Page 81 of Our Satyr Prince
He really was rather sweet.
The party continued until well after midday before disbanding, with little groups wandering off at their own pace. The two of them took an hour to walk the semiwooded paths around the bay, the journey made quicker by Jaspar’s vibrant chatter, aided by the huge mug of mead he’d taken from the wedding.
When they finally arrived back at the embassy, late in the afternoon, he was just about able to stand on his own.
“You’re a good get, Teigra. You know that?” he said with a slur, as they reached the front door. “All the other girls from back home’re so stuck up and stiff. Dorina pretty much refused to walk anywhere. Reckoned the sun and exercise brought on bad humors. Can you believe that? Coming to a place like this and not wanting to walk anywhere! But that’s not you. You like getting out there. In the sun. Among the people. Among nature.”
“Thank you, Jaspar,” she said, her familiar blush taking hold. “I just hope I’m helping.”
“You’re certainly helping me,” he said, laying a soft kiss on the back of her hand.
For a heart-fluttering moment, she wondered whether the big, kind minotaur might blush and stammer and ask whether she wanted to come up to his room. He had been nothing but a gentleman in the whole time they’d known each other, taking not one advantage of their close and often isolated proximity.
But now would be the perfect time, wouldn’t it? With the inhibitions dulled by the drink, and the dancing still fresh in their feet, and the entire embassy all to themselves.
With a heaviness in her soul, Teigra waited. And as she did so, she wondered the whole time what she would say if he asked.
He was a good man, there was no doubt about that. And Mesti knew that he was handsome—in a boyish, messy-furred sort of way, which only seemed to make him an even more calming and attractive presence.
And she had thought about it dozens of times these last weeks.
And she was sure she could do much, much worse for her first time.
And she was sure he would be gentle.
And she was sure that behind that goofy smile was a creature who must have experienced a great deal of this world, and would relish the chance to show it to her, to teach her, to open her mind and body into the world of true adulthood.
And yet...
But the question didn’t come. Instead, his smile broadened, and he gave an extravagant bow. “And now, fair maiden, I must depart. For the drinks were many! And the work is much.”
He entered the building with a slight stumble, knocking a big shoulder into the door frame. She stifled a laugh, and a warmth beyond the summer breeze or long afternoon walk swelled beneath her stola. The air was sweet with pomegranate blossom.
She was about to stroll into town, going nowhere in particular, when her blood turned suddenly cold.
From across the courtyard rose the familiar sound of syrinx pipes, the notes haunting and unpredictable.
Aurelius was staring at her from his balcony.
And in his hand was something that she had all but forgotten about. Something that she had assumed still to be in the possession of a princess too foolish to understand its contents. Something she had meant to apologize for weeks ago.
Aurelius was holding Aunty Urosina’s folio.
43
AURELIUS
Aurelius gripped the hateful documents as the pipes sashayed across his lips.
He remained impassive at her horrified recognition. Not that keeping his face still took much effort. Even glancing down from his balcony made the mass of black swelling around his eye throb.
His cheek was scuffed with gravel burns, and over his eyebrow was the angry, half-healed contusion from a well-aimed sword pommel.
Now he would have a scar to match the princess’s. He wondered if that had been intentional.
Aurelius had been a fool to trust Zosime, and even more so for underestimating her. The show she put on last night at the barracks was a thing of beauty. It was like she had no idea why he was there. Like the attack she inflicted on him was for his unannounced and unexpected trespass onto soldierly territory.
The princess was good. Far better than he had given her credit for.
