Page 23 of Tashama
“All right.” She took a sip of the wine, then smiled. “It tastes like mint julep with a sprig of…cinnamon.”
“I’m pleased you like it.” He handed their goblets to a waiting servant, then said to another, “The first course.”
Fruits and cheese were served, and Tashama leaned back on the pillows slightly. She pulled off a cluster of blue grapes, then held it over her head. After grasping a grape between her teeth, she lifted the branch above Aleron’s head. He smiled at her, then grabbed the grape with his teeth.
When they’d both eaten a slice of cheese and several more grapes, he reached for the goblets. He handed Tashama hers. She sipped some of the wine, then said, “Can I try yours?”
“It would taste the same as yours.” The low-cut, form-fitting bodice of Tashama’s gown caught his eye. He raised his goblet. “A toast.”
“To?” Tashama raised her drink.
“To you.”
“Why me?” She lowered her goblet.
He reached under her veil and touched her blond hair as it curled about the pillows. “I’ve never seen such beautiful tresses.”
“A different toast.” She pulled a pillow over her bodice.
“To the end of the war!”
“To the end of the war!” she repeated with enthusiasm, then drank her wine.
The prince reached for her goblet. She reached for his, and he smiled. “We’ll have the next course of the meal.”
When sausages and rice were served, the prince spooned a sample for Tashama, but when he took a spoonful for himself, she grabbed his wine cup from the steward. She took a sip of his wine. “It doesn’t taste as good as mine. Here, taste mine and see what you think.”
“I think,” the prince said and handed the goblet back to the servant, “we can only handle one course at a time.”
Tashama sighed deeply. “That’s why we should have sat at a table while we ate.”
She lay back on the pillows with her outstretched arms above her head. He motioned to a servant to bring the next course.Carissian nodded to him from the doorway. The prince buttered a slice of bread for her. “What were you doing all alone at Lake Curaca when my men first found you?”
“Washing the blood from my arms.” She pulled the veil from her hair, then tossed it aside.
The rainbow-colored cloth fluttered to the floor.
“Yes, but why were you there?”
“A mistake. He made a mistake.”
“He?” Aleron’s dark brows rose.
“My dear friend, yes.”
“His name?”
She stared at the floor for a moment and tried to recollect his name. When it wouldn’t come to her, she shook her head.
“Where was he?”
“Who knows?” She rocked her left leg back and forth. “I was there, and he was not.”
“You were spies then?”
She turned over on her side, then smiled at Aleron. “You have the warmest eyes—dark brown with golden flecks—the same oval shape as the hart’s.” She reached up to pull a wavy strand of dark brown hair behind his ear. He kissed her hand, then laid it on the pillow in front of her. He faced Carissian. “Well, does she speak the truth?”
Carissian frowned back at him. “Every word, my lord.”
