Page 63 of Ice Princesses
Cecilia’s eyes snap to mine before she answers, something bright and quick flashing across her face.
“And you curl?” she asks him, amused.
Rafael chuckles under his breath and shrugs, and it almost feels the same way it does when Nina answers—trying to look and sound casual, but deep down they probably enjoy it a lot. Not justfor the bit, like Nina says, but for the adrenaline of competing at something you are good at. I can relate to that feeling.
“Mostly by accident,” he finally replies.
Nina rolls her eyes. “Ignore him. He’s the highest ranked in the United States right now.”
Cecilia’s brows lift slowly. “Accidentally?”
Rafael shrugs again, but this time there’s something smug under it. “I accidentally tripped into nationals and won. Very embarrassing.”
“You’re insufferable,” Nina says flatly. “Ignore him. He’s been like this all week because he thinks he finally figured out strategy.”
“I did figure out strategy,” Rafael protests. He nudges Nina aside with his hip, reaching for the tallest broom on the equipment rack and lifting one of the stones from the floor with an ease that suggests this is not, in fact, accidental.
“You watched one video.”
“It was a very good video, Skip.”
Nina snorts. “Stop calling me that.”
“No. You’re the boss here.”
“I just give clear direction.” She steps into his spacewithout hesitation, chin tipped up, daring him to keep going. “You’d be lost without me.”
Rafael’s grin shifts—less showy, more certain. “Probably,” he says, and the honesty of it feels different to the rest of the teasing.
From where I’m standing, I feel the air change between them, subtle but unmistakable. It isn’t just banter. It’s a rhythm that built over years of shared history and unspoken understanding. They move around each other without friction; Nina swatting at his arm, Rafael steadying the stone before it slips, their bodies calibrating automatically.
“Alright,” I say, rolling my shoulders back and stepping towards the edge of the ice, the familiar cold biting through the thin sole of my shoes. “Enough flirting, you two. Show me how this works.”
CHAPTER 22
ISABELLA
Forty-five minutes later,we’re standing on the ice, arms folded, staring at the stone in front of us and trying to figure out how on earth those people make it look so easy. Cecilia hasn’t stepped more than a foot away from me since we got here.
“So I just… slide it?” Cecilia asks, peering down at the forty-two-pound stone at our feet.
“You slide it,” Nina confirms from the other end of the sheet, her voice carrying easily across the ice. She’s stationed beside Rafael, their shoulders nearly brushing as they confer in low tones. They’ve been leaning into each other all evening, heads bent together in what is almost certainly technical discussion, but Nina’s smile keeps giving her away—wide and bright and a little too pleased for this to be purely instructional. “Just push yourself from the hack, Ceci.”
“I still don’t know what she’s saying.”
I laugh, the sound fogging in front of me in the cold air. “The hack is that little foothold behind you,” I say, nudging it lightly with the toe of my shoe. “You plant your back foot there, bend your front knee, and try not to hurt yourself.”
“God, okay, well, here goes nothing, I guess.”
Rafael cups his hands around his mouth. “Lower center of gravity!”
Cecilia shoots him a look. “I’m a professional skater! I have excellent balance.”
“Prove it,” Nina calls sweetly.
Cecilia exhales slowly, then lowers herself into position with the exaggerated caution of someone who has spent her entire life mastering blades, not rubber soles. She pushes off—and immediately wobbles, left arm windmilling barely enough to look chaotic before she corrects. The stone glides forward in a surprisingly straight line.
“Oh,” she says, startled.
