Evelina's POV
I closed the last of the distance, my eyes already sliding shut, close enough to feel his breath on my mouth when he set me back on my feet instead, putting exactly enough space between us that closing it again would have meant doing it on purpose.
Somewhere at the far table a cup came down against wood harder than it needed to, and I understood, without having to look, that everyone in that hall had just watched exactly what almost happened.
It would have been easy to assume it was about a woman and a man caught too close. I doubted that was all of it. More likely it was what he'd just done in front of every one of them, holding on to something this house had already decided wasn't worth touching.
"Did your knee give out?" he asked.
"No."
He didn't look like he believe
