Again, the horse shifted, growing visibly restless. Faivish didn’t step back. Instead, he moved closer, steady, his hand rising to rest against the stallion’s forehead and with each slow stroke down the white blaze of its face, the tremors eased. “Easy, boy,” he whispered, voice low, coaxing. “That’s it. Easy now.”
The stallion’s breath steadied. The tension melted out of his frame as though thawing from ice.
Maisie couldn’t look away from Faivish because he exuded such calm and certainty. In that moment, she felt as if she’d glimpsed the truest part of him, something no slur could diminish. He healed.
*
After they leftthe Riding School, the city swallowed them again. Vienna’s streets were narrower here, caught between tall façades that still held the warmth of the day. The wooden crate was back in Alfie’s arms, though this time only the empty jars he’d exchange for the full ones clinked together as he shifted the weight when they neared Maisie’s home.
“Well then,” he said, tipping his hat with a grin that included all three of them. “Goodnight, you two. And you, young lady.” He gave Deena a little bow as though she were a duchess, and she burst into giggles, curtsying before darting ahead toward their door.
You two?The words caught Maisie squarely in the stomach. Did Alfie know something she hadn’t yet admitted, even to herself? Best friends always knew but she couldn’t even name it yet.
Before she could collect her thoughts, the crate and Alfie’s easy demeanor faded down the lane. The door clicked shut behind Deena,leaving Maisie and Faivish standing alone in the cooler early evening air.
He looked at her, then offered his arm again. “Let me see you home.” There were five, perhaps six steps, left to the door.
Still, she didn’t hesitate. Her hand slid into place as if they could stretch the moment, and together they walked beneath the lamps just flickering to life. Their glow stretched long over the cobblestones. The air smelled faintly of roasting chestnuts and river damp from the Danube drifting through the alleys.
She loved this city—its carved palaces, glittering shop windows, gardens spilling roses. And yet none of it was ever truly hers. For Jews, Vienna was a stage on which they were permitted to play but never to own.
At the corner, crickets began their steady song. She turned to Faivish, words slipping out before she could stop them. “I was afraid, back in the stables. That the horse might have kicked you.”
He smiled slowly, the sort of smile that made her knees feel unreliable. “If he had, I’d have kicked back.”
She laughed—bubbled, unguarded—and the sound seemed to draw his eyes to her mouth. “You wouldn’t,” she teased, breath catching. Heat rushed low in her belly.
He pressed a hand to his chest in mock offense. “Wouldn’t I?”
“You’re a healer,” she said softly, still smiling. “You calmed him like no one else could. You were…” She faltered, then finished with a truth that made her cheeks heat. “Wonderful.”
“Me?Wonderful?” he asked, quiet now, teasing threaded with something deeper.
She couldn’t look away. “You know you are.”
He stepped closer, and the lamplight caught the hard line of his jaw, the bronze warmth of his skin. She gripped her skirts to stop her hand from rising to his cheek.
“You’ve no idea,” he said, voice low, “how long I’ve wanted to seeyou outside the practice.”
Her heart kicked. “Since you started the apprenticeship in May?” she whispered.
His mouth curved, not quite a smile. “No. Since that day in the amphitheater—when you carried your father’s notes. Almost four years ago.”
Her breath stalled. “Four years?”
“Yes.” The single syllable felt like a vow. “I worked harder every year because of it. Because I liked you then, and I never stopped.”
Her throat tightened. “Faivish…”
He reached for her hand. Tentative, giving her the chance to pull away. She didn’t. His fingers closed around hers, his thumb tracing slow circles across her knuckles.
“I’ve been more grateful than I could say, for every time you’ve asked me to stay for dinner,” he said softly. “Not only because of the food but because I could linger near you.”
She smiled, lips trembling. “I… always hoped you’d say yes.”
The quiet between them thickened, heavy with things unsaid.
“And if your father caught us in… less than a proper moment?” he asked, half teasing, half daring.
