Page 101 of Kingdom of Dance

Zinnia twined her arms around his waist, her hands splayed against his back as she pulled him closer still, so their bodies were pressed together. She wasn’t sure if the heat spreading over her was from the fire behind her or the lips still claiming hers. Dragon’s flame, shouldn’t a dark brooding soldier be cold as stone? It seemedhersoldier was all fire, and she couldn’t get enough of it.

Much too soon, Obsidian pulled abruptly back. Zinnia blinked up at him, dazed.

“What’s wrong?”

“I don’t think that qualifies as speaking,” said Obsidian, his voice gruff and a little unsteady as his eyes lingered on her lips.

“Oh,” said Zinnia, belatedly remembering his earlier words about Basil’s warning. “I forgot for a moment.”

“So did I,” admitted Obsidian. He pulled his hand from behind her head, running it over his own short hair. His other hand remained lightly on her waist. “Which,” he added wryly, “is probably exactly why I’m not supposed to be here.”

“Zin-ni-a!”

Lilac’s outraged gasp cut off any reply Zinnia might have made. She and Obsidian both started at the sight of the other princess in the open doorway, and the lieutenant dropped his hand from her waist in a hurry.

Supremely grateful that Obsidian had showed the discipline to pull back from the kiss before Lilac’s appearance, Zinnia stepped back, forgetting that the fire was right behind her. Obsidian had to reach out hastily to stop her toppling into the hearth, and she couldn’t quite stifle a giggle, still a little breathless from their stolen moment.

“Zinnia,whatare you doing?” Lilac demanded, her eyes darting between her sister and the lieutenant.

“Talking to Obsidian,” said Zinnia, frowning at her sister with a strange mixture of guilt and exasperation. “And waiting for you.”

“Lilac, butt out,” scolded Violet, appearing in the doorway as well. “It’s about time they sorted themselves out.”

“You have too many sisters,” Obsidian muttered, looking uncharacteristically flustered.

Zinnia flashed him a grin. “I’m not saying you’re wrong,” she murmured, “but I do seem to remember telling you that if you played with fire, you’d get burned.”

His eyes danced as they bored into hers. “This particular flame is worth it,” he assured her.

Her grin grew, even as her heart jumped erratically. “Don’t climb out the window this time,” she said. “It’ll be too suspicious when you come in the city gate at this hour. Can you make yourself invisible again?”

He nodded. “I think so, if it’s brief.”

“Good.”

Zinnia raised an expectant eyebrow, and with a last shifty glance at Lilac and Violet, Obsidian closed his eyes in concentration, and began to mutter. Zinnia watched, fascinated, as he waved his hands over himself in a complicated pattern, and his form began to blur, then fade, then disappear.

“That’s amazing!” she said admiringly. “Your magic is truly incredible, Obsidian.”

There was a moment of silence, then she felt a ghostly hand grasp hers and squeeze. Startled as she was, she still managed to return the pressure before letting go and striding to the door. She swung it open confidently, showing a smiling face to the guard who turned questioningly to look at her.

“My sisters and I have decided to sit up and talk. Could you please have a servant fetch us some tea?”

She intentionally stood back a little from the door, and she felt Obsidian slip past her as she chatted to the guard. He didn’t risk even the quietest whisper, and neither did she, but the parting was still somehow laced with the promise of tomorrow.

Her task done, Zinnia closed the door and turned to face her two sisters.

“You have a great deal to explain, Zinnia,” Lilac frowned.

“I should think so.” Violet threw herself onto a settle, her eyes eager. “Tell us everything! He kissed you before we got here, didn’t he? It was written all over your face. Is that the first time, or have you been holding out on me?”

“I don’t want to hear about that,” said Lilac in exasperation. “I want to hear about Idric, and whatever we’ve all stumbled into!”

That sobered Violet at once, and Zinnia felt the same. Her sister was right that she had a lot of explaining to do. For one delicious moment, she’d forgotten about the terrible threat hanging over them all, caught up in the glory of discovering that Obsidian had lost his heart to her as surely as she’d lost hers to him. But now reality was back in all its brutal force.

“Sit down, Lilac,” she said quietly. “This is going to take a while.”

Chapter Twenty-Four

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