Page 103 of Kingdom of Dance

He also noted that the family clearly had each other’s backs. In spite of her own obvious feelings about her sister’s stolen moment with the soldier, even Princess Lilac didn’t seem to have ratted Zinnia out to either their mother or King Basil. Or maybe that was just because she couldn’t explain the background of the incident, thanks to Idric’s silencing magic.

When they reached the entrance to the caverns, however, the guards on duty looked at him askance.

“Good afternoon,” Zinnia said brightly. “Is there anyone in there at the moment?”

“No, Your Highness,” one of the guards said nervously. “But our instructions are that enchanters aren’t to enter without permission from the king.”

“Oh yes, I’ve cleared this with Basil,” Zinnia said airily.

The taste of her deception danced across Obsidian’s awareness, but he had to admit her act was convincing. He felt a little guilty that she was lying for him, but he still hoped the guards would cave—he could feel the magical protections on the entrance and knew that his invisibility enchantment would do no good here. And after all, if they weren’t magically prevented from telling the king what they wanted and why, they would be only too delighted to seek his approval.

“We don’t have a great deal of time,” Zinnia pressed, when the guards hesitated. “I could go and get my brother, but it will be terribly inconvenient to pull him away from preparations for the trip to Fernedell. I’ll still do it, of course, if you really believe his instructions were intended to keep his own sisters out.”

“There’s no need for that, Your Highness,” one of the guards said gruffly. “We meant no offense.”

“None taken,” Zinnia said blithely. Without a backward glance, she began to descend the spiral staircase. “So what are you going to do?” she asked Obsidian as soon as the guards were out of sight. The crystals below them glowed white in response to her words.

“I’m going to release as much magic as I can into the crystals—intentionally this time—then steal them and take them with me to the wedding,” Obsidian said simply. “I’m afraid I’m not trained enough to be able to create sophisticated vessels to store magic and give me additional power in a crisis. It’s a fiddly process, and one I never mastered. But the crystals are supposedly so receptive, I won’t need any special skill to pour magic into them. And there’s plenty of time before the wedding for my magic to replenish.”

“It’s a good notion,” Zinnia said approvingly. She’d reached the bottom of the staircase, and her face was washed of color in the white light of the crystals.

“You need to stay back,” Obsidian warned her, stepping off the stairs as well. “I’m going to put everything I have into it, and I can’t be sure you wouldn’t get hurt if you were in the way.”

Zinnia nodded, but made no move to back away. “Do you have plenty of magic at your disposal?” she asked, a little too innocently.

“I…think so?” Obsidian hedged, sensing a trap.

She smiled. “Last time it seemed like strong emotion allowed you to unlock considerably more magic than you would otherwise have accessed. Is that true?”

“It certainly seemed that way,” Obsidian agreed warily.

“Then maybe I can help,” she said cheerfully. “Provided it doesn’thaveto be negative emotion.”

With no further warning, she stepped forward, seizing a fistful of tunic and tugging him down toward her. When she pressed her lips to his, fire seemed to blossom out from the point of contact, spreading all the way to his fingertips, indistinguishable from the magic already pooled there. He wrapped his arms around her, eager to be closer still, but she was already pulling away.

“Hopefully that’s enough to do the trick,” she said, her voice breathy.

“A very pleasant trap,” Obsidian muttered.

“What?” Zinnia asked, still sounding a little dazed.

“Never mind.” He turned away from her, sprinting a few steps into the cavern. His every nerve was alive from the feel of her, his magic seeming to swirl and spiral inside him, twisted inextricably around the intense emotions that had taken possession of his once detached mind.

Focusing all his attention on the closest cluster of crystals, he released the iron control he always tried to maintain around his magic. Zinnia’s instinct seemed to have been true, because the power that flowed from him was just as potent as it had been on his previous visit to the caverns.

More, perhaps.

It poured out of him in a seemingly unstoppable torrent. But this time he was ready for it, and more in control, and he was able to direct it into the crystals he’d chosen, rather than letting it scatter at random. The room burst into color, every imaginable hue assaulting his eyes as his magic was sucked into the crystals.

When he was so depleted he could barely stand, he pulled back, his shoulders slumping in exhaustion.

“Whoa!” Zinnia ran forward, clearly realizing he was finished. “I think you overdid it.”

He shook his head. “It was worth it. I’ll recover.”

She searched his eyes anxiously but seemed to accept his words. Silently, she helped him detach the relevant crystals, handing them to him so he could stow them in the pockets of his pants.

“You seem very comfortable with me stealing from your family,” he commented, as he pocketed the last of the crystals. A quick glance around satisfied him—there was no lingering sense of his magic. He’d collected it all.

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