Page 43 of Kingdom of Dance

Elizabeth deflated, looking disappointed at this unemotional response to the gossip. “But I’ve heard he’s very handsome,” she said, in a reproachful kind of way.

Zinnia grinned. “He is,” she assured the other girl. “In a dark, mysterious, brooding kind of way.”

But her smile fell away as she remembered the morning’s conversation. It had been a timely reminder that, like everyone, the soldier carried his own burdens, and she no longer felt comfortable laughing at his heavy demeanor. Just because she hid her own grief and anger behind humor and wit didn’t mean he wasn’t allowed to choose a more traditional mask.

She sighed. “Don’t go getting ideas, Elizabeth. I have enough to worry about without concerning myself with gossip.”

“What about the shoes, though?” Elizabeth asked tentatively. Reaching into the chest where Zinnia’s footwear was kept, she lifted the pair of slippers Zinnia had worn the night of Idric’s last summons. The soles weren’t just worn—they were shredded. “Surely that’s more than ordinary wear?”

Zinnia said nothing. She couldn’t. Elizabeth might be the only one in on the secret of the princess’s midnight escapes to the city, but she was no exception to the prohibition that prevented Zinnia from revealing the underground outings to a soul.

“I’m sorry, Your Highness,” said Elizabeth contritely, when the silence stretched out. She laid the ruined slippers down on the bed beside the princess. “I’ve overstepped.”

“Pun intended?” Grinning, Zinnia seized one of the shoes and threw it softly at her friend. She spoke lightly, but her voice became a little more earnest. “I’m not cross with you, Elizabeth. Never. That is,” she tossed the other shoe, “unless you tell on me about sneaking out, and then I’ll lock you in the caverns for a week.”

Elizabeth gave a dramatic shudder, although her smile was back. “You know I hate that place, Princess Zinnia. I don’t like confined spaces.”

“Your loss,” said Zinnia brightly. She stood, walking to the window and leaning on the sill. “So the gossip in the servants’ hall is that Lieutenant Obsidian is handsome, is it?”

She could feel Elizabeth’s smirk from behind her. “Oh, I wouldn’t wish to trouble you with such foolish matters, Your Highness. After all, you have enough to worry about without concerning yourself with gossip.”

Zinnia pulled off one of her perfectly good slippers, ditching it at her laughing friend.

* * *

Over the next several days, Zinnia avoided the lieutenant wherever possible. She knew it wasn’t really his fault, but it was hard to shake the embarrassment she felt when she remembered their encounter on the cliffs. She could feel his eyes on her at every meal, and more than once she was aware of him surreptitiously following her, but he made no attempt to approach her. Basil also seemed content for the moment to let her be, although she often caught him watching her with furrowed brows.

Whatever her inward thoughts, on the outside, she returned to her usual bright, cheerful self, knowing that was what her sisters needed. Elizabeth hadn’t yet had an opportunity to acquire a new letter from her brother. Although it chafed Zinnia to be delayed in following up the lead Alonse had given her, it did provide her the opportunity to direct more attention to her sisters, whom she felt she’d been neglecting since her return.

It helped that she had plenty of time before she’d have to face Idric again. There were usually about two months between his calls, and surely by that time she would have found an opportunity to search out the informants by the docks.

This happy illusion was shattered about a week after the lieutenant’s arrival, when Zinnia was chivvying her sisters out of the dining hall after dinner. It was time for the younger ones to go to bed, and she’d told Nurse that she would take charge tonight.

The dowager queen was deep in conversation with Basil and Wren, discussing another tense meeting that had occurred that afternoon with the Blacksmiths’ Guild. Lilac and Violet were assisting in getting the stragglers up from the table. Daisy, smug in her new status as old enough to have her own suite, was also helping, but given how much Briar resented her superior airs, the older ones would have done better without her assistance.

“Don’t be ridiculous, Daisy,” Violet scolded, shooing the thirteen-year-old away from Briar. “She’s twelve years old. She doesn’t have to go to bed with the sun.”

Zinnia, hovering by the table as the younger twins finished their sweets, couldn’t help smiling at the motherly air of the fifteen-year-old Violet.

“Princess Zinnia.”

The deep voice made her turn, startled to find the soldier so close.

“Lieutenant,” she said cautiously.

For a moment, he just stood there, watching her.

“Did you need to speak to me?” she prompted, with a touch of impatience.

He rubbed a hand along the back of his neck in an unusual sign of discomfort. “I just wished to say…”

But whatever it was, he didn’t seem to know how to say it. And Zinnia’s bewilderment was swept away as she felt a horrifyingly familiar tug in her gut.

“Excuse me,” she said, bobbing a curtsy. “I have to go.”

He frowned at her, as if trying to solve a riddle. For a moment she hesitated, feeling something that should have been alarm, but instead was strangely like hope. He’d said his magic was strong. Was it possible he could sense Idric’s compulsion in action? Reka and Dannsair had been unable to, but they’d never been with her when it actually happened.

For a moment she hesitated, willing him to understand her predicament, remembering her words on the cliff:I wish youcouldhelp me, Lieutenant Obsidian. She’d meant it. Was there a chance, however slim, that it was possible? If he discovered what was happening, could he tell Basil? She didn’t think her brother would be able to free her, but at least he would know about the threat Idric posed.

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