"Would you stop staring at my chest, Lord Rubenhart?"
Ulrich's attention returned to Kaliantha.
She looked up at him with a frosty stare. The dance had not slowed, and she did not miss a single step, but one brow had lifted in clear disapproval.
"I was looking at the necklace," Ulrich said quickly.
He hoped she had not truly believed he had been standing there openly admiring her chest in the middle of the ballroom.
"I am aware," Kaliantha replied, as expected.
Ulrich wondered for a moment if she had just teased him or something to get a flustered reaction out of him, but he quickly discarded that idea.
"It is unusual," he said instead.
"It is a family heirloom."
"An important one, I assume."
Kaliantha's expression altered at once.
The faint amusement in her eyes did not vanish, but caution came beneath it. Her fingers remained within his, and she followed the next rapid step without error, yet her gaze had become more guarded.
"It is," she said slowly.
