He stopped, realizing where the next words would take him.
“What do you want, Victor?”
“A little bit of everything.”
“That’s not an answer,” Selene said. “Give me something tangible.”
“I’ve only ever wanted one thing.” Victor’s voice was low. “Freedom. The freedom to choose, the freedom to be, the freedom not to be. To love who I want to love. To do what I want to do. To be who I want to be.”
“You’re a prince,” Selene said.
“And that’s precisely the problem,” Victor said. “If I sail across the world, I’d still have to come back. The perch is gilded, but my wings are clipped.”
“I know that feeling,” Selene said.
“We could go.” Victor’s voice was a whisper, like candle smoke. “Leave now and cross half the world before anyone knows we are gone.”
“Who will be the pirate?”
“We’ll both be. We’ll be whatever we wish.”
“This is all I am.” There was magic in the grief of her words, and something intangible, too. When had she stopped being something more?
Victor shook his head. “You could be anything, Selene.”
“All I know is magic. All I have is magic. I have my father’s splendid and bloody legacy. I don’t know what else there is.”
“Butcher.”
“Please. With these delicate hands?”
“Baker.”
“All that powder is bad for the voice.”
“Candlestick maker.”
“And make beautiful things just so they can burn?”
“That’s more my style.” Victor grinned. “Selene Dreshé, the King’s Mage. What will you do after?”
Selene took a breath. “There is no after.”
“Pretend with me,” Victor said. “You’ve won, you’ve served your seven years in the palace. What happens next?”
“I’ll go live by the sea,” she said, after a moment. “In a house just big enough for me.”
“Alone,” Victor said, surprised. “Not even a lover or cat?”
She made a face. “No cats.”
“A dog, then.”
“No dog, either.”
“A parrot,” Victor said. “Something exotic and lovely that will sing to you.”
She laughed. It was so easy to laugh with Victor. “I don’t think so.”
