Thorne kept pace easily beside her, which irritated her even more given that she was already winded from walking so fast.
“So…,” Thorne said, his tone teasing. “You’re jealous?”
Cress bristled. “You do realize that all she wanted was to get a laugh at your expense, right?”
He chuckled, annoyingly good-natured when Cress was so furious. “Yeah, I get that now. Cress, wait.” Thorne grabbed her elbow and forced her to stop. “I know they can’t do it to you, but the rest of us can’t choose not to be controlled by them. She manipulated me. It wasn’t my fault.”
“And I suppose you’re going to say that you didn’t enjoy it?”
He opened his mouth, but hesitated. “Er. Well…”
Cress ripped her arm away from him. “I know it wasn’t your fault. But that doesn’t excuse everyone else. I mean, take Iko!”
“What about Iko?”
She dropped her voice to mimic Thorne. “‘I really know how to pick them, don’t I?’”
He chuckled, his eyes glinting at her mockery. “It’s the truth, isn’t it? Her new body is gorgeous.”
Cress fixed one moment’s worth of intensive glaring on him.
“That was clearly not the right thing to say. Sorry. But I’d just gotten my eyesight back.”
“Yeah, and all you wanted to look at was her.”
Thorne blinked, and sudden comprehension dawned in his eyes, but Cress stormed away before he could reply. “Never mind. Let’s just—”
“Pardon me.”
A palace guard blocked their path, one arm held out, stopping Cress in her tracks. She gasped and backed into Thorne, who latched on to her elbow. Her mouth ran dry. She’d been so incensed she hadn’t noticed the two guards stationed in the hall.
“We are asking that all guests begin to make their way to the great hall so the coronation ceremony can begin without delay.” The guard nodded in the direction they’d come. “Please proceed this way.”
Cress’s heart was hammering, but Thorne, calm as ever, pulled her away with a casual smile. “Of course, thank you. We must have gotten turned around.”
As soon as they turned a corner, Cress yanked her arm out of Thorne’s hold. He let his hand fall without argument. They were in a hallway that was quieter than the main corridor, though there were still a handful of guests drifting about.
“Stop here,” Thorne said, and she did, letting him back her against a wall. He towered too close to her, and to anyone it would look like they were in some intimate conversation, which only served to make Cress’s anger flare again. She clenched her fists and stared resolutely at his shoulder.
Thorne sighed.
“Cress. I know you’re upset, but could you pretend not to be for a second?”
She shut her eyes and took a deep breath. She was not angry. She was not hurt. She was not heartbroken.
When she opened her eyes again, she morphed her expression into what she hoped looked like cheerful flirtation.
Thorne raised an eyebrow. “That’s uncanny.”
Her voice still had a sting to it, though, when she said, “I’m a girl too, you know. I may not be as pretty as Iko, or brave like Cinder or bold like Scarlet—”
“Wait, Cress—”
“And I don’t even want to know what dumb thing you said when you met Princess Winter for the first time.”
Thorne clamped his mouth shut, confirming her suspicion that he had said something dumb indeed.
“But I’m not invisible! And yet you flirt with every single one of them. You’ll flirt with anyone who so much as looks at you.”
“You’ve made your point.” The teasing glint in his eye was gone, and Cress’s contrived smile had left her too. Though he had one hand near her hip, he was no longer touching her.
“This is what you were trying to tell me, wasn’t it?” Her voice wavered. “In the desert. When you were going on and on about how I’m so sweet and how you didn’t want to hurt me and … You were trying to warn me, but I was too much of a … a naïve, hopeless romantic to even listen to you.”
His eyes softened. “I didn’t want to hurt you.”
She crossed her arms defensively over her chest. Tears were blurring her vision. “I know. It’s my own fault I’ve been this stupid.”
Thorne flinched, but the movement was coupled with a glance around, which prompted Cress to do the same, swiping at her eyes before the tears could gather. The hallway had almost cleared, and the few remaining guests weren’t looking their way.
Reaching around Cress, Thorne pulled open a door that she hadn’t even noticed and within half a blink ushered her inside. She stumbled from the quickness of it, catching herself on a plant stand beside the door. They were surrounded by flowers and greenery of every imaginable color, their perfume thick and steaming in her throat. The ceiling rose several stories high and was made of the same leaded glass as the windows in the main corridor. Sofas and reading chairs were set in small groupings throughout the room and straight ahead they faced a series of desks overlooking the lake beyond.
“Good,” said Thorne. “I thought I remembered seeing something about an atrium. We’ll wait here until the halls clear. I’m hoping we can cross into one of the servant halls and avoid any more run-ins with guards for a while.”
Cress filled her lungs to near bursting and let it all out, but the breath did nothing to refresh her. She stepped into the room, putting much-needed space between her and Thorne.