Page 127 of Pretense

He held out the elven book on Aldon’s famous Kingsley Gardens, the same one she had been reading when they had met years ago on that quiet, lonely night. “I have presented my gifts to your family and to you for you to judge my honor and worthiness. Have I found favor in your eyes, my amirah? May I pay you court?”

With trembling fingers, she took the book, tracing its cover. A single tear trickled down her cheek. Yet, when her hand halted over a worn spot on the cover, she peeked up at him, sharing a smile that held the knowledge of the secret they held between them.

Sending a glance at her family, Jalissa grabbed Edmund’s arm and dragged him toward the door with a surprisingly firm grip. She flung the door open with such force the poor guard wheezed a bit as it thunked into him.

Jalissa didn’t halt until they were out of sight around the corner of the porch. Then she turned and flung herself into Edmund’s arms so quickly he barely had time to wrap his arms around her. Her arms tightened around his neck, as if she feared he would walk away from her even now. The book he’d given her landed with a thump on the porch floor as she all but shouted, “Yes, yes, yes!”

He laughed, holding her tightly. She was a few inches taller than Essie, but he still managed to lift her off her feet. “Jalissa, darling, I only asked if I could court you. I haven’t asked you to marry me. Not yet, anyway.”

“And I will say yes with just as much excitement then.” Jalissa tilted her face toward him, smiling with a wild abandon he had never seen from her. “I am so excited to finally have the freedom to say yes after so long of saying no.”

It would be so easy to lean down and kiss her, but he resisted, smiling as he set her back on her feet, though he continued to hold her close. “Don’t rush things. I plan to savor every moment of courting you properly.”

She shook her head, giving him a fake stern glare. “Do not drag things out too long. You have already made me wait long enough. I do not have time to waste, you know.”

“That is a very human attitude for you.”

“I have decided to embrace a more human outlook on life, now that I will likely have a shorter lifespan than my fellow elves.” Her smile didn’t slip in the least, but Edmund’s chest tightened at her words.

His smile faded as he searched her face. “Will you be all right with that? Giving up hundreds of years of your life to extend mine?”

“Yes.” She answered without even a blink of hesitation. After a moment, her gaze dropped, and she toyed with the laces of his shirt. “I have experienced what it is like living without you, and that was only for a few months. It is worth it, if I never have to live without you again.”

“If you keep saying sweet things like that, I might get distracted from these important conversations we need to have.” Edmund gently tucked a strand of Jalissa’s hair behind the tip of her pointed ear. “I want you to be sure. I know how you hate regrets.”

She shrugged, her gaze swinging back to meet his. “I am sure. Besides, Farrendel will have a shorter lifespan due to his elishina. I suspect Melantha might not live as long as a normal elf either. And Weylind is so much older than me to begin with. Without an elishina with you, I would likely have to endure many long, lonely years of watching my siblings die before me. I do not mind giving that up to spend my years with you. But do you think we will? What if we do not?”

“We will.” Edmund ran the back of his fingers over her cheek. “I know you. When you give your heart, you give it wholeheartedly. And I will never take that for granted again, no matter how long we live. You have all of me, Jalissa. Every name, every disguise, they are yours.”

She melted against him, and he had to wrap an arm around her waist to steady her. Not that he minded holding her close like this.

Perhaps Jalissa had the right idea about a short courtship rather than a long one.

After a moment, she glanced back at him, worrying her lower lip. “I know I probably should not ask, but what was in that note you gave Weylind?”

“I promised no more secrets, and I meant it.” He tightened his hold around her waist. “I gave Weylind one frank discussion where he could ask me anything about the Escarlish spying efforts in Tarenhiel—and my part in them—and I would answer honestly.”

“Really?” Jalissa’s eyes widened. “Does your brother know about this?”

“Yes. He included his own note to Weylind and signed it to prove that I have his permission to reveal Escarlish secrets to Weylind.” Edmund owed Averett for that, even if it had been necessary for good relations between Escarland and Tarenhiel after the fiasco with the Mongavarian spies, regardless of Edmund’s need to clear the air with his future in-laws. “Still, it is a bit under the table, so to speak. Besides that note, there will be nothing in writing. No one besides Weylind, Averett, me, and now you, will know.”

“Ah. That explains why Weylind burned it.” Jalissa nodded, her expression falling into that serene, elven princess look of hers, as if just thinking about politics made her put on her court mask. After a moment, her mask fell, revealing turmoil in her gaze. “Will you tell him everything?”

Edmund winced, but he kept his gaze locked on Jalissa. “What do you want me to tell him? It’s your secret as much as mine.”

Jalissa looked away from him, staring off into the night. “Weylind likes you right now. I would hate to see you endure months of his disapproving scowl, like Elspetha did after she married Farrendel. He might even rescind his blessing, if he learned…”

“How I dishonorably toyed with your affections?” Edmund grimaced just thinking about the way he had hurt Jalissa back then.

Jalissa’s gaze snapped back to his, her chin lifting. “I was angry with you earlier, and I let you take the full blame. But let us be honest. I was a princess clandestinely meeting a person I thought was a lowly servant late at night, knowing the relationship had no hope of going anywhere. I toyed with your affections just as much as you did mine. I was lucky that you are honorable, otherwise I might have suffered much worse than a temporarily broken heart.”

His stomach churned, just thinking about that. A less honorable man might have taken advantage of Jalissa, thinking to force a marriage and bag himself a princess. As lonely as Jalissa had been, waiting for her brothers to return from the war, it would have been too easy for someone to prey on her.

He and Jalissa had been carried away by their emotions, but they had at least held on to enough sense not to cross the line. He had not even kissed her, and nearly doing so had been what had shaken sense into him.

Edmund touched her cheek again, tilting her face toward him. “I know it doesn’t make everything all right, but I truly wanted to comfort you. I could tell you were hurting, and I wanted to help.”

“I know.” Jalissa reached up and traced her fingers over his cheek, her brow wrinkling as if she were marveling over having the freedom to do so.

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