“You have just as much right to this place as Lady Alicia does,” Keith said firmly. “Maybe even more, because you’ve suffered for it. If you ask me, you should be a princess.”
“Or at least a lady in my own right.”
“Lady Iris.”
“Lord Keith.”
She tilted her head back to kiss him, and all the day’s worries vanished as they melted into each other.
17
Lord Sinclair and therest of the local Councilors worked themselves to a frazzle arranging Lady Marianne’s funeral.
Iris couldn’t help wishing he had dragged his feet a little. She found herself lingering in front of the mirror, like if she made sure there were no wrinkles in her dress and that every hair was in place, no one could possibly criticize her. She had ample evidence that that wasn’t true, but here she was, trying anyway.
“Everyone’s going to be looking at me out of the corner of their eye.”
Keith brushed a light kiss against the nape of her neck. Iris hoped he was avoiding the still-damp spot from her perfume. She couldn’t imagine it would taste good.
To her relief, he didn’t tell her that nobody would stare. He knew this place better than that.
“I could wear bright purple,” he suggested instead. “Then they’d just be staring at me.”
“Only because you’d be murdering the idea of good taste. Not because they think you’re a murderergenerally.”
“You can stay home,” Keith said seriously. “I know you want to say goodbye to Marianne, but you can do it in your own way, when you’re ready for it. You don’t have to do it in front of a crowd.”
Iris shook out her shoulders and squared herself up to take adifferentkind of look in the mirror. This time, she didn’t look for flyaway hairs, and she didn’t scrutinize her stockings for even the tiniest hints of laddering.
She looked for the Iris Lightfoot who was Keith’s true mate, for the woman who’d made love to him and who’d yearned to fight for him, to battle back all his fears and old hurts.
And there she was. She stood up a little straighter.
It was like she’d said last night: no one was going to make her feel like she didn’t deserve to be here. She knew she did.
“I want to go.” In the mirror, she watched her eyes briefly blaze bright gold; bringing her boldness to the fore meant bringing her unicorn there too. “And I don’t care if people stare.”
