A Slave to Broken Hearts (A Slave to Love Sequel)

Chapter 5: Admiring the View

"Fair point. But imagine how Ace must have felt. I'm sure plenty of people have been pestering him with questions for months now. I think we can handle one night of irritating questions. After all, we don't have to answer a single one," I stroked the tops of his knuckles with my fingertips soothingly. "As for it being weird...we can just go and see Ace for a bit and then leave early if it's that bad. Just dropping by for a bit is better than not going at all. It might remind Ace that you're still here for him when he needs you to be. And maybe this will be your chance to re-connect."

Blade sat quietly for a long time, but he was slowly starting to nod. "You're not leaving my side the whole night, got it?"

I grinned. "Wouldn't dream of it. Besides, I miss Ace too. It'd be great to see him again. Albeit, this does mean I'll have to find a dress..."

Blade groaned. "Great. We should have started shopping last year. Even that might not have been enough time."

"Sorry I want to wear something I'll like," I said, hitting his arm playfully. "And I was kidding. I can just wear my prom dress. It's super pretty and I may not get many opportunities to wear it again."

"Mhmm, well I definitely wouldn't mind seeing you in it a few more times..." he let go of my hand to brush his knuckles along my thigh, a small smile playing on his lips. A burst of relief hit me. Finally he looked like himself again.

I rolled my eyes at his comment. Of course he wouldn't mind. A few weeks after I brought my dress home I'd tried it on in my room, just to make sure I really really liked it. Blade hadn't come the day I had gotten it since it had been a girls day outing; just Katie, Leah, Jill, and I shopping for prom. He hadn't seen the dress or known anything about it at that point, but when he did see me wearing it and posing in front of the mirror well...let's just say the dress didn't stay on very long. Not that I was complaining. But if I was going to wear something that fab, then I kind of wanted it to stay on for more than ten minutes.

"Hey now, since when did you like me best when I was dressed?" I teased.

He shrugged, taking my hand in his again. "I like you in every way."

I pecked him on the cheek. "Good answer." I hated to bring it up a sore subject again, but I needed to know. "Are you okay now? Or at least, more okay than before?"

He sobered slightly at my question. "I don't know. I just feel like this stupid ball has disaster written all over it. But that could just be because every time there's been some sort of event recently something bad has happened."

He had a point there. The blood feast, Halloween, Aros' ball, my birthday...we didn't seem to have much luck when it came to parties.

"Well like I said, we don't have to stay long. Just pop in, say hello, maybe dance once or twice then we can leave." Maybe Blade's worry was catching, because I was started to get a funny twist in my stomach at the thought of going. "I mean, how bad could it possibly be? At least this time all your family is going to be there, Alek has his head on straight, and Aros is gone."

"True..." but he still didn't look too convinced. And frankly, I was starting to feel the same. I shook the feeling off and stood, brushing some dirt off my shorts.

"Come on, let's go inside. I'm hungry," I said abruptly. If he noticed my own doubts starting to show, he didn't mention it. He just stood and followed me back out into the beautiful June sunshine.

********

"Is it too late to back out?" Blade asked, seeming to read my own thoughts. We were standing in front of Aros' castle...well, Ace's castle now. We hadn't been here since the incident. We had watched from the car as crowds of people bustled inside in their finest evening wear, chatting loudly and already enjoying themselves. We had finally made it out of the car once there was a smaller flow of people, but we still couldn't get the courage to go inside.