Chapter 91: You Don’t Have to Assume

Saturday morning, Roxanne woke to find Isla already sitting cross-legged on the end of her bed, wide awake. "You came back looking unusually thoughtful last night," Isla said. "Did he kiss you?"

Roxanne nearly threw her pillow at her. "Did he?" Isla pressed. "No," Roxanne said. "Did you want him to?" Isla asked, and Roxanne opened her mouth to answer, then closed it again, which only made Isla’s grin spread wider. "Oh," Isla said, delighted. "This is much worse than a kiss."

Roxanne insisted nothing had happened, that Kai had admitted he was jealous, she’d told him to dance instead of brooding, and then they’d gone back inside. But Isla pointed out that Roxanne could have spent the evening with anyone at that party. Instead, she’d chosen to spend the final stretch of it standing outside in the cold, talking to Kai.

Roxanne didn’t deny it. The conversation turned more serious as Isla asked whether Roxanne was starting to want something from the brothers she wasn’t prepared to name out loud. Roxanne admitted, finally, that she liked being around all of them. The problem was that she liked each of them differently, and she had no interest in letting her own feelings turn into some kind of promise she hadn’t actually made to anyone.

Isla didn’t tell her to pick anyone. "Then don’t promise anything," she said. "Just don’t lie to yourself about what you feel." It wasn’t an answer exactly, but it gave Roxanne something honest to sit with, without forcing her into a decision she wasn’t ready for.

Breakfast brought the whole group together, Jace and Serena included, already in the middle of an argument with Liam about who had danced worst at the party. Liam spotted Roxanne the moment she walked in and dramatically pulled out a chair for her. "Morning, beautiful," he said. "Did you dream about me?" "Unfortunately," she said, sitting down, "I have a very active imagination." Jace burst out laughing, and Liam pressed a hand to his chest as though mortally wounded.

The teasing felt entirely normal, the kind of noise she’d grown used to by now. But she noticed something shift slightly whenever the conversation drifted toward her dance with the other student the night before. Lucien didn’t question her about it at all, only asked whether she’d enjoyed the party and listened to her answer without digging for anything more. Roshan noticed she was quieter than usual and said nothing in front of the others, leaving the door open for her to talk privately if she wanted to.

Liam joked about the other boy being brave enough to approach her, though his smile slipped for half a second when Jace teased him about it afterward.

Kai barely said anything at all, but their eyes met once across the table, and the memory of their conversation outside the party returned instantly, warm and unresolved. Roxanne, not wanting the whole morning to curdle into something awkward, deliberately steered the conversation back toward Liam and Jace’s ridiculous argument, and the table erupted into chaos all over again. For once, she didn’t try to decode every glance exchanged around her. She simply let herself enjoy being there.

The academy had scheduled nothing for the weekend, and Roxanne decided to spend the day in town with Isla and Tessa. They browsed through clothing shops, ate lunch at their usual café, and argued at length over which film to watch that evening, Tessa pushing hard for an action movie with an absurd amount of explosions and Isla insisting a romantic comedy would be far more satisfying. Roxanne laughed so hard at their bickering that she nearly spilled her drink across the table.

It mattered to her, this ordinary afternoon, because it reminded her that her life had expanded well beyond the four brothers, that she had real friendships and plans that had nothing to do with royalty or romance.

While they ate, Tessa asked whether Roxanne planned to keep avoiding the question of which brother she liked best. "I don’t avoid it," Roxanne said. "You just change the subject every time someone asks," Tessa pointed out. "That’s called having excellent conversational skills," Roxanne said, and Tessa laughed, though Isla caught the flicker of something more serious crossing Roxanne’s expression afterward. The question wasn’t hypothetical anymore, and they both knew it.

When Roxanne returned to the academy that evening, she passed through the training courtyard on her way back and found Kai there, finishing a solitary workout. He wasn’t waiting for her on purpose, just winding down, but he asked whether she had a minute before she could walk past.

"I meant what I said," Roxanne told him. "You don’t have to stand across a room wondering whether I want to dance with you." Kai wiped the sweat from his forehead, considering that carefully. "And if I ask?" he said. "Then I might say yes," she said. "Might?" he repeated. "Don’t get greedy, Moonstone," she said, and a faint smile touched his mouth.

He asked, simply, whether she would like to walk with him later, not for training and not for any royal obligation, just a walk around the grounds. Roxanne studied him for a moment before agreeing. Before they parted, Kai said, "I won’t assume." "Good," she said. "Ask me." He held her gaze a second longer than necessary. "I will," he said.

Later, they walked the quieter path behind the academy gardens, the evening air cool and smelling faintly of cut grass. Without any drills or audience to perform for, Kai seemed noticeably less guarded than usual. Roxanne asked whether he had always been so serious. "According to Liam," he said, "I was born disappointed in everyone." "That sounds believable," she said.

He admitted Liam had exaggerated, though he offered little to defend himself. In the course of talking, she learned that Kai used to draw when he was younger, before training and royal expectations had crowded it out entirely.

"You draw?" she asked, surprised. "Used to," he said. "That wasn’t my question," she said, and he gave her a sideways look. "You’re very determined to embarrass me today," he said. "I’m discovering new things about you," she said. "It’s exciting." He told her she could see his old drawings someday, though he made no promises about when.

She asked, eventually, what he wanted for himself, when nobody was telling him what he was supposed to become. Kai took a long moment before answering. "I’m still figuring that out," he admitted. Roxanne understood more than he probably expected her to, since she’d spent so long simply surviving each day after Dorian’s betrayal that she hadn’t given much thought to her own future either. For a while, neither of them spoke, and the silence settled comfortably between them.

When they reached the path back to the dormitories, Kai stopped. "Can I see you tomorrow?" he asked. Roxanne smiled. "You can ask me tomorrow," she said. He shook his head, almost amused. "Roxanne." "Yes, Kai. I’d like that," she said. They parted without a kiss, but the invitation between them no longer carried any ambiguity at all.

That night, lying in bed, Roxanne’s phone lit up with a message. I meant what I said about asking, Kai had written. She smiled and typed back. Then you should practice. A moment later, another message arrived. Would you go out with me tomorrow? Just us.

She looked at the words for a long moment, aware that this was different from training together or dancing at a party or simply finding themselves alone somewhere. Kai was asking for a date, plainly and deliberately. She replied with a single word. Yes. His answer came almost instantly. Good. I’ll pick you up at noon.

Roxanne set the phone down, then immediately picked it back up to read it again. Across the room, Isla lifted her head off her pillow. "Was that Kai?" she asked. "No," Roxanne said. "Roxanne." "Go to sleep," Roxanne said, and Isla laughed before turning over, still smiling into her pillow.

Roxanne lay back against her own pillow, unable to stop herself from smiling, when the phone lit up one more time. Kai had sent another message. And wear whatever makes you feel beautiful. Not whatever you think I want. She read it twice, lying there in the dark, already wondering what she wanted to wear tomorrow.