“Sure,” said Leo. “But there will be plenty of time for that once it really gets going. Let’s just enjoy the view until then.”
He gestured to the spot on the blanket beside him.
Ceri’s heart began to race. How could he be so casual about this? Had he done this before? Did he invite loads of women up here during meteor showers?
Truthfully, Ceri doubted it. He didn’t seem the type to use something as romantic as this setting to woo someone. She wasn’t sure he saw any romance in it at all. It was just research to him. Perhaps that’s why he was able to be so calm about it.
She tried to channel that energy as she lay down next to him. The blanket was so small that there were only inches between them. He was so close she could hear his breath.
Looking at the wide-open sky with her back on the ground gave her the uncanny feeling that she would fall from the earth and land right in it, taking her place among the stars. It left her dizzy and wondering once again if this was all a mistake.
Leo grabbed her arm at her side then, pulling her back to solid ground. “Look!”
With his other hand, he pointed up and to Ceri’s left. Ceri just saw the trail of it, a bright streak of white.
“I saw it!” she said. And then: “There’s another one!”
She saw it first this time, just to the right of where she’d been looking before.
It was funny how exciting it was to spot them. They were out here looking for the shooting stars, so it shouldn’t have come as much of a surprise when they saw them. And yet there was such a feeling of joy at catching one with her own eyes that she found herself laughing.
“Right there!” said Leo, pointing a bit closer to the horizon.
They continued watching the shooting stars for a long while. Every now and then, Ceri would turn to Leo. His face was as bright and merry as her own, and she found it so nice to share in the joy and wonder together.
On one occasion, when she turned to him, she caught him looking at her. She wanted to look away, but she didn’t. That dizzy feeling of falling was upon her again, only in a different direction.
“Isn’t it wonderful?” he whispered. He leaned closer to her.
She thought then of what she had been trying not to think about since she’d arrived at Winwold. She thought of Isaac telling her he couldn’t see her anymore. The regretful look in his eyes as he told her he’d fallen in love with someone else and that they were going to be married.
She thought of Jerta and Deepa and Elise and all the other ladies and gentlemen who had left her. Their stinging words. Their casual cruelty. The fact that she had deserved it.
The reason she was starting over.
Leo wasn’t like any of them. Not because he was an elf—though she hadn’t had any full elves in her inner circle before. But because he hadn’t grown up here, in this world of royalty and courtiers and all of the nonsense it entailed. It was alien to him; she could see that clearly. He didn’t care that she was the princess any more than he cared what color her eyes were or anything else about her.
Though, considering his proximity, perhaps he did care for some things about her.
She broke his gaze, sitting up. “It’s incredible. I never thought there would be so many.” Even as she said it, she spotted another. Somehow, it seemed a little less magical from up here. “I’ll get the shoe,” she said.
Leo coughed slightly, sitting up as well. “Of course,” he said. “Perfect timing.”
He measured his objects again while Ceri waited, and then he measured as she restored the heel on her other shoe. Once he was satisfied with his measurements, she flattened both heels again for the walk back.
“Anything interesting?”
“Possibly,” said Leo. “I’ll need to do some calculations. Understand the deviance from the baseline, compare it to previous measurements. The effect is small, if it’s there, but it’s a start.”
Ceri yawned. It has been a long day, and she found that even the small magic she had performed had worn on her quite a bit.
“Do you want to stay longer?” asked Leo. “I have what I need for my research, but I’m happy to stay if you’d like. Did you make all the wishes you wanted?”
Ceri hadn’t made a wish at all. Perhaps she should, but what would she wish for?
“Just one more minute,” she said, lying back and thinking.
The sky loomed above her. In her heart, she knew she was alone underneath it. That we were all alone, really, each of us living lonely under the infinite sea of stars, rarely even aware of what’s above us.
