Page 60 of Cinder
Cin was certain they all knew he could hear them; they simply didn’t care anymore. There was no hiding their frustration every time Prince Lorenz leaned in to kiss Cin’s neck, or whisper in his ear, or wrap his hands around Cin’s back.
As the night grew long and it seemed there was no intention to bring the ball to a close, Cin could feel Prince Lorenz’s presence more and more keenly. Every touch, every whisper, every laugh—it left Cin more and more breathless. And as the time ticked away, he began to think less and less of those around them, one of whom was destined to spend the rest of their life with the prince, and more of all that he hadn’t gotten to do with Lorenz. His Lorenz. His prince.
Whatever the dawn might alter for their continued friendship, he was not leaving here without knowing every last mystery that Prince Lorenz had to offer him. He needed, too, to know when and where and how they’d keep seeing each other.
With the last step of a minuet coming to a close, Cin slid closer to his prince, letting his hand wander down to the smallof the prince’s back. “This has been lovely, Your Highness, but a proper blaze burns beyond the ballroom, does it not?”
Prince Lorenz glanced at the guests around them, then the servants and guards beyond that. “With the announcement of my partner impending, we may need to get creative in our absconding.” His expression grew smug and he leaned in. “It’s a good thing I’m acquainted with a man who can climb just about anything.”
Cin mirrored his look. “I certainly can.” Most especially now, with his chest freed of the bindings it had once demanded and his ribs released of the pain that had infiltrated even their former intimacy. He wove his fingers through the prince’s, and squeezed. “Let’s go climbing then, shall we?”
And as Cin walked away from the dance floor, hand in hand with the prince, he pretended for a moment that he could be just like Olinda.
Twenty-Five
As Prince Lorenz drew Cin toward the gardens, three of the other guests tried their best to interject, even the reluctant academic pressing forward to wave awkwardly for attention, but Cin’s prince gave them all a devilish smile.
With his free hand, he snatched the nearest guest’s, kissing it quickly then all but pushing her away as he shouted, “Patience! I’ll see one of you in bed for the rest of your days!”
The statement stung, but then the mask of flirtation with which Prince Lorenz said it dropped off the prince’s face the moment he turned toward the darkness of the garden, and Cin felt pained for them both.
The prince looked to Cin worriedly, “You know I don’t mean that?”
“You’re a rake, what can I expect?” Cin teased, but when it landed no better for Prince Lorenz than his own heart, he gave the prince’s hand a reassuring squeeze. “Tell me when we’re free of them.”
Prince Lorenz looked relieved. How peculiar, that a man so brazen with his philandering would be so desirous of a chance to explain himself. He had been the one to choose this mask for himself, and yet…
Cin put the thought aside for the moment as Prince Lorenz pulled him to the right edge of the patio where it surpassed the bounds of the ballroom within, up against the castle where a bench pressed to the wall. Just above them to their left, the room had a tiny balcony.
Guests were already flowing out of the garden doors, a steady stream of crown’s watch casually slipping along the outside of their mass. Cin could see a few more along the garden’s periphery, servants walking between. It seemed the whole space was slowly being lit. They’d have to hurry.
Prince Lorenz glanced to the tiny balcony. “Can you?”
Cin didn’t wait for him to finish. He scurried up the wall, the magic of his shoes adding support as he paused halfway, holding to the balcony with one hand and pulling the prince up with the other. It was sloppy work, but Prince Lorenz managed to slot his foot atop Cin’s for long enough to use Cin’s body as an extra handhold, dragging himself onto the balcony. Cin followed with far more ease.
The prince was panting, but he smiled as he stumbled through the balcony doors. “Those magic shoes of yours, they don’t also give you that strength, do they?”
“They’re sturdy, I suppose, and they won’t size to anyone else’s feet, but that is where their magic ends, I’m afraid.” He felt proud of himself as he said it. It was an odd sensation—the satisfaction in sharing something he’d used thus far in ways meant never to be known by anyone. But here his prince was, knowing them. Knowing Cin. And admiring. Cin grinned. “I climbed the ballroom balcony the first night without them.”
“You’re a wonder,” Prince Lorenz said, and kissed him.
It was a fleeting peck, and he took Cin’s hand again just after, guiding him quickly through the room—a parlor of sorts—and out, down the hall, moving away from the ballroom. Cin could hear commotion coming from elsewhere in the castle, but Prince Lorenz seemed adept at avoiding it, taking Cin through servant corridors and into barely touched rooms that seemed they’d once been elegant before their contents had been stripped out. It seemed even the royalty were not unaffected by the ongoing famine, whatever their current series of balls tried to claim.
As they moved, Cin finally broached the question the prince had seemed to so want to answer in the garden. “Why do you flirt with them?”
Prince Lorenz grimaced. “I don’t know,” he said, then groaned. “It’s who I’m supposed to be—the rake. I suppose it’s the one skill I truly possess? I can’t lead, and I can’t negotiate for peace, and I can’t give grand speeches that inspire a kingdom, but I can look one person—or two or three—in the eye and tell them what they want to hear about themselves. Make them trust me, trust that I’ll please them in the moment, at least, and then… well, usually Idothat. Only now that feels like it would be a betrayal to you.” He looked lost, his gaze distant.
Cin wished he could tell the prince that it wouldn’t be a betrayal when he finally jumped in bed with his future partner. He should do his best to love them, if he was to be trapped with them for the rest of his life. Cin would still be there, loving him in the ways that he could. They could both be happy.
But Cin didn’t believe that.
“If I cared at all for my country,” Prince Lorenz continued, shaking his head, “I should be at my own ball, using the skills I do have to find the person who can govern in my place, and I cannot even manage that.”
Cin raised his brow. “Are you so certain you need someone? Leading, negotiating, inspiring—none of those sound far off from what you’re already doing.”
The prince scoffed, but he looked a little less distraught after. “Are you saying I should hold an orgy with the whole kingdom?”
“If you wanted to scandalize us all, that would be better served by making your shirtless statues also trouserless.” Cin smirked.
