Page 102 of Kingdom of Dance

Obsidian barely slept that night. There were still several hours of darkness left when he slipped into his room and let the invisibility enchantment drop. He was so weary he sagged as he groped his way to bed. He’d used more magic that night than he had in the year before it, probably. It certainly took a toll.

But his own exhaustion made no appearance in the topic of his thoughts as he lay awake.

It was all Zinnia.

Zinnia consumed every bit of his energy, filled every corner of his mind. The sparkle in her eyes as she teased him, the indomitable spirit she’d showed time and again…the way she felt pressed against him, her lips eager on his.

He rolled over, trying to master the emotions that surged within him. On the one hand, he’d never felt such elation as he’d experienced when Zinnia kissed him back. But on the other, the memory of Idric attacking her with that vile magic made him feel physically ill, and so angry he wanted to punch a hole in his timber bed frame. Not to mention the desperation in her eyes when she’d begged him to use his magic to help her.

As if he would hesitate. If his magic could do anything against Idric’s vast power, he would ride to the dragons’ realm that moment. He’d burn the place down if it would make the dragon pay for what he’d put Zinnia through, and make sure he never touched her again.

But Obsidian knew his magic was nothing compared to a dragon’s. He hadn’t even been able to get past Idric’s silencing enchantment on himself, let alone do anything about the magic hovering around the girls.

Magic that he’d felt no trace of, he thought, frowning into the darkness. And neither had the senior enchanter King Basil asked to look Zinnia over. How had Idric managed to conceal his activities so well? Even the most skillful magic should leavesometrace. Obsidian’s invisibility enchantment, for example, had been woefully unable to fool Lorne. And even now he’d improved it, he was sure it wouldn’t stand up to scrutiny from someone like Master Hughes.

Eventually he drifted into an uneasy sleep, his thoughts full of dragons and dangerously dancing fire that he couldn’t seem to stop chasing, no matter what his common sense told him.

The following days passed frustratingly. Although Obsidian continued to eat with the royal family, he had little opportunity for private speech with Zinnia. Princess Lilac seemed to have made it her personal mission to prevent them having time together. Obsidian didn’t try to evade her supervision, his own conscience pricking him at his failure to properly heed King Basil’s warning. In any event, Zinnia didn’t have much time to spare. The castle had been thrown into preparations for the delegation that was shortly to leave for Fernedell, to attend the wedding of Crown Prince Amell to Princess Aurelia of Albury.

One comfort was that Idric seemed to have spoken the truth about the underground sessions, because Obsidian’s sharp eyes saw no sign of the girls being called mysteriously away. For the first day or two, every time he and Zinnia locked eyes, he could see the memory of their kiss crowding her mind the way it consumed his, but soon enough that faded in the face of more pressing concerns. The princess became pale whenever the foreign wedding was mentioned, and Obsidian hated his own powerlessness in the face of her anxiety.

He didn’t doubt her guess that the grand wedding—at which the royalty of all six kingdoms of Solstice was likely to be represented—would be the scene of Idric’s attack. But they still didn’t know what form that attack would take, and the silencing enchantment continued to prevent them from warning anyone else about it.

He was useless, basically. He hadn’t even merited an invitation to the wedding, although that didn’t surprise him. Zinnia was to go, as well as Princess Violet. Princess Lilac had apparently offered to stay behind and help her mother entertain the other girls in the absence of their brother and eldest sister. Obsidian assumed that the arrangement had been reached by discussion between the sisters, but he didn’t pry. He was just glad that Princess Lilac wasn’t going to be able to shadow him all the way to Fernedell like she was doing in her own castle.

Because invitation or not, he fully intended to be at the wedding. He didn’t know what kind of chaos was going to erupt, but if Zinnia was going to be there at the heart of the danger, so was he. Part of him knew there was risk in that approach—she’d told him plainly that Idric planned to use him somehow. But the risk of sending her without even the small protection his magic could offer seemed greater. Not to mention he would go mad with worry if he was left behind while she was sent into the dragon’s mouth.

Denied the opportunity for private speech with Zinnia, Obsidian spent less time in the castle than usual, using the days before his departure in the only helpful way he could think of. Master Hughes remained flatteringly pleased to receive him at the Enchanters’ Guild, and to spend time reinforcing the lessons Obsidian had mostly forgotten. But still Obsidian couldn’t shake the constant fear that it wouldn’t be enough—the magic he’d long sought to minimize now felt insufficient, for the first time in his life.

Two days before the royal delegation was to leave, Obsidian managed to pull Zinnia aside while her self-appointed chaperone was talking to their mother.

“I’m sorry about Lilac.” Zinnia made a face. “We offended her, it seems.”

“I still say it was worth it,” Obsidian murmured, delighted by the flush that rose predictably up Zinnia’s cheeks. “But that’s not what I wanted to talk to you about.”

“Oh?” Zinnia raised her eyebrows in inquiry.

“I’ve been thinking about the wedding,” Obsidian said. He saw the nervous look that crossed Zinnia’s face, and he gripped her shoulder. “I’m going to be there,” he assured her. “I’ll sneak in if I have to.”

“I’m sure Basil can secure you an invitation as part of our delegation,” Zinnia said.

Obsidian shook his head. “I want to travel separately. I’ll stop at home on the way, check that my grandfather,” he couldn’t stop a reflexive scowl at the word, “hasn’t been sending anyone else to bother my mother. But I’ll meet you in Fernford.”

Zinnia nodded.

“I’ve been trying to think of a way to increase our resources in case it comes to a fight,” Obsidian went on. “I could only come up with one idea, and I need your help with it.”

“Anything,” said Zinnia recklessly.

“Can you get me into the caverns again?”

“I think so,” she said, surprised. “Why?”

“Take me there, and I’ll show you,” Obsidian told her.

Zinnia glanced behind her. “Lilac is still talking with Mother. Let’s go now.”

She hurried from the room, Obsidian in her wake. No one looked twice at them as they strode through the corridors, and Obsidian had to admire how tight a ship King Basil ran. It seemed the guards who knew about him entering Zinnia’s suite the first night he’d followed the princesses to their false ball hadn’t spread the gossip, although he had no doubt they’d reported the incident to their king. His own unprompted confession about it had probably saved him from losing King Basil’s trust altogether.

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