The suitor about to present themselves would have to wait.
David focused on Tu, silent and curious. “Here again?” he asked after a beat, some of his smile staying in place. “I thought your curiosity would have been appeased by the first masked spectacle.”
“Ah,” said Tu, a nervous stall that hopefully was not too recognizable. “That is… I have decided,” he was a fool, but at least a safely disguised one, “to try being a participant.”
David’s head went back, not far, but enough to give away his surprise. The others with him seemed very still, but Tu kept his eyes on David. In return, David watched him as if Tu’s mask would tell him something. “Despite what I said?” David asked finally, soft.
“What did you say?” Flor wondered.
“I imagine that is between them,” said Flor’s companion, even softer than David. Somehow, this drew Flor’s attention instantly.
David reached up to touch his mask as if he wanted to remove it. “Why?” David continued. “I would think that would have put you off, especially if you were already inclined to avoid a crown, or anyone wearing one.”
“That is the sticky bit,” Tu admitted. The thing that had kept him awake every night and distracted him during every day. “It is simply that, while I think I have no business as a consort, I believe I might... I might make an acceptable husband. And perhaps that is your true need.” For no one else would he have said these words. But he would wear the mask, and try, if it offered the chance to make David smile. First, however, he had more to say. Words Lord Hyacinth had drilled into him. “I am no different from anyone else here, not where it matters. You are still searching for such a spouse, are you not?”
“Yes.” David answered as if fascinated.
Tu went up another step, moving bravely forward because, if not David,Florwould expect it, and Tu could not give himself to one without also giving himself to all of the royal family, or those considered family.
“This is not a proposal of marriage. Not yet. I am one of many, hidden behind a mask. I compete only to win more conversations,” he touched the cheek of his mask, “and a chance to remove this, someday, and hope you will not be disappointed.”
Lord Hyacinth had not told him to say that.
David wet his lips. “Well said.” Tu wondered if the others had all immediately attempted words of love, or only cold practicality. David seemed almost breathless. “What if I like you but find I cannot love you?”
Tu put a hand to his heart, but nodded. “A possibility I accept, but find improbable, if you don’t mind me saying. Not because I am brilliant or handsome, but because you are a loving man. That is always said of you, and I have seen nothing to make me think otherwise.”
David was again silent for several moments, his lips staying softly parted. “Forgive me,” he said when he recovered, “it’s just that I am no longer used to such quiet honesty.”
“This took some doing,” Tu confessed in relief. “Sleepless nights and many restoratives. But you are worth it. You should know that, if nothing else.”
“What is your name?” David asked, then seemed to bring himself up short. “Oh yes. It’s a masked ball, and you will not say.”
“One is the same as any other,” Tu reminded him.
David frowned and shook his head. “That’s not why I asked for masks. It’s so I don’t look for…” He stopped, glancing back to Flor, who was observing this but also petting the hand of his companion. David turned around again, looking over the ballroom, and then Tu again. He raised his head, every inch a prince. “Would you like to dance with me?”
“You’re not already spoken for?” Tu asked, startled, though he had not seen the Prince dance with anyone at either masquerade.
“No.” David extended his hand.
Tu was as flustered as the first time he had run into David at Lord Hyacinth’s house. David’s hand was bare, although Tu’s was not. He thought people were whispering. He and David had never done this, even as friends. Conversation and debate, and drinking in pubs, long, private talks, and then, eventually, kisses. Never this. “Would you like to lead?”
The weight of David’s gaze stole his breath. David slowly shook his head.
Lady Stephanie had made Tu practice this, something he was grateful for now, because, without checking, he assumed too many eyes were on them as they joined the others on the dancefloor. Tu barely remembered to bow before they were dancing.
No lively country dances, not for a royal ball. Tu passed behind David, taking his hand again, and looked up only because if he looked at his feet, he would stumble.
“I am not very experienced at this sort of dancing,” he confessed quietly. The children of the upper classes should have grown up learning all the songs, all the steps. Tu was admitting he was not one of them. He circled David again, their clasped hands above them. His other hand brushed the small of David’s back, then rested briefly at David’s waist.
“I don’t mind a few missteps.” The words were expected, the warm hitch in David’s voice was not.
Tu met David’s unapologetic stare until David stepped away for the next part of the dance. Tu didn’t know whether he should be jealous of himself or elated, but the rush of pleasure at knowing he had sparked that reaction in David made him risk another touch when David returned to him, even though the entire court might have been watching.
David took Tu’s hand again, fleetingly, and Tu regretted wearing gloves, regretted everything that had kept him from David in the first place. He stumbled, but recovered. David only stepped in closer, exactly as the dance demanded. But his gaze was watchful and curious, and he parted his lips when Tu again placed a hand at his waist, this time firmly.
Tuwasjealous of himself, of a masked stranger, and also flushed with pleasure at one small sigh from his prince. He leaned in from habit, ready to reward David as he so often had, and the song ended. The fading music spared him from the humiliation of trying to kiss David—the Prince—while masked, in the middle of so many people.
