Page 71 of Love & Letter Charms
“Well then, I’m off to reclaim my honor from Mariselle,” Evryn said, much to Ryden’s relief. “She won’t be laughing quite so smugly when I catch that moonflare.”
The next hour passed in a blur of laughter and light. Ryden joined Evryn, Mariselle, Fin and several of their friends, throwing himself into the chase with enthusiasm, his competitive nature awakening as he pursued the darting creatures through the gardens. He caught three ribbon-birds in quick succession, their wings dissolving into delicate tokens in his palm. A particularly cunning foxlet led him on a merry chase through the rose garden before he finally cornered it near the decorative pond.
But always, always, his awareness tracked back to Aurelise. She seemed to have abandoned her earlier restraint entirely, her chase taking her in wide circles around the fountain alongside Lady Willow, the two of them laughing helplessly whenever their nets caught on one another.
As midnight approached and the gleams began their final dance before the spell would fade, the moonflare finally made another appearance. It descended from wherever it had been hiding, a creature of pure crystallized light. Every head turned, every net raised, as it began a teasing spiral just above their reach.
What followed was chaos of the most entertaining sort. Ladies abandoned all pretense of decorum. Gentlemen crashed into each other in their enthusiasm. Yet it was Ryden, who’d likely had more practice in the art of gleamcatching than anyone else present, who ultimately claimed the elusive prize.
His net swept through the air in a perfect arc, the silver threads singing as they closed around the moonflare. For a moment, the creature’s light intensified, filling his vision with brilliant white, and then it dissolved and fell onto hisoutstretched palm, a small silver token stamped with the delicate impression of a moth.
The gathering erupted in good-natured groans and congratulations. Everyone clapped politely, while Fin coughed something about “unfair royal advantages” that was clearly meant as a jest.
Evryn cursed, not quite under his breath. “I had that thing perfectly positioned?—”
“You had nothing,” Mariselle interrupted with a laugh, moving to take her husband’s arm. “If anyone besides His Highness deserved to catch it, clearly it was me.”
“You are aware, darling,” Evryn replied, still catching his breath but smiling down at her all the same, “that I had intended to catch itfor you, before His Lordliness so selfishly claimed it for himself?”
Laughter rippled through the group again, easy and bright beneath the last drifting gleams.
Ryden smiled to himself, slipping the token into the small inner pocket of his waistcoat, unwilling to confess that he’d caught the moonflare with much the same intention. He was merely waiting for the right moment to offer it, discreetly, to the one he’d caught it for.
Later, when the festivities began to thin and the night air cooled, he found himself beside Aurelise once more. She admitted, with that quiet composure of hers, that she had enjoyed the evening. “Though,” she added, “so much wild activity leaves me rather in need of stillness, to restore myself a little, or I shall not survive another day of this pace. I’ll likely steal a few moments in the music room once everyone has retired. I know it’s late, but …” She gave a small shrug, a shy smile curving her lips. “It’s what I would do if I were at home.”
He found her there later, just as she’d said, already lost to her music, eyes closed, her fingers tracing slow, graceful patternsacross the keys. He said nothing, unwilling to disturb her, and simply set the token atop the piano for her to find. Then, for a few precious minutes, he stood in the doorway, listening as the quiet melody threaded through him with a gentle ache, before he slipped silently away.
~
Dear L,
You have been curiously quiet these past days. Did I overwhelm you again?
Still yours (when you are ready),
R
Chapter Nineteen
“I find your hair rather beautiful.”
The words escaped Aurelise’s lips before she could catch them, floating into the night air like one of her wayward melodies. She watched, fascinated, as Prince Ryden’s eyes crinkled in surprised delight, moonlight catching in their depths.
“I used to tell myself it vexed me,” she continued, her voice carrying a dreamy quality she’d never heard from herself before. “All that midnight blue, drawing everyone’s attention. But I cannot seem to locate that feeling anymore. I can find only …”
She shifted slightly. The grass between them was cool and pale, brushing softly against her cheek as she lay turned toward him. Her gloved fingers reached toward those dark strands that looked impossibly soft in the silver light. But at the last moment, some vestige of propriety made her lower her hand, though it took considerable effort.
“It’s beautiful,” she finished simply.
A slow smile curved Prince Ryden’s lips. “I find I rather like you this way.”
She laughed, a soft, breathy sound. “Thoroughly addled? My thoughts all …” She turned her gaze toward the branches aboveand lifted her hand, allowing her fingers to drift lazily through the air. A gentle melody followed her movements, notes that swayed and spun. “Scattered to the winds?”
“No.” The prince’s voice was low. “I like you utterly honest.”
“Ah.” She settled back against the grass, feeling the cool blades through the fabric of her dress. “I’m certainhonestywas precisely your aim when you convinced me to undertake dare number nine.”
The reality of her current situation should have horrified her. Here she lay, stretched out on the grass beside the lake at what must be well past midnight, with Prince Ryden similarly reclined barely a few feet away. Between them rested an ornate moonwood pipe, its bowl—spell-tempered to remain cool enough not to burn the grass—still faintly glowing with the last wisps of driftshade leaf, that notorious vanilla-spicy substance she’d sworn she would never, under any circumstances, sample.
