summoned her erstwhile companion by name alone, then swung back to Quinn. Her eyes were moon-wide with bewilderment. “He said he has feelings for me. Quinn, what do I do?”
Quinn sucked in a breath. Ah.
Don’t laugh don’t laugh don’t laugh.
Well, this explained the terror.
——
I…I like you. A lot.
Funny how five little words could make Angelique want to crawl right out of her skin. Even just thinking them now made sharp, ice-cold strands of panic creep through her mind.
“Quinn, please.” Angelique begged her friend through the mirror. “I froze. Like a hellhound in starfire-light. Then, I basically ran away, babbling something about collecting supplies, and I need to think of something to say when I get back!”
I like you. A lot. And then the hopeful, wistful way Evariste had looked at her…
Gah. She was such an idiot. Why had she run? All this did was create the sort of unnecessary drama Angelique had always been so proud of avoiding.
So she’d called Quinn in a panic. Completely forgetting that Quinn was married to Evariste’s best friend.
Saints above, does Emerys know?
Angelique hated this. Hated how she was suddenly re-evaluating every interaction, every memory, every action. Trying to sift through hints she had missed.
When did he start liking her? Why did he start liking her? It made no sense!
And now everything was ruined.
Quinn coughed. Right. Once again, Quinn was privy to a full display of Angelique’s emotional distress. “I gather this was surprising information.”
“Well I didn’t wake up this morning expecting a confession!” Angelique snapped, then took a deep shuddering breath. “Sorry. I’m sorry. I’m the one who asked for your help.”
“It’s fine,” Quinn said mildly, as if emotionally stunted enchantresses yelled at her every day. “I guess a good place to start is…what do you want?”
“I don’t want to think about this,” Angelique said, then winced. She sounded like a petulant child. What was she supposed to do with this? Truly.
Angelique got up and started to pace. “I say this with total and complete honesty, I have never thought of him like that.”
“Hmm.”
Angelique narrowed her eyes. “What.”
“What?”
“What’s with that response?”
“Seems like this has rattled you a lot,” Quinn said reasonably. Somehow, she’d gotten her end of the mirror propped up and was restringing her bow. “For someone so quick to dismiss romance, I’m surprised you’re being so vocal about this.”
Angelique was fully aware of that, thank you very much. Stars. She’s always preached how important it was to “talk things out” and here she was behaving in the exact opposite manner.
She scrubbed her eyes. It’d just been so…direct. Out-of-nowhere.
“I got this for you.”
She had blinked in bemusement at the lovely set of throwing knives. She’d just talked about them last week.
“Oh! Thank you-“
“Because I-I like you. A lot.”
She’d seen Evariste in all kinds of states, through all sorts of emotions.
She’d never seen him nervous.
“I’m an awful person,” she said miserably.
She heard Quinn sigh. “Are we back to this again? Do I need to get Elle and Odette to come by and give you a few knocks on the head?”
“You should have seen his face, Quinn.”
“I see yours, so I think I got a pretty good idea,” Quinn said wryly. Angelique truly didn’t understand how she could be so calm. “You never did answer my question. What is it you want, Angelique? Cause I’ve heard a whole lot about him, but not about you.”
Angelique fell silent. Panic flared again as she tried to sift through her emotions. “I don’t know what I want. He’s done so much for me. I wouldn’t be here without him, I owe him everything.”
“You do not owe it to him to tell him you return his feelings,” Quinn said sharply. “Absolutely not.”
That made Angelique flinch in guilt. She hadn’t meant it that way, not at all, but Quinn was still right. Evariste deserved more than that.
Why was this so hard?
Quinn also softened. “It’s okay to take your time thinking about this sort of thing, you know.”
Angelique scowled. “You didn’t.”
“Well, I also knew perfectly well how I felt about Emerys,” Quinn reasoned. “The issue was more along the lines of whether I would die from trying to break his curse. Shedding my blood on the elven throne and all, you know.”
Angelique couldn’t help but roll her eyes. “When did you get so sarcastic?”
“Probably from the years spent with you and Emerys.”
“By that logic, shouldn’t some emotional intelligence from you and Evariste have rubbed off on me as well?”
“Doesn’t sound like the way he confessed was very emotionally intelligent,” Quinn retorted and Angelique couldn’t help but glare on Evariste’s behalf. “Oh come now, what sort of friend would I be if I didn’t get a little indignant for you? You looked so terrified, I thought another threat to the Continent had arisen!”
Angelique’s shoulders drooped. She hadn’t considered how she might have sounded on the outside. The ragged edges of white panic had receded slightly, to the point where she felt like giving herself a few knocks to the head for her…overreaction. “I’m an idiot, aren’t I?”
Quinn hummed. “No, you’re human. Look, I’m going to do something I learned from my mother and run through the scenarios. Say that you don’t have feelings for Evariste, and you tell him that. So what?”
Angelique felt her stomach clench. “It’ll change everything.”
“How so?” Quinn continued relentlessly. “What, do you think he’ll despise you for rejecting him? Never want to see you again?”
“No,” Angelique hesitated. “…maybe. What if he does?”
Quinn leveled her with a look of disbelief. “Angelique. Do you honestly think Evariste would willingly leave your side, ever? Unless you tell him to, that is. Maybe it’s you that doesn’t want to see him, now that you know-“
“Quinn, I would never do that-”Angelique began hotly, only catching herself when she saw Quinn’s grin.
“I figured. I flatter myself in thinking I know both of you fairly well at this point, but it’s nice to hear you confirm it. Fine. So say you do have feelings then-“
“That’s the point, I don’t know if I do or don’t have feelings-“
“Then tell him that! You don’t always have to know everything, and take the time to sort out your own feelings first before considering his. Besides, the amount of thought you’re putting into this already tells me how deeply you do value your relationship with him. Whatever form that may take.”
Angelique dipped her head wordlessly. That was true. That was mainly where the shock came from: needing to overturn everything she thought she knew about her and Evariste.
How many signs had she missed? Was there something she should have done differently?
“Like I said, you have time to figure this out. And it’s just a confession, it’s not like the man asked you to marry him.” Quinn suddenly frowned in thought. “He didn’t, did he?”
“No!”
“Well, I had to make sure. For me, the confession and marriage happened pretty much one right after the other.”
“That is what happens when you fall in love during the middle of a battleground,” Angelique grumbled.
“And now you sound more like your usual self.” Quinn smiled briefly, then tilted her head at something off-mirror screen. “I have to go. Band Gallant needs me for a mission.”
“Of course, go.” Angelique flapped a hand, struggling to appear nonchalant and not to dissolve into a ball of anxiety again. Judging from the way Quinn was still eying her in concern, she wasn’t very successful.
“Call me back. I’m here if you need to talk,” Quinn ordered, already in Soldier Mode. Perhaps she realized that, because she softened her next words. “It’ll be okay, Angelique. Just be honest. He’s waited this long already; waiting a little longer won’t kill him.”
The mirror screen went blank as Angelique reluctantly cut the spell.
Honesty. She could do that.