Page 20 of A Slipper in the Smoke
“What?” she prompted. “Do I have cake on my face?” She patted her cheeks.
Pip smiled. “No, you’re crumb-free, I’m happy to report.”
“Then—”
“It’s just an admirable goal, that’s all.”
She shook her head. “It’s just a dream.”
“Only if you let it be.” He regarded her carefully for another moment. “Have you finished with that arm?”
“Almost, why?”
“I have something to show you when you’re done. Here, let me clean up and take the tray back to the kitchen, give you a moment to work in peace—”
“That’s—” she started, stopping as he reached across to grab her empty plate, the back of his arm brushing over her exposed wrist. “Thank you,” she finished, his eyes startlingly close.
He frowned. “For bothering you?”
“Mostly for the cake and tea, but yes, also for that.”
“You like being bothered?”
I like not being alone.“By some people.”
His lips twitched. “Careful, Elena. I’ll be bothering you every night now.”
“Well, if you find yourself bored…”
His gaze twinkled. “I may just take you up on that.” He placed everything back on the tray, just as neatly as it had arrived. “I’ll be back momentarily.”
Elena shifted her focus back to her work as he vanished, intent on finishing before he returned. Her heart felt slightly odd in her chest, like a cog with a bent tooth, juddering and jarring. She decided it was probably the heat of the workshop, the lack of food, or the panic from thinking he was going to report her.
He arrived just as she was finishing, beaming at her like they were old friends. “Done?”
She wrapped the arm back up again, concealing what it was but leaving it in an obvious place for the scientist whenever he returned. He’d paid her upfront, thankfully. She scrawled a quick note to make sure he knew she was finished. “Done.”
Pip’s smile broadened, and he led her out of the workshops, out of the palace, into the grounds. The sky faded from blush to purple and deep, endless blue. The smog of the lower ring painted over the colour in the city, leaving everything dark and murky. She had ceased staring at the skies long ago, ceased looking up at all, but here the Dome was alight with splendid, shimmering colour, like fireflies dancing over the lakes of Navarra.
A guard cut across the lawn, illuminated by the faint light of the lamps and the starry sky. Pip jerked beside her, grabbing her arm and pulling her behind a tree.
Elena blinked. “Are we doing something we shouldn’t be?”
“I would prefer not to be seen right now.”
“Shirking your duties?”
“Something like that.” He glanced around the tree. “Let’s go another way,” he declared.
Elena did not object. She followed Pip through the gardens coated in moonlight, marvelling at colours she’d thought she’d forgotten. Everything seemed softer in this part of the world, the blue-green of the grass shimmering with a brightness that moved beyond words to express.
“These gardens are beautiful,” she remarked.
“They are,” Pip agreed. “Although, for my money, I prefer something a little wilder. There’s this section of the Toulousian gardens near an overgrown wall, filled with bluebells and wildflowers and ivy. It’s the quietest spot in the kingdom.”
Elena smiled, thinking of the meadows back home, of the way she could disappear into them. “Tell me more about it.”
“I like to go there to be alone. There’s just enough of the old building to shelter under if there’s rain, and it turns the stones silver, makes the bluebells almost sing, like they’re coated with glass or powdered sugar.”
