Page 185 of Trick

“I can’t love her,” I’d whispered, although it was too late for that.

Jinny had studied me with weathered eyes. The scents of herbs and woodsmoke had clung to her shawl, the first gift I’d purchased for her from my income as a jester. “Remember when I told you that you’d know what to do without me? It’s time you found that out. If not, what will that teach Nicu?”

What would denial teach him about passion and freedom? About himself?

Most days in our world, between courts and peasants, there existed wisdom in restraint, for it granted power. Other days, it stripped us of our souls. For what we thought of as safe could often be a greater danger than to live, to try, to dare.

For such an adept person, I’d proven remarkably fucking stupid. If Briar chose me, she chose my son.

None wanted us as she did. None wanted her the way we could.

To deny this was to deny our worth.Thatwould be lying.

Sinking to one knee, I leveled myself with Briar. Then I twisted her hand to brush my mouth over her knuckles, to drop a kiss there, and give her my answer.

42

Briar

I took a deep, wheat-filled breath. My eyes closed as I inhaled the scent, letting it weave through my lungs as if I were already there—already home. Orchards dripping with apples. Foxes traipsing through the grounds at court. Legendary treehouse colonies, flora and fauna imbued with their own magic, and misty grey skies.

Autumn. Soon.

A current of air dashed through my skirt, flouncing the twill material. The gold and black pattern danced, then settled around my boots.

I exhaled. My eyes opened to a twilit sky capped in thickets of clouds and a deep sapphire blue. The sun had yet to rise, but I sensed it coming. I felt the impending dawn as I felt many things ahead, some of them unknown.

Murmured voices and the clank of steel reached my ears, the noises returning me to the present. My gaze dropped from the firmament to survey the activity. Spring servants and Autumn knights moved in and out of the sconce lights illuminating from a procession of carriages. Horses affixed to the vehicles stood tall and robust. The equines were ready to embark on a long journey.

The second I registered the scene, my attention swept from one end of the caravan to the other. My heart skittered as I searched amid the strings of faces. Hope trickled across my chest. I swallowed hard and began to fidget, the black leather gloves encasing my fingers straining with the motions.

He would not break his promise. He would never do that.

Where are you?

Then I saw it. As my gaze bypassed the carriage stationed in front of me, a flash of red caught my eye. The door to my private transport was poised open, the sumptuous interior upholstered in velvet.

Resting atop the left seat cushion was a band of scarlet.

My pulse spiked. Happiness unlike anything I’d ever known rushed through my veins, the visual stinging my eyes.

“You’re late,” a smooth timbre said.

I slanted my head toward that voice. He leaned against the front profile of the carriage, his back reclining casually against the vehicle as if he’d been there the whole time. As usual, the jester perfected his customary sprawl—lazy, cunning, refined. So impeccably disheveled.

Poet twisted his head my way, tossing me a sidelong glance. His tousled hair fell across his face, but there was no hiding the impish glitter in his pupils.

My fingers ceased their restless movements. I folded my hands in front of me and raised a single eyebrow. “And you jest.”

A fiendish half-smile cut across his lips. “’Tis my job, Princess.”

He wore an ankle-length coat of crimson, the cuffs rolled up his forearms, and dark leather pants tucked into his boots. The vision robbed me of air, so much that every nearby figure and neighboring commotion vanished.

I knew you’d come.

In the forest, Poet had told me yes. Despite that, anxiousness and eagerness to see him had overtaken me this morning.

Those green irises teased,Did you miss me?

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