Page 113 of A Dance of Shadows

Bastien frowns. “Are you sure Marclinus won’t notice you’ve left?”

Her smile turns wry—and maybe a little sad. “He’s knocked out on my bed right now. I dosed him with the extra sedative I’ve used before. I could be gone all night without him realizing—not that I think going without sleep would be a wise decision.”

Then her smile falls away completely. “Why did you want to see me? Is there some new problem I need to know about?”

It kills me that she has to worry about that possibility even tonight.

I step in to wrap my arm around her waist and guide her forward. “We’re not heaping any more troubles on your shoulders. Did you think we’d let your birthday pass without a celebration of our own? But we can find a better spot for our private festivities. I have somewhere specific in mind.”

Aurelia lifts an eyebrow, but she lets me usher her along without complaint. My foster brothers follow, neither of them fully aware of where I’m leading us.

Pine needles rustle under our feet and the breeze warbles on and off through the trees, but the evergreen scent that fills my lungs is undeniably refreshing. I can see how Aurelia might have found walks through this wilderness soothing rather than unnerving.

I spot the particularly large pine I was watching for, the gnarled whorls standing out on its trunk, and veer to the left. Aurelia’s eyes widen slightly with a gleam of understanding.

I still get to watch a gleam of surprised delight cross her face when we step into the clearing I was aiming for.

A grove of slim, silvery-trunked trees surrounds the small span of grass. All the leaves have fallen from the branches, but seed pods dangle from the farthest twigs. The lumpy oval shapes have a translucent casing that catches the moonlight with an almost crystalline shine. It feels as if we’ve stepped into the midst of a vast, natural chandelier.

A soft laugh tumbles from Aurelia’s mouth. She turns to grin at me. “This is one of my favorite spots in the royal woods. How did you know?”

I grin right back at her. “I struck up a friendly conversation with your sister about the many beautiful sights Accasy has to offer. She happened to mention that you particularly love the coraya tree grove.”

“And it’s best at night.” Aurelia ventures right into the middle of the clearing. The reflected light glimmers around her like a vast halo.

I don’t think there could be any sight more beautiful than the woman standing before me right now.

“That isn’t everything,” Bastien says. “We didn’t realize it was a day to celebrate until Marclinus started giving orders this morning, but we weren’t going to let you go without gifts.”

Aurelia blinks. “You don’t need to give me anything—you’ve already offered me so much.”

“But we’ve had to be apart so often over the past few months.”Lorenzo reaches to the pouch at his hip to retrieve his present.“We want you to always have something close by to remind you that we’re with you, even if there’s distance between us.”

He holds out a small bundle of silk. I shift my weight impatiently as Aurelia unwraps it, but there’s plenty of time for her to get to mine.

She reveals a small box of lacquered wood with a silver knob on the side and thin slats cut in its top. When she twists the fixture, a bright if tinny melody filters through the wood from the mechanism inside.

Lorenzo watches her eagerly.“The shopkeeper told me it’s a popular Accasian folk song. You can have it with you for all the times I can’t conjure music for us to dance to.”

A teary glint comes into Aurelia’s eyes. “Thank you. It’s lovely.”

Bastien dips his hand beneath his cloak next. “My acquisition isn’t as pretty, but I hope it’ll be as much of a comfort.”

He hands her a book with a gray canvas cover printed with a sprig of leaves. As Aurelia flips through the pages, I catch glimpses of simple drawings in pen and ink and sometimes a splash of watercolor paint.

At her avid gasp, Bastien’s stance relaxes. “It’s supposed to cover all the useful medicinal plants across the entire continent—a visual guide to make them easy to recognize. I’d imagine you’re already familiar with everything that grows in Accasy, but this way if you ever need anything elsewhere that you haven’t worked with before, I’ll have given you a way to find it no matter where I am.”

“I could get a lot of use out of this guide, but I should probably hope I won’t.” Aurelia lets out a halting laugh and tugs Bastien into a hug. “Thank you.”

I unfold my own contribution. “And I’d like to know you’ll be defended even if you’re beyond my reach. You might not want to wear this all of the time as it’ll be noticeable under some dresses… but if you feel you’re in particular need of protection, it’ll be there.”

I lift up the thin undershirt, its delicate weave glinting in the moonlight. “There’s steel mixed with the silk. It won’t stop a blade shoved hard enough, but it’ll give you a second or two of resistance that might be all you need to get out of the way.”

Aurelia brushes her fingers over the material before aiming her shining gaze at me. “Given recent events, I might very well need it. Thank you. It really will be as if you’re all right there by my side.”

I can’t stop myself from moving even closer to her now, tracing my fingers along her jaw and guiding her mouth to mine. The heat of the kiss flows through my nerves, making my heart—and my dick—clamor for more.

More important considerations come first. I indulge in one more kiss before easing back. “That soldier Linus called on to bring down the rockslide—that would have been the perfect gift for at least one of the attacks that’ve been made on you. Do we know anything about that prick?”

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