Page 99 of Kingdom of Dance

“You can’t take him into your suite at this time of the night,” said Lilac, in scandalized tones.

Zinnia scowled at her. “Back off, Lilac, you have no right to tell me what I can and can’t do.”

Without another word, she gave Obsidian’s arm an extra tug, and the two of them disappeared through the doorway. They crossed Violet and Lilac’s suites in silence—Zinnia feeling a little guilty for the breach to her absent sisters’ privacy—and finally arrived in her own receiving room.

Zinnia released Obsidian at last, moving to the fire Elizabeth must have kindled that afternoon. She stood warming her hands, unable to look at Obsidian yet.

“Are you all right?” he asked cautiously.

She turned at last, giving a smile she knew was unconvincing. “She’s irritatingly obnoxious sometimes, but she’s not wrong, you know. Lilac,” she added, seeing his confusion.

“Oh.” For a moment, he just looked silently back at her. Then he gave a rueful smile. “She’s not wrong,” he agreed. “In fact, I’m under instructions from your brother not to accept any more invitations into your suite.”

Zinnia groaned. “Basil knows about my stunt last night?”

“Not the details,” Obsidian reassured her. “Just that you dragged me in and tried to drug me.”

“You didn’t exactly put up a fight,” Zinnia protested.

Obsidian’s look was half rueful, half amused. “I shouldn’t have followed you in, and I knew it,” he admitted. “But I was dying with curiosity to find out what you were up to. You were clearly scheming.”

He paused, considering her, and she again saw that new warmth in his eyes. Without her permission, her heart picked up speed.

“Besides,” he added, “I can’t deny that I was quite enjoying your strange and unconvincing attempts at being seductive.”

Zinnia felt her eyes shoot wide, then she let out a gasp, hoping the show of outrage covered her mortification at his blunt choice of words.

“And I calledLilacobnoxious.”

Obsidian laughed lightly. “Will it redeem me if I tell you that as well as enjoying it, I found it the most terrifying thing I’d ever experienced?”

“I’m not sure if that’s better or worse,” she said suspiciously. “Besides, it’s nonsense. I thought you’d been in actual battles.”

“I have,” he said. His voice was light, but there was an intensity to the words, nonetheless. The air in the room seemed to have shifted, and it was suddenly a little difficult to breathe.

“Do I really frighten you, Soldier?” she asked, a teasing note in her voice.

“Let’s say you unnerve me,” he corrected. “That doesn’t mean it’s an unpleasant sensation.” His eyes lingered on her face, that smile again playing at his lips. “Be that as it may, I’d better go, don’t you think?”

Zinnia fidgeted a little. “I don’t resent Basil looking out for me, but I really do need to speak to you about something…personal. And we won’t get a better chance than this to do it privately.” She glanced around, then strode over to the door which connected her receiving room with Lilac’s. She pulled it wide before turning back to Obsidian. “That’s a little better, surely.”

Obsidian’s dark eyes followed the movement, but he said nothing. Zinnia returned to her place by the fire. Realizing she was fidgeting again, she clasped her hands behind her back in an attempt to still them.

“What do you mean, something personal?” Obsidian asked at last. “I thought you were going to tell me the missing piece of Idric’s plans, the one you didn’t want to mention in front of your sisters? I assumed it was something disturbing if you didn’t want them to hear it.”

“Uh.” Zinnia played with the fabric of her skirt again. “Not disturbing so much as…unnerving, as you put it.”

Obsidian frowned, and Zinnia let out a sigh. No use dancing around it.

“You,” she said simply. “You’re the missing piece.”

For a moment, Obsidian just stared at her blankly. “Me? I don’t understand.”

Zinnia winced. “It’s my fault. I was stupid enough to mention you to him when you first arrived, just trying to make him think Basil was getting close to finding out his secrets. I was being foolish. But he was way too interested. He…he forced me to tell him everything I knew about you. Which, at that time, wasn’t much.”

Obsidian’s face darkened, and for a moment she thought he was angry with her. But his words dispelled that illusion.

“What did he do to you?” he growled.

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