Page 58 of To Touch A Silent Fury (The Bride of Eavenfold #1)

I stood with relief, happy to be away from her serpentine presence even if I knew the alternative was a simpering suitress.

It went without saying that I could not dance with who I wanted.

But I glanced around the room, finding Lady Bellandric was still the closest and probably by no accident.

I offered her my hand for the next dance, and she took it, shooting a surprised look over her shoulder to her peers.

With every sweep of her purple skirt, I observed the room, replying to her attempted engagements distractedly and with no wit.

The Wragg danced, predictably, with the Lady Elissa.

He was determined to grant favour to anyone I so much as sniffed at, but at least it would distract him from the true prize in the room.

Tanidwen stood beside a pillar, taking in the air with a cup of wine as the sun began to set behind her, casting its pink and orange hues against her.

Strangely, unfathomably, I hoped it was the same Vintarrun syra I had been drinking.

The idea of us drinking the same wine was tantalising, though I hadn’t the wit to express why .

Theollan still accompanied her, but I noted she had made a new acquaintance, speaking to a brunette woman in a deep blue gown.

I swirled Lady Bellandric so that I could see the moment Tanidwen moved to take a drink.

My heart skipped a beat as she shifted the beads to the side and poured the liquid past lips coated in a golden shimmer.

I swallowed along with her as I identified the other woman.

Princess Margot. Tanidwen laughed at something she had said. Even from a distance, I could tell it was forced.

I dropped my eyes back to my dance partner, coming up with some lame remark about the flowers. Lady Bellandric’s eyes lit up, and she replied at some length about her childhood estate near Ville-Fleur, and I realised I had forgotten she was even a Scentlander until that moment.

Princess Margot was by far my father’s top choice. The Tastelands' king’s younger and only sister. Of all people here, Tanidwen had to be speaking with her.

If I did not pick a bride myself by the end of Tanmer, a privilege I was certain he only bestowed upon me out of some fatherly impression of pride at my commitment to our northern war, he would certainly choose Princess Margot.

The Princess of Barrow’s Rest. Her brother, King Markus, was my own age and currently without an heir, making her next in line to the throne.

More than that, the Tastelands produced half the Triad’s food and laid claim to three working gold mines in their mountain.

More strategically, they held the ocean gateway to Port Damren.

The produce of the isle of Vintarrun stopped us from having to trade with the Twin Lands for the same fine goods, and we didn’t have Vintarrun without the Tastelands.

Sure, the princess was a little plain, but she was a strong rider and of pleasant enough countenance from our couple of conversations. A year before her fifth span, it would be a smart match. A very smart match indeed.

So why could I only see her ?

I tried my best to ignore Tanidwen in the next three dances, but when the dinner bell rang, I found my eyes locked to the hem of her dress.

Tanidwen walked alone ahead of me, her shoulders sloping elegantly as she picked up her dress to mount the first step into the hall.

Foxlin slapped a hand down on my shoulder, and I jumped. “You’ve hardly been dancing, my prince.”

I glanced at him, already noting how Tanidwen had stiffened in front of me. “I cannot make my attentions too pointed, Foxlin.”

He grinned. “Who is the lucky lady, then?”

“That would be telling.”

Tanidwen did not turn as we spoke, but I knew she could hear every word as we followed her into the room.

So many sconces littered the inside of the southern guest hall that we would feast in perfect candlelight.

Our banners hung in red and gold, and wisteria lay horizontal along the tables' edges.

From the smell alone, I knew our Tastelands chefs had outdone themselves.

She paused in the middle of the room, looking at the tables along two of the room’s walls. The king's setting was in the centre of one table. Derynallis would sit at his right, and I on his left. I stopped just to the side of her, facing Foxlin.

The other table had begun to fill, with several guests finding their seats.

“I suppose you will have to sit with one of them,” Foxlin said.

Tanidwen was only a foot or two behind my back, and I could hear her breathing. Anyone would think we were merely taking in the room, and by all accounts, that’s exactly what we were doing. But my hand shifted towards her, hoping to brush her arm, her gown, anything.

I nodded. “I suppose.”

Foxlin rubbed his hands together. “Then I will find a fetching thing to sit beside.”

And then he was off, and we were two people standing with our backs to each other. Did she feel the tension as I did?

Theollan appeared, bowing to me before speaking softly to her. And then she was gone, and I blinked as the warmth of her closeness faded in an instant.

I blinked, regaining some sense. I strode over to the brunette drifting towards the opposing table, and bowed deeply.

I straightened, staring at her blue eyes. Once, I would have found them pretty, and a rarity for a Tastelander. But now, they only looked like the lifeless pond in the eastern gardens compared to Tanidwen’s piercing dragon-blue. Must she spoil everything?

“Princess Margot, would you do me the honour of sitting at my side?”

She dropped into an elegant curtsy, her cheeks warming. “I would, Your Grace.”

I ate mechanically, speaking when it was appropriate. Halfway through our meal, I realised there was a fair chance I would have to spend a good portion of my life sitting next to this woman, and I couldn’t let Tanidwen prevent me from knowing her.

I swallowed down a bite of creamed potatoes and honeyed pork with a gulp of their Vintarrun syra. The wine was a constant reminder of the value of this union. “Are you missing Barrow’s Rest?”

Her brown hair was lustrous, with sun-kissed golden tones. I found it quite pleasing. It was easier when I focused on the things she did not fall short on. By the Five, I was terrible .

Princess Margot took a dainty sip of her own wine. “I find I am not. The temperatures here are not quite so stifling as my home city. Besides, the journey home will take a fortnight, and I do not look forward to living from inn to inn once more.”

I nodded in understanding. “I can imagine it is a good time of year to be out of the city. Though, of course, you will return for Heape’s Harvest?”

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. I am 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 have some interest 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 .

Her eyes widened, her pupils dilating against the fire.

Another step. I saw her neck bob as she swallowed.

Then a voice cut through, loud and curt. “May I have a dance, my lady? ”

I saw the tiny flinch as she turned to the man who’d just appeared from the hall. The Wragg swaggered in from my left, his eyes moving between us.

I turned away, back to Princess Margot. Nothing had been said, nothing had been done. I had only taken a couple of steps. And yet, if I had been given ten more seconds, she might have heard those words from my lips instead.

I heard her small but strong voice, and it was a dagger in my side.

“You may.”