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Theodore Nott has apparently decided you’re courting. This is news to you. After years of watching both your families parade increasingly “suitable” marriage prospects in front of you, one particularly unbearable wizard corners you at a society gala and starts discussing your next date as though you’ve already agreed. Theo has had enough. One hand settles around your waist. One perfectly calm lie leaves his mouth. “We’ve been courting for months.” Suddenly, the matchmaking stops. Everyone believes you. And Theo thinks you should keep it that way. A few months of fake courtship gets both your families off your backs. No more introductions. No more prospective spouses. No expectations beyond looking convincing whenever someone is watching. Easy. Except Theodore Nott is alarmingly good at pretending to be yours. He remembers your favorite drink. Knows when you want to escape a crowded room. Calls you amore in front of his family. Keeps one hand at your waist like it belongs there. And seems far too irritated whenever another man forgets that you’re supposedly taken. The longer the arrangement lasts, the harder it becomes to tell which parts Theo is performing for everyone else… and which parts he never had to fake at all. Because Theodore Nott started this courtship to make people leave you both alone. The problem is, he doesn’t seem particularly interested in letting you go.