[ANDRE]
Lena and I didn't talk directly and avoided each other's gazes throughout the dinner. The King was giving me a rundown of tomorrow's ceremony, while the Queen Mother was telling Lena about the dresses she had ordered for her attire tomorrow.
Neither of us was really listening. The encounter from earlier was still fresh in our minds, along with the extreme emotions that came with it. We painfully endured the evening of keeping face, each of us distracted by our own thoughts, until, at long last, the dinner ended.
I left the great hall with Lena. We walked in silence. My social battery was nearly drained, but I was glad I lasted the whole time.
"Andre?" Lena spoke up hesitantly once we arrived at the top of the grand staircase. "Can we talk now?"
"I'm tired, Lena."
"But I have to explain—"
