Page 34 of Zel
“A tale for another time.” Ulrich made to place the hairpin back on the shelf but then seemed to change his mind andmotioned for Zel to turn around. He carefully placed the hairpin within Zel’s braids.
When Zel turned back to Ulrich, the silver hand mirror had been summoned, and Ulrich used it to show Zel how the gold and glittering emeralds peeked just above the crown of his head.
“I have never felt right wearing it,” Ulrich said, “but better for someone to. Keep it.”
Zel was humbled, for unlike the magical loom, this was something personal to Ulrich. “Thank you. Is the mirror magical too?”
“In a way. It is capable of reflecting the greatest beauty in all the lands.”
“I do not believe any mirror can do that.”
“No? To me, it is doing so right now.”
Zel felt some of the heat from his gut spread upward to fill his cheeks.
Then, with a quick sleight of hand, the mirror returned to where Ulrich had summoned it from—which would have been the nightstand in Zel’s bedchamber—and began to straighten the items on the shelf to make up for the empty space of the hairpin. He did so with his blackened hand, and after a moment, the violet veins glowed a little brighter, and he cringed.
“May I?” Zel asked. When Ulrich nodded, Zel took the hand in both of his, watching the change in Ulrich’s expression as Zel’s touch eased him. “You do not reach for me anymore without asking first.”
“I should always have done so, and I thought that was your preference, given how you’ve flinched and even recoiled at times.”
“Itismy preference,” Zel confirmed, “but you can ask more often, since it soothes your pain.”
“Zel, have you heard the old adage: be careful what you wish for?”
“Of course.”
“If you grant me such leave, I might never stop touching you.”
Zel felt his cheeks flush hotter. It was in moments like this that he forgot he one day had to betray this man. “When we are wed, I would welcome that.” He would if it weren’t a lie that they would ever reach such an end.
Ulrich’s gaze softened in a way Zel did not think he had seen from the sorcerer thus far. “Then I have something to look forward to. Might I ask about one of your trinkets now?”
“My dagger?”
“Your pendant.”
A bit of Zel’s fear resurfaced. He could not be certain whether or not Ulrich had seen Rudy that first day. It was too risky to lie, and so he released Ulrich’s hand to lift the pendant from his chest, fingering the emerald. Emerald and gold just like the hairpin now in Zel’s braids. “From my dearest friend, Rudy. Rudolf, but Rudy as I am Zel. We have always been close.”
“The one who wrote to you?” Ulrich glanced back at the desk. “I do not read your letters, I assure you, but I noticed the name. Are those ready to send?”
“They are.”
Ulrich waved a hand, and they folded themselves and flew off out the window like last time. New letters came in the same way.
“The truth is… Rudy is in love with me,” Zel admitted, “and it pains me that I have never felt the same. I have been plain to him about my feelings, and it would have complicated things for me and you of course, but he never gives up. I think part of him still hopes we might end up together someday. He doesn’t care that he is breaking his own heart.”
“Forgive me for saying so, but wouldn’t a true friend heed your wishes regardless?”
Zel fought a cringe. He knew that, but Rudy would still be his friend even if it finally got through to him that they could never be more. Wouldn’t he?
“Although, I have heard it said that what you describe is one of the main problems with love,” Ulrich continued. “The heart does not know when to quit, even if it heads toward doom.”
“Heardit said?” Zel questioned, distracted from his wondering about Rudy. “You have never been in love in all your time alive?”
Ulrich seemed to contemplate that. “Not that I am aware of, and I have also heard it said that if one does not know, one has not loved. I have often wondered about it, especially in my centuries alone, with only stories for company. A good romance can be more thrilling than the most epic of battle scenes. Surely, to experience it would be just as thrilling.”
Yes, Zel had often wondered the same. “Do you have a favorite love story?”
