Tu pulled back sharply, removing his hands to his sides, and the crowd around them swept in to fuss over David and demand his attention with chatter and questions.
Too many mistakes in only one dance. Tu had allowed the confidence of his friends to persuade him that happiness was within reach. As if he could have pleased David with that show, or impressed the King and Queen.
He shot an anxious glance to the dais, where, of course, David’s parents now stood, observing Tu’s folly.
Tu ducked his head in a pale imitation of a proper bow and stepped backward through the crowd until he could safely turn and head anywhere else but the ballroom.
“Was it the crowd?” The question came from behind him, in David’s voice.
Tu stopped in the middle of a corridor, glancing first at the few nobles and servants not far from him before he spun around to watch David approach.
“You said you were not much for parties.” David lowered his voice as he grew closer, though the people near them were no less curious.
“You remember that?” Tu asked, then tossed his head. “A crowd is one thing. A royal family quite another. I did not think of that. I did notwantto think of that.”
“You had to know there was a chance you would meet them.” David stopped, close enough to allow them to whisper. “And that you would have to once again brave a mob of guests. Yet you came here tonight.” David’s gaze was light and heavy all at once. “For me.”
Tu dropped his head to consider the floor. “Hardly slaying a dragon.” There was no help for Tu, because if David needed a dragon slayed, Tu thought he might attempt it.
David inched closer, bringing Tu’s head up in both alarm and hunger.
“Is that your reason for the mask?Thatmask?” David gestured to the felt covering all of Tu’s face. “Shyness?”
“No,” Tu answered honestly. “Although it helps.”
The wrinkle in David’s brow was visible above his slender mask. “Would you like to know my reason for asking for them? Why I wanted masquerades?”
Tu nodded without thinking. “But why tell me? There are others here who would also like to know.”
“Because I promised myself that I would tell the truth to anyone who decided to go after me in earnest. They would have a right to know. You are the first to speak plainly, and the first to make me feel—make me feel that I could speak plainly in return and you would understand.” David’s frown did not ease, but he met Tu’s stare. “The masks are to keep me from looking for a particular face.”
Tu’s knees were decidedly weak. “I see.”
“Do you?” David studied him intently. “Do you still think me loving, capable of finding happiness with someone else?”
Tu huffed in disbelief, hot and perspiring in his mask, absolutely unworthy of David’s steadfast heart.
Yes.Tu had so much to say that it caught in his throat. “Yes,” he repeated aloud. “You cannot help but love people. It might not be the same as what you feel now. You might not want it to, because waking up alone, and dreading lonely nights, and constantly, constantly worrying that he is well, that someone is taking care of him, that is still something of him. Isn’t it? Something to keep when there is nothing else. You might lash yourself for everything you said or did, or didn’t do, and look for his face, because you do not want to forget.” Tu pulled in a shaky breath. “But you should be happy again, and if the old love does not fade, a new love might still form, and be stronger.”
David was motionless.
Tu looked into his eyes. “I am an expert in being left behind,” he confessed that which he had never told David, though he did not go into the details of being young and thinking a noble son attending the University might want more than to share a bed with a humble bookseller. He swallowed. “So much of an expert, I pushed someone away so they could not do it to me. But now here I am. With you.”
“You liar,” David murmured. Tu flinched, thinking David had realized it was only Tu behind this mask. Then David smiled. “You told me you were insignificant. You seem quite wise to me.”
“Wisdom is gained through committing foolish acts and then living with them,” Tu replied with false loftiness. He didn’t like his own words, so he added, “I am older than you, and full of regret, and more inclined to quiet evenings at home. But I did not mind our dance, and I think your friend favors me.”
“Flor favors anyone who makes me smile,” David answered bluntly. “You could have another dance,” he went on, not precisely coaxing or suggestive.Hopeful. But that word made Tu’s heart beat faster. So did David’s next sentence, though the reason for it was vastly different. “More than that, however, and my parents will want to meet you.”
Tu blanched behind his mask. “That’s terrifying.”
“It’s a lot to ask.” The note of hope was still there in David’s voice. “Even from the people who want to marry a prince.”
He destroyed Tu so effortlessly.
“David,” Tu whispered, then tensed. That washisvoice, not a stranger’s. That was how Tu said David’s name in bed, full of longing and praise for everything David gave him.
David’s breath hitched like it had during their dance.
