Page 65 of When Wishes Bleed

Tonight.

After dinner and the play, I would meet him privately and work it.

“I removed the wine and glasses. People will notice.”

“How long until time resumes?” he asked.

“Until I command it to.”

“Would you help me? We could open new bottles and pour new glasses. Then no one would be the wiser.”

I nodded. “Of course I’ll help.” I’d been too upset to consider pouring new glasses for everyone.

He wanted to split up, but I refused to leave his side. “The witches who are behind this, and there are two – a male and female – have somehow warded themselves against my spell. It’s how I found the girl. If she’d kept still, I wouldn’t have known she was there at all.”

“What was she wearing?”

“White servant attire.”

We retrieved several bottles of wine from a nearby storage room and then fetched fresh glasses for everyone. Tauren was quiet as we placed them and began to pour, a pensive look on his face.

When he was finished, he turned to me. “Thank you again. You saved my life.”

“I did no such thing,” I scoffed, shaking my head. “I almost got you killed. I should never have left you alone and unguarded. I should’ve woken Brecan and Mira. I’m messing this up. I thought it would be easy to find the person who wanted you dead when I left The Gallows, but I also expected the person who wanted you dead to be human, not a witch. And certainly not two of them.”

I paced the floor as I ranted, tears pricking at my eyes. Fate intervened, a feeling of cool serenity flooding over me. I took a deep breath and apologized again.

“Sable, no one else could have detected the poison. You saved me. You’ve saved me in more ways than one. I’m just not sure how to repay you for your services this time.”

“This isn’t about my services. I don’t want payment, Tauren. I want to make you safe. I want to make the witches behind this pay for what they’ve tried to do to you.”

He approached slowly and reached out, as if asking permission to take my hand. I slid mine into his waiting one. “You’re trembling.”

More than my hands were trembling. I was quivering from head to toe.

He pulled me to him and held me against his body, wrapping me in his arms, infusing me with his warmth, steadiness, and strength.

“We can’t –”

“Shhh.” Tauren’s eyes searched mine. The corner of his lip curled upward. “I believe you owe me a kiss.” I was about to protest, but then the tip of his nose brushed my cheek and his lips raked across mine, completely undoing me. I pushed forward, pressing my lips to his, a shuddering breath escaping as I pulled away.

I kissed him.

I kissed Tauren.

The trembling born of fear transformed into shivers of need, and his chest swelled against mine as he fought to regain his composure. I was glad I wasn’t the only one affected. This… whatever this was, it was as glorious as it was dangerous – for both of us.

He held me for a long moment and finally relaxed his hold on me. The room’s cool air rushed around me, chilling what he’d made warm. Then I remembered where we were and what had transpired, and the weight of the world returned all too suddenly. Tauren walked me to my chair and held it out for me, pushing it in as I sat down. He silently walked to his own and took his seat. We both looked around to make sure everything looked right. As far as I remembered, it did. When he nodded, I un-spelled the room.

Brecan’s eyes raced over to me. “Something happened.”

“I’ll tell you later,” I said, a warning lacing my tone.

Mira straightened in her seat, then nodded to the Prince. From his seat, Tauren stood and held his wine glass up. The room went quiet.

“Ladies, again, I’d like to thank you for traveling to the palace.” Rose beamed at him, playing with her hair. She didn’t catch his eye, though. “I know it’s customary that the first pick come much later, after every lady has been here a while and has spent ample time with me, but it seems very clear to me after the past few days that there are only a few with whom I feel I would be compatible, and who I feel would perform the duties as Queen in a way befitting the title.”

Murmurs rumbled through the room, but Tauren continued his speech. “Tonight, I will narrow the choice to five so that I can focus on the women I’ve felt a spark with, and see which of those sparks might produce a flame.” His eyes locked on mine for a beat. My face heated and I looked away, noticing Brecan stiffen beside me.

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