Deva looked up when Mitchell entered her room and a smile blossomed on her face. He smiled back before he dropped his eyes to the floor and rubbed a hand nervously over the back of his neck. “Uh Deva I’m kinda here on behalf of my mother.”

Deva eyed him warily. If Aunty Cassandra had sent him it probably wasn’t good and knowing Mitchell the way she did, whatever his mother wanted him to do, he hadn’t stood up to her and told her no. “Mitchell, spit it out before you explode or I kill you.”

He dropped his arm to his side and looked up at her with a tiny smile. “There’s going to be a dinner this evening.”

“Doesn’t dinner occur every evening, why is this news to you Mitchell?”

He groaned and dropped into a chair. “No, a formal one. My mother has invited several of the noblewomen from court to dinner.”

“Ug, I am not attending. I’ll eat in my room.”

“You’ve been ordered to attend.” He gestured to the door as a bevy of maids entered, tittering like fools. One held up a dress with a wide smile.

“I am not wearing that!”

Mitchell sighed heavily as he rose. “You have to or it will simply be another reason for my mother to attempt to keep us apart. Just do it Deva, please for me?”

With a groan, she nodded. How could she resist doing it when he asked so sweetly? “Fine, I’ll do it.”

He gave her a brief hug before he turned for the door. “Great, now all I have to do is convince Holly.” The door closed behind him on Deva’s loud laughter, which didn’t bode well for his chances at convincing Holly to wear the dress.

He walked down the corridor to Holly’s door and knocked. He entered when she shouted from inside the room. “Hello Holly.”

She scowled at him and turned back toward the window. “Go away Mitchell, if you’re here to convince me to talk to Logan you’re out of luck, the idiot is on his own.”

He sent her back a confused look. “Um no, my mother sent me.”

Holly spun around. “Aunty Cassandra, why?”

“Well, uh there’s going to be a dinner tonight and it’s going to be formal so you need to dress for it.”

Holly glanced down at herself. “I appear to be dressed. If I weren’t I think you would have noticed.”

Mitchell flushed bright red at her comment. “No Holly, you need to dress properly.” He gestured at the door and a group of maids bounded in enthusiastically with the dress his mother had sent for her. “The maids will help you get ready; I’ll see you in a bit.”

Her shouting followed him into the hallway. “I’ll get you for this Mitchell! No, no get away from me with that corset woman!” The door slammed shut on her protests and Mitchell released a breath he hadn’t been aware he was holding.

He met Logan partway down the hallway and smiled at his friend. “Do you want to tell me why it is that Holly is angry with you?”

Logan dragged a hand through his hair. “We sort of had an argument today while in your mother’s court.”

“Yes, well that is to be expected I suppose, it’s quite boring and I can see Holly get restless and snapping at folks.”

Logan smiled, his eyes crinkling at the corners. “Yes well she’s gotten it into her head that she doesn’t like one of the noblewomen and she wants to investigate the woman. Yet, the woman has done nothing unseemly to warrant it.”

Mitchell shrugged. “You know how she is, stubborn to the core.” A smile appeared on his face and he slapped Logan on the back. “That is why you’re so enamored of her.”

Logan sent him a distressed look. “You haven’t said anything, have you?”

Mitchell shook his head. “Of course not, why would I?”

Logan blew out a relieved breath. “It’s just that I don’t think she returns the feelings. It seems as if she just wants to be friends.”

“Don’t worry about it Logan, let Holly be for the moment and simply get to know her before you try to move forward any.”

“Yeah, I guess. So what as the shouting about?”

Mitchell grimaced and explained to Logan about the dinner. “Which, sadly, means that you and I must dress as well.”

Logan groaned and followed Mitchell back to his room. “Here my mother had this made for you.”

Logan held the clothing at arm’s length. “Must I?”

“I’m afraid that you must indeed. Besides it will be worth it to see Holly in a dress, she won’t have time to alter it this time around,” Mitchell told him with a chuckle.

“Right fine, I’ll go get ready then.” Logan took his new clothes and left Mitchell’s room.

Mitchell threw his body down into a chair with a groan. It was going to be a long evening and he knew it wouldn’t be disaster free, not after his mother had forced both Deva and Holly into those god-awful dresses. Not that they weren’t stylish or in fashion, he simply knew neither girl had ever, in their lives, worn anything so cumbersome. Nor had they ever worn a corset.

***

Deva stabbed at a potato as she glared across up the table toward where Mitchell sat between his mother and of all people Lady Monica. He had just laughed at something the stupid woman had said. Add to everything the rest of the witless girls at the table making eyes at him and her mood was not going to improve anytime soon.

“Deva, stop trying to glare the girls to death before Aunty Cassandra notices!” Holly hissed at her.

“They’re practically drooling on him!” she muttered as she stabbed another potato.

“Honestly Deva, you know Mitchell is only making nice because of his mother, he doesn’t care about any of these girls, he likes you.”

Deva glared at Holly, flicked a glance across the table to where Logan sat next to one of Mitchell’s admirers, although she was currently hanging on Logan’s every word and caressing his arm in a rather familiar manner. She gestured toward Logan with her fork. “Maybe instead of worrying about what I’m doing you should worry about what Logan is doing. It would appear your man is doing some heavy-duty flirting of his own over there.”

Holly’s cheeks turned pink. “He is not my man! Logan can do whatever he wishes with that trollop!”

“Right sure, that’s why you just referred to her as a trollop.”

“Just shut up Deva! I do not feel anything for Logan beyond friendship! God you’re so annoying!”

