The image of her legs wrapped around my waist and my fist tangled in her hair burns through my brain like wildfire.
“You won’t tell anyone what I showed you tonight?” I ask roughly.
“I promise.” Hesitating, she pauses to peer back at me. “You won’t tell anyone I went off alone with a man, will you?”
“Never.” Not unless I need to force her hand into marriage, but she’s been willing enough tonight.
“Why is it so important to keep the fae castle a secret?”
“Because it’s mine. I don’t want to share.”
Again, I hold her gaze until she looks away. I pin her to the wall and kiss her. Elsie meets me more than halfway, twining her arms around my neck. She tastes like honey and wanton desire. I take my fill before easing back with a groan.
“There is one last place I want to show you,” I say as we descend single-file.
10
ELINOR
The clock chimesten as Alex leads me into the empty chamber with the hidden panel. One more hour. Each second bleeds away too quickly, chipping away at my joy.
“Why do you look sad, Sunshine?”
I giggle at his silly nickname. “Why did you call me that?”
“Because you are as warm as a summer day.” He brushes a kiss against my temple. I hold out his jacket and watch him shrug into it, his shoulders moving beneath the fine linen shirt. Part of me mourns seeing him cover up.
Fleetingly, I imagine a world where I don’t wake up alone in a freezing attic every morning. Instead, I’d sleep warm and safe next to him. I’d awaken to see him dress for the day. I can only imagine what he looks like beneath the shirt and waistcoat, and now, the velvet jacket.
My brow pleats as a discordant detail jumps out at me. I’ve spent so many years washing and mending my sisters’ finery that I can recognize quality tailoring when I see it. His blue waistcoat is silk brocade with gold buttons.
Not brass. Gold.
His shirt is the finest cambric I’ve ever seen, with what appear to be carved pearl buttons. I’ve bought similar ones for my stepsisters. Alex’s are thin polished discs, so delicate that they must have been very expensive. A Caldrithonian luxury that few servants could afford. Perhaps one very high up in the castle hierarchy. But that doesn’t explain the waistcoat.
The jacket’s quality doesn’t match the rest of his clothing. The cut is wrong, a hair too loose in the shoulders and long in the sleeves. The underside of the collar is cheap wool flannel, a cost-saving measure to use less-expensive fabric where it won’t be seen.
“This way,” he says, offering me his hand with a gallant gesture.
I place my palm in his. There’s no reason to ruin tonight’s subterfuge with the truth. I wanted an evening to feel like a lady, and this has surpassed my expectations. Miraculously, I’ve met the man I had wondered about since he nearly trampled me in the street. Alex has been wonderful to me all night. I can hardly be angry with him for not being truthful about his identity, when I’m being no more straightforward.
My curiosity remains a hungry kitten mewling for its dinner. She’ll have to go hungry. I cannot satisfy her without revealing my own deception.
A shudder works down my spine at the thought of Tremaine finding out what I did this evening. He wouldn’t kill me. He needs me too much. But as bad as my life already is, he could still make it worse.
Alex nods at a pair of guards stationed in the hall. Strains of music tell me we’ve returned to the ballroom. Regret pinches my heart. So little time left.
He shows me into a circular room. The stillness is so profound that no more strains of music reach my ears.
I sense a low thrum of power embedded in the stonework. The magic potion I drank calls to it. The sensation sticks to my skin, cobweb-creepy and full of ghosts.
“We shouldn’t be here.”
“Why not?” Alex holds his hands out, palms up, and turns in the center of the room. “It’s the safest place in all of Belterre.”
“It’s not ours. We’re trespassing.”
He chuckles and moves toward the dais dominated by two thrones. Until now, he’s been charming, but now, there’s a cocky showiness about him that’s both mesmerizing and a bit off-putting. He turns and rests one hand on each.
