She took a breath, but it was the short breath before rushing on. “How you found someone for me to talk to, and Niobe is doing at least half the work of convincing me to stay for you. And it hasn’t worked yet, not all the way, but there’s a good chance it will. Then tonight, it was new, and I’ve never been to a proper magical theatre. And not so much with going out to eat somewhere other than a pub or fish and chips. And it was all splendid. You made it easy to enjoy it. That there wasn’t something that would trip me up.” Then she swallowed. “Um. Now you can say things. If you want?”
He did want. Griffin took a moment to choose his words. “I think a lot about tripping these days. Physical and otherwise. The places we snag on an assumption.” He turned to look at her square on. “Niobe’s being persuasive, then?”
“She doesn’t make me feel stupid. She explains things. There’s so much I don’t know? But she says it like it’s ordinary to know some things, and not others. And like she knows I’m a person who wants to learn. Who can learn. You do the same thing. How do you do that? When it’s complicated magic, not, I don’t know, something any Tom, Dick, and Harry could learn with a bit of practice?” Then she ducked her chin. “What would it look like if I stayed? Not saying I’m deciding yet.”
“If things keep going well with Niobe, she’d consider taking you on as an apprentice. Most of her pieces these days are talismans, not just decorative, but she knows all the gem cutting, too. You’d learn to make them, she’d teach you that. She - or I - would maybe find some other people to learn from, how to do the jewellery parts you don’t know. Setting different kinds of stones, I know there are multiple techniques.”
She snorted, but she leaned forward to kiss his cheek, so that was all right. Griffin let out a breath. “And I hope you and I would find what works for us. I work an awful lot, I get focused on that. But you’d be welcome to stay here - here, this bed, or upstairs. I’d make sure to take a break for dinner. We could refit one room upstairs as a workroom, if you wanted.”
“You barely know me.” Annice had gone very quiet now, barely whispering.
“True. But the way you kissed me? I think I want to know more. Learn more. Just like you.” Griffin rode the line of that arrow of truth, as far as he could bear. Then he closed his eyes, just waiting.
She didn’t move much, but he heard her voice, nearly in his ear. “I kissed you because you care. People grieving. That they have the space. People didn’t give me that space, they gave me the custom, and the things you say out of politeness, and it wasn’t enough. You? You understand that.”
“I’m not perfect.” Now he could look at her, blinking to get his eyes to focus. “Don’t think I am. I get frustrated when my legs won’t do what I want. When my body betrays me. Briefly, these days, mostly. And I’m stubborn, and I won’t leave Trellech, and I’m aiming at something that will tie me here, in new ways. Still hoping I can have it, despite everything.”
Her fingers touched his cheek. “I don’t know how I feel about all of that. But I’m not running away from it, all right? Show me what it’s really like. What the stone is, under all that, the ways it comes alive in the carving.” She sucked in a breath. “Let’s see if I make it far enough to see your mother wearing the rose I made.”
Now it was Griffin’s turn to suck in a breath, and that was such a particular marker of what they might become, a potent one. “Oh, yes. Though I think there might be quite a few steps before that. We could get started exploring those.”
“No need to rush. But mm, yes. You suggested your bed. What did you have in mind?” Annice’s voice had gone breathy now, and when he shifted his hand to touch her back, he could feel how she was breathing shallowly.
“Here, stretch out. Kissing. Touching a little. Nothing you don’t want. And remember you can outrun me, easily, if you decide to.” Griffin held his breath until she started rearranging herself, stretching out on her side, facing him. It made it easy to let his hand rest on her back, fingers spread, in hopes of touching other places in a little. Then he was shifting himself, to match her, then to kiss her. It was easier like this, when he didn’t have to worry about balancing on the sofa. She was just as responsive now.
They were breathless with it, for a long time. When they had to pause, to rest and recover a little, he murmured in her ear. “You could stay the night if you wanted. They won’t mind at the inn.”