Deva shrugged off Holly’s ire and turned back to scowl in Mitchell’s direction. She’d rather stab Lady Monica than the potatoes on her plate. Maybe Holly was right, maybe she should relax. That thought scattered a moment later when Lady Monica put a hand on Mitchell’s arm. The woman was probably at the very least, a decade older than he was, yet she was simpering at him just like the rest of them. She wanted to gag. The thought of being married to a royal brought out all the loons, she thought as she continued to glower in Mitchell’s direction.

“Seriously Deva, people are starting to notice!” Holly hissed at her.

“Mind your own business Holly and worry about Logan and his dinner companion!” she whispered back angrily.

Holly lobbed a roll at Deva’s head. Deva ducked the roll and it hit the nobleman sitting beside her in the cheek. With a snarl, she hurled her entire plate at Holly before reaching over to grab a roast turkey leg.

Holly was a step ahead of her and had grabbed a bowl of some sort of pudding, lobbed it at Deva and ducked the turkey leg as Deva swung it at her head. The pudding had splattered over the table, covering several other guests in the sticky substance.

At the head of the table, Cassandra sent a glare at her son before rising. “THAT IS ENOUGH!” Holly and Deva froze, Holly with a chunk of ham poised over her head and Deva holding a bowl full of potatoes. “Dinner is now over! Everyone out!”

Both girls sent each other a frightened look, dropped what they held and headed for the door. Cassandra’s voice rang out over the din of chairs scraping across the floor and muted conversation. “Not the two of you.”

Both girls slumped their shoulders as they turned back to face the princess. Neither spoke, they both simple stood there, heads bowed, and waited for the explosion.

Before Cassandra could start, Holly pointed an accusing finger at Deva. “She started it!”

Cassandra sliced a hand through the air. “I do not want to hear it from either of you! You’ve ruined things for the last time! You will learn to behave like proper ladies or I will not allow either of you into this castle again! Now to your rooms and I don’t want to see either of you until tomorrow!”

The girls slunk from the room, neither attempted to say anything in their defense, after all how could they defend a war with food? There was also the fact that not one of them wanted to contemplate the princess’ words. The two of them did not want to know how she planned to turn them into what she deemed were proper ladies.

Together, they headed to Deva’s room, despite the fact that moments before they had been arguing, they were now banded together in misery over the fact that Princess Cassandra was probably going to force them into some sort of tutoring that involved etiquette or some such nonsense.

Both were surprised to find Mitchell and Logan waiting for them when they arrived in Deva’s room.

“Slinging food at one another … much more entertaining than royal court,” Logan said the moment they entered the room.

“Shut up Logan, I’ve potatoes in décolletage and I will throw them at you!” Holly snapped.

He threw his head back and laughed. “Want me to remove them for you?”

“Oooooh you are insufferable!” Holly stomped across the room and sat down angrily in a chair that was nowhere near Logan’s seat.

Deva sat sadly on the edge of her bed, Mitchell moved over to sit beside her. “It wasn’t so bad.”

“Wasn’t so bad? Your mother hates me Mitchell and she’ll never let us have peace. She wants you married to some nice princess or noblewoman, not a Ranger.” She sniffled as he put an arm around her shoulders.

“Hey, this is one time I’m not going to let her tell me what to do, all right?”

Deva gave him a teary smile. “All right.”

“It’s you I want to be with Deva, not any of those girls she keeps shoving at me. I have to play my part though, I have to be the prince and play host and smile, it doesn’t mean a thing. I’d much rather be spending my time with you.”

“See Deva, told you, but do you ever listen to me? Nope.” Holly grumped from her spot across the room.

“Oh go eat your potatoes!” Deva told her.

Logan found that funny, until Holly actually hit him in the head with some of the potatoes. “Ew that was disgusting Holly.”

She stuck her tongue out at him and went back to her grumpy silence.

Mitchell rose and headed for the door. “All right, well since we have no idea what it is my mother is going to torture us with tomorrow I suggest we get some sleep. The maids will be in to help you get out of those dresses. Holly, you might want to head back to your room.”

With a huff and a toss of her head, she stomped past the two of them, sending Logan and evil glare before exiting the room.  

Logan titled his head back and stared at the ceiling. “I don’t think she’s ever going to talk to me again.”

Mitchell gave his shoulder a squeeze. “She will, let her calm down.”

From behind them Deva grinned. “I knew it!”

Logan spun to face her, his cheeks tinged pink. “Knew what?”

“You like Holly!” She jumped up and did a little dance, causing lettuce to fall from where it had been perched in her hair.

“No I don’t! I simply don’t want to work with someone who might kill me if I say the wrong thing!” he protested quickly.

Deva continued dancing about. “Too late Logan, you can’t protest now! This is divine! Now if Holly will just admit she likes you back everything will be so much better!”

“Wait, what?”

“Oh she likes you, she just won’t admit it. It was like the time she liked … um never mind that’s irrelevant. The point is Holly has a hard time admitting her feelings sometimes.”

Logan wanted to know who else Holly had had feelings for and why Deva thought it was now irrelevant. If he asked her however, she’d latch onto it as proof that he had feelings for Holly. “Whatever makes you happy to believe, Deva. I do not have any feelings for Holly and she doesn’t have any for me. Now, I’m going to bed good night.”

Deva gave Mitchell a giant sized smile after Logan had left. “He likes her, I can tell. Night Mitchell.”

With a shake of his head, he turned and left the room without another word. There was no sense in arguing with Deva she wouldn’t change her mind no matter what anyone said. Besides, he had more important things to worry over than Logan’s love life.  Like the fact that his mother insisted on interfering in his life on a continuous basis. He’d made it clear to her that he wished to be with Deva and had asked her not to interfere. Instead of heeding his wishes, she had planned this entire fiasco. While he understood that his mother wanted what was best for him, her only child, she needed to let things go sometimes. If Deva was what made him happy, then she needed to see that.

It didn’t appear as if that was going to occur anytime in the near future. He sighed and headed to his room.