Page 37 of Ice Princesses
I sigh, long and deliberate. “Drink water.”
He grins and does another lap, this one tighter, faster, and enough to satisfy me without convincing either of us he’s fully invested. I track him for a moment, more out ofhabit than concern, then let my attention drift, which is how I notice Isabella leaning against the boards a few feet down, arms folded, watching a pair of skaters on the other end of the rink.
She catches my eye and raises a brow.
I shake my head once, already irritated for allowing myself to smile.
I tap the boards once and motion Rodrigo over.
He skates to the boards and pops to a stop, breath fogging the air. “What’s up?”
“You’re rushing the transition into the bracket,” I tell him. “It’s not costing you points yet, but it will if you don’t settle before the edge change.”
He nods once. “I thought I was.”
“Too fast. I want you slower.”
He considers that. “That sounds counterintuitive.”
“It is. Do it anyway.”
He grins, then glances in the direction of the far boards before snapping his attention back to me with exaggerated innocence.
“What are you doing?” he asks as I start skating to the other side, where Isabella and Nina are now talking to one of the conditioning coaches. “Is that Isabella? Are you going to talk to her?”
I finally glance at him. He’s skating in circles around me, backward and forward just to annoy me. “I am not.”
He lifts an eyebrow. “You literally just inhaled like you’re preparing to speak to her.”
“I inhale all the time, Rodrigo. It’s called breathing.”
Rodrigo grins again and starts laughing almostmaniacally. He takes off and lands a triple Lutz so cleanly that it seems to hush the air on the ice before the sound rushes back in, a ripple of awe moving through the rink as a few heads turn, conversations stalling mid-sentence.
Nina is already on her feet, clapping once hard before she can stop herself, her voice cutting across the ice. “Okay, no. That’s just rude,” she calls. “Do it again!”
Rodrigo skates out of it grinning, knowing exactly what this just earned him. He throws a casual salute in her direction and skates lazily back to where Katia is standing in the corner, grinning at him and waiting for a high-five.
I notice three things at once: the speed on the entry, the confidence through the air, and the way he’s already pushing past what we agreed on earlier.
He skates back towards me, breath fogging, adrenaline still crackling under his skin.
“That felt good,” he says.
“I know,” I reply. “And I want you to remember what it felt like.”
He nods once, more serious now. “Okay.”
“I want a second set of eyes on your layout,” I say, already turning. “Come on.”
His smile goes smug immediately.
We skate over together, gliding lazily along the boards because he enjoys being annoying all the time.
“Hey,” Isabella says. She straightens and pushes off the railing, eyes flicking to Rodrigo first and then to me, something curious settling into her expression that feels pointed without being aggressive. I’m suddenly terrified, because the shift I feel is immediate and I don’t have a namefor it yet.
“Hey,” I answer.
Rodrigo beams at her. “Hi.”
