Page 65 of The Ice Prince's Fated Mate
We both wallowed in the silence of our own terrible memories of the life we’d been forced to live.
Someone cleared their throat behind us.
We turned—
And burst out into howls of laughter. Milly was shaking so violently I thought she was going to fall from her chair. Tears streamed down both our faces.
“Are you done yet, my ladies?” Kolar ground out from somewhere underneath theoutfit.
“What in Hollow Earth isthat?” I shrieked, another fit of laughs shaking me.
Kolar stood at the foot of the stairs to the raised seating area in the library. He was dressed from head to toe in a riot of colors, starting with his boots. Mostly black, they were bedecked with bright purple, red and pink feathers flowing back up over the ankle and extending behind the boot.
From there, his pants were also red, tucked into white socks with bands of yellow and green around them. The extremelybaggy legs to his outfit were covered in loops and bows of fabric, each one a different shade of orange and yellow.
The shirt was a blue-white color resembling ice, with lines of glittering silver gemstones sewn throughout in a craze of patterns that may have been meant to symbolize a snowflake.
A jaunty hat completed the outfit, cut straight along the left and drooping low on the right, sporting matching feathers to the boots.
“Ladies, may I speak now?” Kolar growled, standing stiffly upright.
“Uh, sure?” I said, glancing at Milly, who could only shrug at the ridiculousness of it all.
Kolar nodded, reaching into one of the billowing sleeves of his outfit and pulling forth a rolled-up parchment that he now unfurled and read from. “His Lord, the most honorable and brave warrior of the kingdom, Duke of the Eastern Marches, Protector of the Citadel, Hero of the Five-Year War, Warrior of the Ice, Prince and Heir of the Ice Kingdom, Lord Dirk Dvorak, first of his name, wishes to know if you, Lady Ella Forchen, would do him the incredible honor of attendingdinnerwith him.”
He rolled up the parchment and stared at me.
I struggled to keep calm, only somewhat succeeding. “Dirk made you come ask me … inthat?”
Milly was snorting, her hands clapped over her mouth, her face red. Kolar, meanwhile, had a “please kill me now” sign all but etched onto his face.
“It is my duty to serve my lord, the most honorable and brave—”
“Okay, okay,” I said, waving him off before he could recite the litany of Dirk’s titles a second time. “Very well. You may tell theHonorable Lord Dvorak that I would be happy to attend ‘dinner’ with him.Ifyou will escort me there. Like this.”
I was hoping to make it a light and funny joke, but something about the way Kolar’s eyes narrowed set off warning bells.
“The Lord Dvorak will bemostexcited to hear the news, I am sure.” He smiled broadly. “As am I. I’m told your outfit awaits you in your room.”
“Oh?”
The smile turned teasingly wicked. “I’m also told it is …suitablefor the occasion.”
“Is she going to look just as, uh, impeccable, as you?” Milly asked, her eyes wide with unconstrained glee.
“Oh, no,” Kolar said. “The Lady will lookmuchmore impressive.”
“I think I’ve just been set up,” I growled, looking from my best friend to Kolar and back.
Thirty-One
Ella
“Nope. Not happening,” I said, staring aghast at thethinglaid out on my bed.
Milly pushed past me and immediately began cackling as she took in the outfit. “It’s shaped like a dress, at least? Mostly.”
I groaned. “I’m going to cancel.”
