“But only a little.” He smiled at her, unguarded and deeply relieved.
“Certainly not as much as I’d like.”
Victor undid the top few buttons of his military coat and turned onto his side, head resting in his hand. “Now what do we do? Are we friends again?”
“I don’t know,” Selene said, and wished she did. “How do you make up for seven years?”
“We could steal all the cakes.” He pulled himself up, a creature of perpetual motion. “No, we’ve done that before. We can do better.”
Selene looked over her shoulder, trying to get a glimpse of the magical clock hanging over the ballroom, counting down the minutes to her fate.
He reached to the nearest rosebush, plucked the husk of a rose from the dirt. He put it in his pocket. “Someone would be whipped for that. Mother and her roses.”
Selene had forgotten about the casual cruelty of the queen until Victor mentioned it. She had a catalogue of memories of the queen’s incivility that she’d tucked away in the corner ofher mind. Victor’s mention was like the unfolding of a piece of paper, memory after memory caught in the creases. Once it had been Victor whipped for mischief in the garden.
“Do you want to feel the anticipation, or will you welcome a distraction?”
Selene was caught off guard by the question. Victor was paying attention.
“Distraction,” Selene said. “And someplace quieter.”
Victor nodded. He stood and placed his hand at the small of her back, guiding her through the Queen’s Garden and out to the main grounds. Enough had changed that Selene would have had trouble navigating alone in the dark. But she knew where he was taking her. Where she waslettinghim take her.
He bent down, whispering in her ear: “This will be in the papers tomorrow.”
Selene’s traitorous heart trilled. She would not let herself fall in love with this boy. For years Victor had been a sputtering candle in her heart. Now she was here and he burned like a torch. She had to refocus her attention. Victor was one step closer to the king, a way to secure her path. It wasn’t that she liked the heat of his skin through her gown or the way he felt like home or the brine and summer scent of him.
All at once, they were at the strand between the sea and the shore. The grass tapered into sand. The tide was high with the new moon and the stars were bright as magic, sung into their constellations with a rapturous fervor. The light reflected down to the shimmering water, dark and shadowed as the inside of a mirror. A dozen steps and her feet would be in the water. A dozen steps and she’d be close enough to drown.
“Do you want to—”
Selene already had her shoes off, was already sliding down the dunes to the water with Victor’s laughter at her back. He caught up to her in a few strides, tossing his boots behind him. She held up the edge of her skirt just as the icy water foamed around her ankles.
Victor hadn’t bothered to roll up his trousers. They were soaked, darkening the grass-stained white.
“How many tides did we follow, up and down, until we were practically fish?” he said softly.
“Enough.” Selene fought the ache in her chest. “And far too few.”
“I’d do it all again just to be with you.”
Selene breathed in the sweet, salted air and stared into the distancing endless dark. She couldn’t tell him that she had wondered and dreamed, too. In her mind, they had lived a thousand lives, each one more fantastic than the next. Until they didn’t. Until she’d traded her dreams for her ambitions. She had given up on him. And who could blame her? Seven years seemed like a lifetime. She could see him looking at her from the corner of her eye, features earnest. She couldn’t stand the silence. She needed to fill it—and maybe puzzle through the ghost’s request.
“Ask me a question, and I’ll ask one of you.”
Victor’s eyes widened with surprise—but only for a moment. He smiled, always ready for a game. “Do you really want to be the King’s Mage?”
What is it you want?
“We all want to win,” she said carefully.
“I didn’t ask aboutwe. I asked about you.”
“Of course I do.” That hunger, that endless want seemed like too much to share. It left her vulnerable. She cleared her throat and leaned into diplomacy. “Though I’d be happy with any opportunity.”
Victor’s half smile was lazy and all-knowing. “Ah, Selene. You lie to your friends, and I’ll lie to mine. But let’s not lie to each other.”
She buried her feet in the sand, pulling her dress up to keep it safe from the oncoming wave. She looked at him with naked determination. “Winning is my only option.”
