Page 91 of Ocean of Ink
“Just as we did on the training ground,” he murmured as he stepped back. She followed.
Her gaze was trained on the silver buttons of his black dress shirt. Castien did not force her to look up. He guided them in a simple dance beneath the floating lights. Wren shut her eyes. Lost herself in the easy sway. The predictable knowledge of his next step.
“I learned to dance at the same time Finn did.” Castien’s voice was soft, his tone gentle. Wren felt sheltered in the rise and fall of it. “Our mothers thought it would be good for us to learn together. They were wrong.”
A smile tugged at Wren’s lips.
“Finn flirted with the girls so much that the instructor madeusdance together as punishment. I am not one to be embarrassed, but I was then. Every noble girl our age laughed at us for the rest of our lessons. I still haven’t forgiven him.”
Wren giggled at the story, her pain slowly dissipating. In the distance, the song came to an end. The tightness in her chest eased. She tipped her head back. A ghost of a smile played upon Castien’s lips. He regarded her with something in his expression she could not name nor feel. She sensed he was holding back. It was in the careful way he touched her. The lightness of his hand. And how he shifted his gaze above her head instead of meeting her eyes.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
“I hope this will be a better memory than the one before.”
Emotion knotted in her throat. “Much better.”
His hands fell away, and he took a step back from her. He flexed his fingers before pushing his hands into his pockets.
“Would you like to return to the ball now that the song has ended?” he asked.
Wren looked at the doors. To go back inside after embarrassing herself did not sound pleasant, and though she was calmer, she had not quite settled her nerves entirely. There was also the matter of the hidden passageway.
“I can walk you back to your chambers,” Castien offered. “I will return and tell Finn you’re not feeling well and need to rest.”
She nodded. “That would be lovely, thank you.”
They started in the direction of her house. Castien did not offer his arm, which she was grateful for. Her emotions were tangled up within her, and she did not need any new sensations to analyze. Perhaps later she would be better equipped to parse through the events.
Their journey was silent, save for the wind rustling the lanterns and the brush of their feet on the grass. Every few steps, Wren glanced at Castien. He kept his gaze ahead. His jaw was tight, and again Wren suspected he was choosing to hold back his emotions, though she didn’t know why. He wrote in his letter that feeling deeply stifled his Gift, but she couldn’t understandwhy he would need strategy at this moment. She turned back ahead as they neared House of Adira. There was no reason for her to analyze him so deeply. She was probably wrong anyway.
They climbed the steps together, and Wren stopped at the door.
“I can go the rest of the way by myself, but thank you. For everything.”
“It was my honor,” he said, the words stilted. He looked back at the maze of lanterns. “I should go before a search party is formed on our behalf.”
“Wait,” Wren said quickly. “Close your eyes.”
Confusion furrowed his brow. She smiled.
“Just close them. Trust me.”
She did not realize the weight of her request. Still, his dark lashes fluttered shut. Wren kept her eyes on him to make sure he didn’t peek as she lifted her skirts and grabbed hold of his letter.
“Now hold out your hand,” she instructed.
A wry smirk appeared on his lips, but again he obeyed. She placed the letter in his palm.
“Open.”
He blinked his eyes open and looked down.
“Where were you keeping this?”
Wren’s face heated. “It’s a secret.”
He met her gaze, still smirking. “I bet it is.” He tucked the letter in his jacket and took a step back. “I look forward to reading this after the ball, which I should get back to. Finn is no doubt wondering where hisdarlingWren is.”
