Summer could hear Cora’s muffled giggle (maybe it was a princess thing, to be able to giggle and yet still have it sound triumphant), but she couldn’t take her eyes off Isaac. She’d never seen him in aught besides armour of one sort or another, or the padded clothing that went beneath it, and she struggled to keep her own face composed.
Prince Derek delivered her to the seat beside Isaac, and she sat down limply, still looking at him. One stray lock of hair curled temptingly over his eyebrow, and she itched to push it back. Vaguely, she heard Derek murmur to Isaac, “Remember to eat, brother.”
Isaac blanked out the entirety of everything around him, eyes only for Summer as she glided down towards him and joined him, and although he managed to muster up a polite smile by way of greeting, he simply couldn’t speak for a few moments. Then, hearing Derek’s voice in his ear, he twisted to face him and gave him a helpless little shrug, attempting to wordlessly convey that food was the last thing on his mind right now.
“You…you, um look…” He faltered and cursed inwardly at his fractured sentences, exhaling a deep and shaking sigh as he licked at his lips. “You look amazing, Summer, like an angel.” He gasped out a single breath, before his words registered and colour flooded his cheeks.
“You too,” she whispered, hating how inane the words sounded. She gripped her hands tightly together to keep from touching him, because she was sure once she started she wouldn’t stop. They might have stared at each other like that all night if they weren’t interrupted by folk serving them. Shyly, Summer picked up a piece of bread and offered it to Isaac.