He had to concede that his idea to take her far, far away probably wasn’t a good one. Though as he dipped the oars into the water that was holding their craft afloat, he didn’t really want to think about why Dahlia wouldn’t even entertain the thought before she told him so. Brice thought it had a little merit at least, and in his wilder moments he did think about stealing her away. Not that he would, because Dahlia still seemed on board with going ahead with her marriage to Warwick. They didn’t speak on that much, he knew that she didn’t find him completely insufferable like she did some people in their social circle, and Brice supposed that if there was a chance that Dahlia could be happy with Nat he should probably be the bigger man and move out of the way and let nature (and their parents) take their course. But then he would have to think on his own wedding, and being Dahlia’s brother in law, and knowing exactly what he’d be missing being married to his friend Daisy, when his heart belonged completely to her sister. All of those thoughts filtered through his head as he moved the long wooden paddles in his hands, pulling the boat forward. His eyebrows bunched with deep thought that he almost missed what Dahlia was saying to him. It was something about hair, and the Ravenclaw student tried to see if he recalled why she’d brought that up and came up with nothing, so he edged up the corner of his mouth and didn’t say anything to contradict her.

“Brice, I have to tell you something.”

There was no other line in the history of human speech that made you remember every bad thing you’d ever done like that sentence. Immediately, his mind tried to find exactly what he’d done wrong. He couldn’t think of any function they were both required to be at where he’d acted inappropriately. Hadn’t he greeted her like he always did? Alright, well, he had kissed her cheek but there wasn’t anything strange about childhood friends being friendly, her parents hadn’t even said anything! They’d not even flickered an eyelash at the action. Merlin, what if he’d given them away with that one thing? Dahlia would have surely corrected him…Or maybe he just was taking too much of her time? Sometimes he owl'ed her to find out if she was free, and he’d also just shown up a few times when he’d known that Daisy would be at her camp. Was she going to tell him that he shouldn’t do that anymore? But he liked surprising the girl who loathed surprises. It was nice to shift her off her feet a little, not be so predictable. What if that put her off though? Didn’t she always seem to like that he brought her some little thing or another that had made him think of her? What if she just flat out didn’t want to keep up their tryst? How could he blame her really? Brice knew, just knew that what they were doing was wrong. Not only because his betrothed was her sister but because Dahlia was too good for him. And he loved Daisy, he did, she was wild and free and scared the living shite out of him on a regular basis. But he loved her like a little sister, not with that feeling that made him have to pull at his collar when his tie felt too snug, or in the way that had him trying to catch his breath when she smiled at him. Maybe she wanted to devote more time to Nathaniel? Brice could now start feeling his heart leaping with panic in his chest. She was right, she was practically down the aisle already, and what was she doing with him? When he measured himself up against the Warwick heir, really, there wasn’t much that he could offer her. Well, he’d have his inheritance, but he’d always have to work for a living. Finn would be getting their family estate. Not that he thought that he’d ever marry Dahlia. Well, maybe in his wilder imaginings, he was a lot more brave that he was now and he would tell her that she was insane to think that he’d let the love of his life go off and marry some other man. And then he remembered that she was the dutiful Bishop daughter and that was what she wanted and it felt like someone was pulling out his heart and stomping it into one of their fine, hand-woven carpets.

He’d not noticed that he’d stopped rowing, while his brain started to fly off the handle. His breathing was a little hitched and he knew that those heart palpations were going to probably give him a heart attack. Could they cause an aneurism? He wasn’t one hundred percent convinced that they couldn’t, the rise in blood pressure alone was enough to give him a low grade headache. He pulled the oars in to rest across his legs and because the dark haired wizard was feeling hot all of a sudden and needed to take off the light, tailored jacket he’d put on, struggling with rocking the boat while he endeavored to do so with fumbling arms.

Brice’s next words were wheezed out, as if he was having troubles breathing. If he was a touch braver, he’d tell her that she couldn’t end things like this. Couldn’t she wait to break his heart until they were back on the shore?

“I-I-I know, I’m sorry.” He started, already that stammer that had always plagued him was coming back. It had been so long since it had made an appearance with her. It seemed that the cure for it had been snogging Dahlia, but it came back with a vengeance now that his tongue might as well have been tied in a knot.

“I’ve been…ah…treating you horribly. I-I know…you’re a lady. I never meant…I mean…I meant to…but there...there wasn’t any disrespect intended.” He struggled to explain why he wanted to continue, even though he knew it was wrong.

“I just…it’s because…I mean…I know it’s been a while now. You didn’t seem upset. Ah, not that I think I know what you feel about everything. I don’t, obviously. Merlin, I’m sorry Dahl.” Brice had to catch his breath, pulling the warm summer air into his lungs and expelling it with a huge sigh.

“I never wanted to upset you, never. I think I’d rather drown.” The curly haired wizard looked over the side of the boat at that, examining his options.

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