I stared at her from behind him, making my eyes huge and imploring. I didn’t want her to offend him and get us kicked out of the castle before I had a proper chance to poke around. She gave me an annoyed look.

“You certainly have a distinctive style,” Viv said.

“That fascinates you,” he purred.

I checked my gag reflex. Poor Viv. What had I done? I tried to think of a way to get rid of him.

“Well, so long as you’re not here because you’re pining for me, there won’t be any problems with the wedding,” he said.

“Pining?” she repeated. I think it was sheer force of will that kept her from rolling her eyes. “What sort of problems did you imagine would happen?”

“Oh, nothing really,” he said. He shrugged. “Piper has been concerned that you might design hideous hats for the bridesmaids, you know, out of bitterness that I’m marrying her and not you.”

“Did Piper say that?” I asked quickly, before Viv could voice her opinion, which likely would have rendered him bloody. Also, I thought he was lying. It seemed unlikely that Piper would say such a thing given how desperate she was to have Viv design the hats to begin with.

Dooney swung around and looked me over from head to foot, pausing on my red hair—yes, the bias against gingers is real. “She mentioned you, too. The ‘party crasher’ she called you.”

I didn’t so much as blink. Instead, I gave him a small smile and said, “Nicknames. What can you do, Dooney?”

His eyes narrowed as if he was trying to decide if I was mocking him or not. I was. Thankfully, there was a knock on the door and Viv called, “Come in.”

Two castle staff, in black-and-white uniforms, wheeled a tray into the room.

“Tea’s here!” Viv cried. She glanced at Dooney. “We’d ask you to stay but I’m sure Piper will be looking for you. Ta-ta!”

Dooney looked confused. I doubted he got rushed out of places very often. I moved to hold the door open for him while our tea was set up on a small table by the window.

“Nice to meet you,” I said. “See you at dinner tonight.”

“Sure, I guess,” he said. He looked grumpy, as if he hadn’t gotten what he wanted out of this encounter, and sulked his way out of the room. I shut the door behind him and turned to Viv and asked, “What was that all about?”

She jerked her head in the direction of our tea servers and said, “I have no idea.”

In other words, she wasn’t going to say anything in front of the hired help. Smart woman. We waited quietly until the two women finished their task.

“Just leave your things outside the door when you’re done, miss, and we’ll collect them,” the taller one said.