“Did you think of that, too?” She was blinking at him - he’d dimmed the lights. When he nodded, she laughed, then nuzzled at his shirt. “Mmm. It’s very comfortable here. With you. And the bed.”
“No reason to move, then.” Griffin might have hoped for a bit more of a romp. But it had been a long day for her - and he suspected she’d been using her magic more than she’d realised. After a few more nuzzling kisses, she dropped off to sleep, nestled against his shoulder. He stayed awake for a good long time, until after the faint ring of the midnight bells from the Ministry bell tower. It felt good to lie there just listening to her breathe and feel the way she trusted him.
Chapter34
APRIL 3RD
Annice woke the next morning, again uncertain where she was. Her head, it turned out, was on Griffin’s shoulder. He had pulled a blanket over her, but he was under the sheets himself. She carefully moved, considering her options. Making breakfast seemed the most sensible thing once she washed up. And seeing what Griffin said, when he was properly awake.
He slept quite a long time, actually. More than long enough for her to wash. She made a cup of tea, rummaging for a book from the shelves by the door, which seemed to be his more general reading. She’d curled up on the sofa and read into the second chapter when she heard sounds from the bathing room. A couple of minutes later, he wheeled himself into the main room and caught sight of her. “Not a figment of my dreams, then.” He followed it promptly by adding, “I hope you were comfortable and that I didn’t do anything you didn’t want.”
“I slept very well. Don’t remember a thing until I woke up. I’m, um, sorry I fell asleep on you?”
Griffin wriggled a hand. “I enjoyed it.” It was a simple statement. It was him saying it, so she knew it was true. “Will you stay?”
“Stay now? Stay, um, longer?” Annice wanted him to be clear, because what she wanted was actually rather foggy. Other than that she wanted more of what last night had been, whatever that was.
“Both. Either. Whatever you’ll accept. You can have the bedroom upstairs, if you like. Just.” Now he looked very much like a plaintive dog. Or like Grandad had, when he wanted something and couldn’t quite admit it.
Annice stood, her hands on her hips, considering him. “It’s very hard to resist you when you look like that. So you know. Don’t take too much advantage of it.” Then she let out a breath, slowly, thinking through her options. “I’m thinking I make you breakfast, and then I go and pack up my things and bring them here. If I change my mind, you can get me a room again, right?”
She wasn’t ready to commit to anything. Certainly not to promising to share his bed, not yet. Not in the more euphemistic sense. She knew that when she did that, she’d be saying yes to everything else. Or she’d already have said yes. But she could, maybe, try on what it would feel like. Surely the bubble of it would pop and dissolve in a few more days.
“Right.” Now Griffin was lit up like a lamp again. “A quiet day today? Make free with my books. I see you have. Or the kitchen, or anything else you need. I thought we might go out for lunch, have supper here, and be ready for tomorrow.”
That was, in fact, what they did. Oh, he made sure there was time to curl up together, for kissing and cuddling, but they didn’t go any further with it than they’d done the night before. Except, this time, she had a nightgown on, and she was under the covers, and she stayed there. When his alarm went off the next morning, he reached over to turn it off, then immediately nuzzled at the back of her head. “I could get used to this.”
She snorted, and went upstairs to go wash, while he did the same downstairs. The thing of it was, she could too. He’d made it so easy to fit into his life in a way she didn’t even know how to ask about. Surely that wasn’t just for her, the way Griffin did that. Only it felt like it was, like every little detail was a particular choice he was making, with her comfort and happiness in mind.
They left entirely on time by his standards, depositing their coats and bags in his office before continuing down to the courtroom. There were already two women waiting, one in a Guard uniform, one in a black jacket, skirt, and white blouse with a touch of green at the collar. Both were perhaps in their fifties, two decades older than Annice. But it was hard to tell, especially with the second woman, who had light brown skin and black hair that had a few silver strands.
