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She squinted her eyes, incredulous, but there was a ghost of a smile at the corners of her mouth. I’m not sure you could be embarrassed. You’re very self-possessed.
I read her words, again and again.
No… it wasn’t self-possession. But she didn’t realize that yet. It was simply that it was difficult to put a natural predator into a position where they might feel anything remotely close to silly.
It’s a quality I admire, she wrote, leaning forward to brush a finger across my knuckles. A faint streak of white chalk was left behind. I resolved to keep it there as long as I could; a Cirri-mark.
“Choose the date and time, my lady, and I will do whatever frivolous thing you desire,” I told her gravely. “One embarrassment of your choice, to be served at your whim.”
Now her smile was back in full force, as dazzling as the sun. This is going to require some thought. I can’t waste the opportunity to mortify such a lofty individual.
“I eagerly await my debasement at your hands.” Without thinking, I took her hand again, feeling the dryness of the chalk, and pressed a kiss to her knuckles. It was the one touch she allowed me to push upon her and even now, that blush returned.
Ancestors, being this close to her, yet never tasting her, was going to kill me.
She hesitated, her hand curling into mine, the slate forgotten on her lap. Her smile had slipped a little, an expression I couldn’t read in her eyes.
Would she possibly… allow a true kiss? Or would she flee the carriage, fearing my bite?
I drew a breath, wanting to ask if I could have one kiss, a single moment of feeling that sunshine against my lips, but the carriage rattled all around us—the wheels clattering onto the cobblestone roads of Fog Hollow.
From outside the carriage, Eryan’s shout of arrival split the moment between us.
Cirri looked rueful as she drew back from me, signing something with obvious a
Where did the hour go? she asked. Time’s hardly passed at all.
I let out my breath in a sigh. I would have to ask for that kiss another time, when she was still feeling softly towards me. “As the Rift-kin would say, it’s been stolen by the faeries.”