Page 21 of Untamed

I nodded my head as the realization that he trusted me caused a strange flip-flop thing in my heart. “You have my word, Señor Cosme. I solemnly swear to tell no one about the relics.”

“Good.” Cosme held up the lamp. “Why don’t you light the wick so I can meet you in my sitting room. Jaime, Fermín, and Lucas are already there.”

Fermín and Lucas?Those were his friends who behaved more like his shadows. Unlike Jaime’s friends, who couldn’t keep their opinions to themselves even if they tried.

Minerva bent her head low.

Cosme crossed in between us, touching each of our shoulders. “We still have aceremonia de primera miradato attend. When I get married, I’m not doing any of these first-look ceremonies and week-long parties. So much pomp and expense. Oh, and you’re going to need to cover your finger markings, Laude.”

Great. Now I had to double back to my quarters and get a pair of silky gloves.

Sure enough, Lucas, Cosme’s blond friend, had opened a portal into Himzo. Minerva had gone missing after our clandestine meeting in the secret passage and was to meet us in the grand hall at the Himzo palace. Like I’d said, suspicious.

The moment we got yanked into Himzo, Jaime shuffled us through the bustling night streets. Zichri planned to attendthe ball, but Jaime explained, “The prince needs to remain unpredictable if he wants to survive.”

Hearing that certainly did nothing to calm my nerves, already buzzing at my mission of pointing out which prince had threatened Minerva and chased me. It irritated me that she could have told everyone what was happening but didn’t, and everyone just accepted it.

Walking under the tall arch into the Himzo palace brought waves of emotions: fear, awe, delight. Guards in black and gold uniforms contrasted with the cream stonework in the long atrium. Couples and groups of party guests shuffled along like sheep being steered into a pen. Jaime glanced at me several times. His forest-green doublet brought out the color in his eyes. My insides turned into stew—warm, soft, and completely stirred by such a handsome fellow gazing at me like I was the most beautiful lady in all the Agata Sea region.

Or maybe not. Could grime have gotten on me from my spill in the hidden passages? “Is there something on my face?” I swiped my cheeks.

“No, no.” He chuckled and sighed. “You look stunning tonight.”

A blush crept up my neck, and I couldn’t hide my smile. “You do too. Well, I mean, you are very dashing in your doublet and with your hair combed back. Errr. Sorry, I’m a bit nervous about seeing you-know-who’s brothers.”

He patted my gloved hand and winked in my direction. “We’ll greet them at some point in the evening. Did you know that Milo hasn’t seen his bride all week? They each have adanzathat they’ll perform, but they don’t get to participate in partner dances until after the ceremony tomorrow night.”

“Doweget to dance tonight?” I watched the corners of his mouth shoot upward.

“If you’ll have me.”

I pinched my chin and pretended to think about it. “If you agree to teach me every step. I barely know the dances back home and I highly doubt I’m any good.”

He laughed. “I promise to be your teacher.”

The closer we got to entering the hall, the more I felt like a fish out of the sea. I craned my neck to see around a woman’s red-feathered headpiece. She wasn’t the only one who wore something like that either.

The wait took a million moons, and the headpieces only got taller and more flamboyant as more guests lined up behind us. Cosme and Minerva kept digging their way out of my subconscious without my permission. Minerva had relics, and I didn’t know much about them. Beatriz and I would need to do more history study sessions for certain. People spoke of the ancient things like legends of old rather than living and breathing forces the Ancient One had left for us to use.

Finally, clutching Jaime’s firm arm, I entered the doorway that led into the grand hall.

The ceilings shot higher than the ones in the atrium. Crystal chandeliers shone with enough lamplight to make night into day. Round tables lined each side of the glittering marble floor, while the space in the middle remained open for dancing.

Horns announced the couple in front of us.

“Señor Rodrigo Pacheco and Señora Margarina de Bort,” bellowed the announcer.

The musicians played a vibrant melody that had me bobbing my head and shifting my hips while we waited for the couple to march to their seats. Jaime whispered our names to the slender announcer. His cat-like eyes widened in shock, and he passed me a what-type-of-name-is-that look.

“Señor Jaime de Hermita and Señorita … Laude.” A strange note rang in the announcer’s voice when he said my name.

We stepped forward and music twirled through the space. So many eyes darted in our direction, I thought I might crumble like pound cake in a baby’s grasp. So, I pretended to be Princess Beatriz with my chin high and forced confidence in my pressed-back shoulders. Jaime kept me close to his side, wearing a proud grin. He led us to a table in the back corner where Gonzalo and Blas already nursed pewter mugs. The table was nearly pressed up against the wall by the back doors.

I could see why Jaime insisted on arriving at this later hour. How could all the earlier guests stand to hear the hundreds of names and roaring trumpets for hours? Servants poured tea and filled our breadbaskets while we waited.

Then, the double doors beside us opened. I saw the man we’d been waiting for, the one who’d threatened Minerva. He stood behind a half dozen guards in a gold doublet bedecked in jewels, wearing a crown atop his head. Then, another man with a smooth gait and wide shoulders stepped beside him. They could have been twins. How was I supposed to tell them apart? I had only seen the man in a shadowed corridor when I was in a state of panic.

Zichri stepped beside his two brothers in the same garish top. One of his brothers shifted away from Zichri and the other one stared daggers at him. Our friend waved at us which shifted his brothers’ attention toward our table. Gonzalo, Blas, and Jaime waved back, but the brothers’ focus drifted to my side of the table. If I didn’t know better, both brothers watched me. One cocked his head downward as if to greet me, and the other pressed his lips downward in a mischievous smirk.

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