Re: {Open}
Andrew was the one to step in first, when no one else would. Mel was still with the other children and had no doubt noticed too late that Shayleiah had snuck off. Andrew, however, had been the one to teach her how to make a proper snowball. He hadn’t figured she would go use her new talent a foot away from the Queen, but maybe he should have. He was there when she turned to run, which meant she would be running straight into him. He let that much happen, but was at least insightful enough not to let her fall backward afterwards, leaning instead to scoop her up as he had so many times before, lifting her up over his head and turning about just once with her before she was settled against his side.
Her guards, in truth, probably found the whole thing too funny to intervene in. It was sweet enough fun, after all. Andrew stepping up made them a little more uneasy—not because he wasn’t allowed access to the child, but because a human was now holding Judgment’s little girl in front of half the Sidhe at the gala. Even in her current state of disorder, she was pure-blooded Sidhe nobility, and anyone who had been laughing before was not now. Unwittingly, he had put Azyebel in a more awkward situation, and he seemed to realize it then, because he said something softly to hush Shay’s giggling and squirming. Even the little girl looked to the Queen then. He had overstepped, socially, but he supposed he had at least not half-assed that. Many knew who he was, but not everyone did. Well, they would after tonight.
He looked somewhat apologetic, though not for the reasons everyone likely expected, but he said nothing else. Usually it was his mouth getting him into these messes, so it made sense to keep quiet and see how things would go.