Straightening her chair, she also gave a short, sharp nod. “I will fix the seating arrangement at the banquet tonight.”
“No, Mistress Danai, you don’t have to—”
A pointed glance at me cut the words off. “Please. You can see the magic…You see how it works. I always do my utmost to accommodate and feed the joy and love that magic likes.” Her head tipped, and she found someone on the platform across from us, the magic flaring around her. I drew a quick breath as she found me again and smiled.
“Just wait until you’re in bed. Better than any fireworks show.”
* * *
Elex’s face was full of concern when he saw his seat had been changed. The moment he saw I was sitting next to him, he relaxed completely and headed over.
The formal dress was doing it for me. So much.
He slipped into the chair with a nod of his head toward me.
“Good evening, Lady Kimber.”
“Good evening to you as well, Lord Elex.”
The titles were new. I still felt odd when people used them, but in his delightfully deep baritone voice, I found myselfreallyliking it.
Pressing a kiss to my hand, he triggered a mad cascade of electricity through every part of me.
How had we never seen this? And why had we let everyone keep us so far apart for the past weeks?
When he placed my hand back on the table, he didn’t let go. Instead, he trailed his thumb back and forth along my knuckles, and it very much felt as though he had no interest in letting go again.
“You look lovely tonight, Kimber.” His voice was just loud enough to carry over the din of the room. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you in anything quite so… bold.”
I gave him a shrug. “Oh, this old thing?”
Chuckling, his head shook.
I had never, ever owned a gown like the one I currently wore. A rich, deep green, it sparkled with a thousand small crystals. The heavier fabric had a high cut neckline, and beyond my shoulders, the sleeves were a sheer material, also laden with the same crystals.
Naturally, Danai and Lunella had dragged me to the shops when they saw my ‘shades-of-beige’ wardrobe.
I really couldn’t argue with them. I was a ‘shades-of-beige’ kind of person until now.
Danai’s face was between us quite suddenly. “It’s an excellent color for her, don’t you think, Lord Elex?”
“I do like it on her,” he agreed.
Danai patted my shoulder and moved on. Elex watched her go and leaned over to me.
“I’d like even more to see what it looks like on the floor of my bedroom.”
With a heaving, false gasp, I whipped my head to him. “Sir, I am scandalized!”
“I can scandalize you even more when the dress is on my floor.”
This time, I just laughed. “You’d better make me regret keeping you at arm’s length, Elex.”
His chin landed on his fist, pretending to think. I slapped his arm and turned back to the table.
“How are your lessons coming along with the immovable boulder that calls itself Dorian?”
Sighing deeply, I rolled my eyes. “About as well as you’d expect. He’s…a boulder. He’s also brilliant, and I’m delighted he agreed to teach me. Still. He could be just a bit nicer.”
