His eyes rose to hers and he saw frustration before she blinked it away and whispered, “Farah and True.”

“Farah and True,” he whispered back.

She smiled at him right before she was whisked away.

He went to reach for her, but he could not.

For he was whisked away too.

“Thank you for the dance, my prince,” a woman called as her man pulled her to the door.

“My pleasure, Edwina,” True called back.

Edwina waved and waved as she was dragged along, her eyes moving to Farah.

“Lovely to meet you, Lady Farah!” she yelled, almost out the door.

“And you!” Farah yelled back just as Edwina was pulled out.

His mother would be cross for months if she’d seen anything that night, specifically True (and Farah) shouting across a pub at a commoner.

But after that night, all True could think was…

Fuck his mother.

He looked to Bruce and Simon, who were sitting with them, enjoying an end-of-evening port, and he smiled at the men.

They returned his smile.

The band had stopped playing perhaps twenty minutes before. Half of them were gone, the other half were enjoying well-earned ales or whiskies at the bar.

Other than that, most of the rest of the folk in the pub had cleared out, including Florian and Luther, who had both found maids to share the remainder of their evenings with.

In fact, Bram was chatting one up a few tables away, and True suspected he soon would be enjoying the warmth of her bed.

Alfie and Wallace were sitting at the table with Farah and True, Bruce and Simon.

Although Farah was at the table, she would more aptly be described as sitting on his lap.

This had started with her lifting her feet there, for they were “killing her,” and as others joined and left them at the table, it somehow naturally progressed to her having her arse in his lap.

It fit perfectly there.

But having it was killing him.

“It will be talked about for decades to come, when Prince True and the Lady Farah danced the night away at The Antlers,” Bruce declared, contentedly eyeing True with Farah perched in his lap.

“I would prefer it talked about, providing lumber from this region to the ports cities in the north and west to build ships so our wool and wheat and pewter can sail across the Green Sea, now that King Aramus has given us leave for ships to sail, selling our goods to the Northlands and Southlands,” True replied quietly.

“Oh, that will be talked about as well, Your Grace,” Simon replied.

“We had already heard of it,” Bruce shared. “Birds are flying. And you know how they like to gossip, so pixies are late to finding their trees. They have so much to talk about, they’re flitting all over Wodell.”

He did know this, and in this instance, he was glad the pixies had this penchant.