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Drew’s gaze swept across the ballroom again, eyebrows furrowing in irritation. The ball had started nearly two hours ago, and all of the guests should have been here by now, including–
“She’s not gonna show up.”
Drew whirled around to see Piper grinning up at her. At twelve years old, Piper was mischievous and clever and too damn perceptive for her own damn good. She was also annoying.
“What are you talking about?” Drew grit out, reminding herself that as a princess she was not allowed to chase down her little sister and throw her in the river. Not in front of all their guests at least.
“I’m talking about Nys- sa,” Piper said, sing-songing the girl’s name. “Who else would I be talking about?”
“And what makes you think she’s not coming?”
“I asked Leo, duh,” Piper scoffed. “He said she told their dad she refused to go. Besides, even if she did show up, she’s not gonna talk to you. She hates you, remember?”
Drew felt a vein throb in her forehead at the reminder. For all her skills and attributes, Drew often failed at first impressions and Nyssa Barrera was a prime example of that. Their initial meeting had gone about as poorly as possible, and Nyssa had made every effort to ensure that Drew never got the chance to remove her foot from where she’d so thoroughly inserted it in her own mouth. “Shut up, you don’t know anything.”
“I know that you’re gonna die a lonely old hag because every time you fall in love you manage to run them off!”
Drew grit her teeth so hard the grinding sound rang loud in her ears. “I’m going to kill you when we’re done here,” she hissed. “I’m gonna strangle you and then I’m gonna hang out the front window of the highest tower so everyone will know what happens to annoying little brats.”
Piper didn’t seem remotely phased, she just grinned wider. “You can’t catch me,” she taunted. “You’re too old and slow and busy drooling over girls who don’t even like you.”
“Why don’t you go find your stupid little friends and play your stupid little games and get the hell away from me?” Drew suggested. “I’m pretty sure I saw Thalia, so Jason’s bound to be around here somewhere. I don’t know where Leo is and I don’t care. I hope he doesn't show up, just to make you miserable.”
“No, Leo’s here,” Piper informed her brightly, her grin curling up like a snake’s.
“Yeah? Where is he?”
“He’s standing right behind you with his sister.”
Drew felt all the blood rush out of her face and she once again spun around on her heel. If she kept this up, she was going to ruin the intricate hairstyle she’d been given.
Sure enough, Leo Valdez was standing right in front of her, grinning just the same as Piper. “Hiya, Drew.”
“Leo, why don’t you and Piper go find something to do?” Nyssa suggested, her voice even and cold as frozen glass. “Something away from here?”
“Can do,” Leo agreed easily. “Come on, Pipes. Hero Boy is stuck talking to Octavian and I think he’s gonna die if we don’t save him.”
“Coming!” Piper chirped, and within a moment, they’d both disappeared into the crowd.
That just left Drew and Nyssa standing together in silence.
Drew struggled valiantly to keep her cheeks from turning scarlet, but she doubted she was doing all that well. “How… much of that did you hear?”
Nyssa observed her for a moment, but Drew couldn’t help but notice that the usual hostility in her eyes was notably absent. Then, a little smile played at the corner of her lips. “I don’t think you really want me to answer that.”
Drew sucked her teeth for a moment, her face pulling down in a scowl in an attempt to mask her embarrassment. “Interesting. In that case, please excuse me. I must abdicate the throne to Piper and prepare to live out my days as a hermit in the woods. With any luck, one of the wolves will eat me before winter falls.”
Nyssa actually let out a loud, boisterous laugh before she clapped her hand to her mouth. Drew felt like her head was spinning. In the nearly two years that she’d known Nyssa, not once had she ever heard the other girl laugh, much less at something Drew had said. Her laugh was a bright and brassy sound, similar to a slightly out of tune trumpet, and Drew found herself absolutely enchanted by it, even if she felt her cheeks turn a shade darker.
“I must say, I’m surprised,” Nyssa finally commented. “The great Drew Tanaka felled by some meaningless taunts by her own sister? I thought you were too quick for something like that.”
“It wasn’t her taunts that did me in, it was knowing her audience,” Drew admitted, refusing to look Nyssa in the eye.
Nyssa was quiet for a moment before she finally said, “Well, if it makes you feel any better, her taunts will bring you no quarrel from me.”
Drew stiffened before she squinted at Nyssa suspiciously. “Really>’
“Really,” Nyssa confirmed.
“Well. That’s– That’s good, I suppose,” Drew said haltingly. “I doubt it would do either of us much good to have you hate me more than you already do.”
Nyssa chewed her bottom lip for a moment. “I suppose you’re not wrong about that.”
Drew refrained from staring down at her toes or fleeing the conversation to go wail about the injustices of romance into her pillow like a banshee. Instead, she looked around the room again at all the people laughing and dancing together. At all the dresses shimmering in the light and swishing around with every twirl. Then she glanced back at Nyssa. She wore a mix of orange and red like the rest of her family, and the color contrasted her dark hair and eyes in a way that made Drew’s heart sing. Drew swallowed thickly. She supposed there wouldn’t be a better time to pluck up her courage than right now, seeing as she had so little to lose. It’s not like things could get any worse between them, at any rate.
“Ask me to dance,” Drew said, trying to sound demanding instead of desperate.
Nyssa actually looked around to see if anyone had approached them before she furrowed her brows at Drew. “Are you talking to me?”
“Yes, obviously. Who else would I be talking to?” Drew snapped. Then Nyssa arched her eyebrows and Drew darted her gaze away. “Please?”
Nyssa hummed softly, and Drew really thought she’d be left alone there, waiting for an invitation to dance that would never come. But then a big, calloused hand was offered to her, palm up, and Drew lifted her head to see Nyssa smiling at her, cheeks a shade or two darker than before. “Drew Tanaka, may I have this dance?”
Drew thought for a second that she’d do something embarrassing like cry or burst into song, but instead she smiled, and took the hand. “Gladly.”