I crouch to retrieve the cask. “Why would I hide from one of my closest and oldest friends?”
Fourteen
“Yourfriend? Is that all I am to you?” Dante stands in the entrance of the tavern’s underground wine cellar, arms crossed in front of his white military uniform, gilt collar loosened, and long braids draped over one shoulder. The gold beads speared throughout the dark mass refract the glow emanating from the single oil lamp.
He drinks me in with those liquid blue eyes that have enchanted me since the day a group of Tarecuorin girls jostled me in our classroom, sending me sprawling onto my knees. Not only did he help me gather my books, but he also offered me his hand and protection that day. No one ever shoved me again, which wasn’t to say I wasn’t bullied in other ways.
“I waited for you all night on my lonely, diminutive throne.”
“With a princess at your side. I’d hardly call you lonely.”
“Alyona is just a friend. Marco desires an alliance with the north, and since Eponine is from Nebba, and he can only marry one woman, he wants me to court the other. That is all.”
As I pick up the cask, I say, “What about what you want?”
“I’m the prince, Fal. My desires come second to my responsibilities.”
Except, I don’t want to come second to another woman.
“But nothing happened between us last night.”
My thundering heart shakes the wine inside the cask. “What about before last night?”
“I was gone four years.” His Adam’s apple slides up and down his throat, and then he’s pushing off the door frame and heaving the cask out of my arms. Where I needed all ten of my fingers, he hooks the recipient with two. “Which you cannot hold against me. Especially considering you work in the brothel.”
“It’s a tavern, Dante.”
“It’s also a brothel.” He sighs. “You’ve had your adventures; I’ve had mine. Let’s leave the past in the past.”
I focus on the stubble darkening his jaw, so he doesn’t spot the hurt in my eyes. I can count my adventures on the fingers of one hand—on one finger—whereas he surely needs more than his two hands.
“Look, I didn’t come down here to fight. I came down here because I missed you last night and I was worried something had happened. Why didn’t you come?”
“I misplaced the ribbon.”
If he believes I’m lying, he doesn’t call me up on it. “Did you at least like the gown?”
My attention climbs to his. “You—” I lick my lips to sweep away the astonishment that was about to trip out. I’m about to lie again, because what choice do I have? If I admit I didn’t receive his gift, I’ll either get Nonna in trouble or his winged messenger.
“You didn’t get it?”
“No, I . . . I did. It’s gorgeous.”
“Violet, like your eyes.”
“The exact shade. It’s as though you know their hue by heart.”
“I do know their hue by heart, but the dress wasn’t purple; it was gold. How about you start telling me the truth without me needing to invoke a salt oath?”
I wrinkle my nose, feeling a lot like a spider caught in a web of her own making. “I never received either.”
“Why did you lie?”
“Because I think my grandmother may have hidden both from me.”
Bronwen’s words clang against the walls of my skull:You’re here because it was time.
Couldshehave done away with my dress and ribbon? I hadn’t even contemplated this possibility. Rage blisters my chest. If the blind woman’s behind this, then damn her and her stupid treasure hunt. She can go hunt down her own damn crows.
