Page 117 of To Touch A Silent Fury

She brightened at the mention of the Tastelands festival, then she glanced up at me with a sheepish look. “I would hope to, though it depends where my responsibilities lie, then.”

It depends if I propose. What a stupid question from me. The princess was here waiting on my interest and I all but told her to go home.

I smiled and returned to pushing the rest of the food around my plate. A near half an hour passed in relative silence. At least on her other side, the Lord of Manniston made some attempt to engage her in conversation.

Eventually, I tried once more. “What do you do, at home, to divert yourself?” She looked startled to be addressed again, but I only ploughed on. “I hear you are an accomplished horsewoman.”

She took the compliment with grace. “Only as the Barrow would expect. We are a farming people. They would not respect a princess who could not sit astride a saddle.”

“I see.” I respected her humble reply, one at odds with the reports of her great hunting rides. Maybe there was something to be saved here. “And your studies? Of language and history?”

She touched my hand and laughed. “Oh, I would not think to bore you with that. In truth, I have never cared much for dusty tomes and old histories.” I stared at her hand until she removed it, but she kept her smile as she smoothed down her hair with the same fingers. “It is, by its own nature, a thing of the past. Iam of Dional’s people, and we are a merry folk. I would rather entertain, dance, and enjoy the frivolity of life.”

Right. Fuck me dead, then.

Lady Elissa, it was. She was far too quiet, but at least she seemed to havesomeinterest in reading at least a page of anything.

I gave Princess Margot a placating smile. “How… well-put. You clearly have a firm mind.”

She nodded sagely as she took another drink. “A tutored lesson is nothing to what we can learn from a lively conversation. Do you not agree?”

I blinked, stunned at this strangely fervent anti-intellectual tirade. “I would struggle to argue, for sure.”

She smiled, looking up at me from under her long brown lashes. “Besides, I think we both know intelligence is not what women are for.”

This floored me, from a princess mere steps from a crown of her own. I narrowed my eyes. “You would be so diminishing of your sex?”

“Diminishing?” she asked, a picture of innocent confusion. “Of course not. I speak of the most important duty a woman could perform. Children and their rearing. Is there no greater design than the feminine power to create new life?”

My answering smile was queasy at best. I glanced over to the exact place I knew Tanidwen to be sat.

For the first time since she had entered the ball, I caught her staring back at me. I breathed in, expecting her to immediately look away. But instead, she watched us with a smile packed with mischief.

I looked back to Princess Margot, who awaited an answer.

“Just so,” I said. “I was testing your conviction, and you have proven it firmly.”

She scanned my eyes and then smiled again. “You are as evil as they say then, toying with a woman like that.”

“More evil, I am sure.”

This made her laugh, and I used the distraction to look at Tanidwen again. She was still watching us with a knowingness I wanted to kiss from her face.

Fuck. Had she set me up somehow?

After the meal, we were instructed to return to the gardens. I could already see the braziers lining it, ready for the second half of the event under the starlit sky. When I saw Tanidwen rise, I rose too, offering my hand to Princess Margot. Once more, I followed her out, knowing she felt me behind her.

I ached to touch her arm, to pull her around and demand what she had found so amusing. My palm twitched with the need to move, and it was nigh unquenchable in that moment.

Once we were out amongst the fires, I turned to Princess Margot abruptly. “Would you excuse me for a moment?”

She blinked, confused but not offended. “Of course.”

I turned on my heel. Tanidwen stood facing me but not looking at me directly. One dance. What harm could that be? It was only polite. I had given my attention to several other ladies now, and I had eaten beside Princess Margot. To dance with her now could surely not arouse much suspicion. It was a service to a guest of our court.

I took one step towards her, and her eyes slid to me, as if they had been waiting for me to move all night.

My blood sang with her.Tanidwen.