???
Looking around atthe crowd, I realized I wouldn’t have been alone if I had worn my regular clothes. Certainly everyone had dressed their best for this ball, but men with nothing better than a festival day vest over their plain shirt and trousers mixed in with those who could afford to dress like lords.
I tugged at the hem of my velvet doublet, wishing at the very least that I had worn my usual trousers rather than breeches. Perhaps then I’d be more at ease.
I scoffed at myself. My clothes had nothing to do with my nervousness, they were merely a convenient excuse. Besides, if I was doing this—and I was—then I owed it to Mina to do it properly. That included dressing for the occasion.
I scanned the crowded ballroom once more. There were roses and gold ribbon, glittering chandeliers and sparkling crystal sconces. But no Mina. Though I couldn’t see everyone, the mood of the crowd told me she still hadn’t entered. I moved a little closer to the dais at one end of the room, where the king and queen sat on twin thrones. Though I wanted to stand in the corner, I couldn’t hide.
I spotted Jeff and Kayla, but I didn’t move toward them. Maybe if I ever saw Cole and Gemma, I’d make my way over, but I had warned Jeff that I couldn’t handle Kayla tonight. Too bad Colehadn’t been the one staying in Haiwella when I came seeking a forge.
It would have been so much easier if I could have made the slippers before leaving Skorsa. But I had needed more gold than remained from the necklace Mina had given me. I had used that to make several pieces and sold them in the city. The money I had made allowed me to buy the materials and enough time in a local forge to make the slippers.
I was done with Skorsa, anyway. After everything that had happened, the decision to sell the forge had come more easily than I expected. Even if I was too late, and nothing happened with Mina, I wouldn’t return. It no longer felt like home. With a fully stocked smithy and furnished house available, it wouldn’t take the village council long to entice a new blacksmith to Skorsa. Then I’d use the funds from the sale to establish myself in the city one way or another.
A ripple of excited whispers drew my attention back to the dais. A door had opened behind the thrones.
Mina stepped into the light, pausing to speak to the king and queen. She was resplendent. Her silvery blond hair was twisted and pinned up, leaving the long line of her neck bare. Her gown clung to her shoulders and swept low across her chest in a shallow V. The wide panniers spreading her skirts to each side turned her slim waist impossibly tiny.
The crowd surged forward, but I could do little more than stare. Then Mina stepped to the edge of the dais and lifted her skirts to step down. I saw the glint of gold on her feet and started moving without thought.
She looked around the room as she stepped down to the dance floor, and I wanted to believe she was searching for me. I hoped she was. But I was still too far away, and the movement of the crowd closed the path between us. I lost sight of Mina, and when I found her again, she was in the center of a ring of men, all vying for herattention. Her eyes still darted past her admirers, but she was facing the wrong direction, her body in profile to mine.
I moved faster, closing the distance. I shouldered my way into the circle, and the grumbles of the men I displaced had her turning to face me. Her lips parted, and she froze.
I held out a hand. “Would you care to dance, Mina?”
The ballroom faded away as she put her hand in mine. I couldn’t feel the floor beneath me, only the space where my skin met hers. I saw nothing but the joy in her hazel eyes. I drew her closer, and suddenly I was aware of every inch of my body once more. Mostly, I was aware of how close each part of Mina was to each part of me.
Mina recovered first, tucking her arm through mine and guiding me away from the dancing. “This way.”
I followed her out to a terraced courtyard. It was early enough in the evening that few people had retreated to this open space and the fresh air, but she didn’t stop moving until we reached the completely deserted bottom level.
She turned to face me. “Alan.”
Hearing my name on her lips, knowing down to my bones that she had forgiven me, though I hadn’t yet apologized—no, that she didn’t even think I needed forgiveness—undid me. I cupped her cheeks in my hands and kissed her.
“I’m sorry, Mina,” I said, breaking away when she tried to deepen the kiss. She might not need the apology, but I needed to give it. “I never should have turned away from you.”
“I’m sorry, too,” she whispered. “I shouldn’t—”
I pressed my finger against her lips and lowered my forehead to hers. “No. You owe me no more apologies. I was wrong to lump your actions in the same category as Powell’s. You were right; I do know you. I know that you never wanted to hurt me.”
Unlike me, Mina hadn’t hesitated to apologize, either. Even when I wouldn’t speak to her, she wrote her apologies in her letters. All while empathizing with my irrational sense of betrayal. I didn’t understand how she could be so understanding. I had handled everything horribly.
It had taken me a few days after Prince Noel knocked on the forge door and handed me the invitation to the palace before I read either of Mina’s letters, though I had carried them both in my pockets. I must have run my fingers over the paper countless times before I finally pulled them out and broke the seals. I think I had already known that I would forgive Mina, but I hadn’t been ready to admit it.
Even after I read the letters and understood why she had used the charm, I wasn’t ready to take the next step. There had been too much uncertainty. The village council had spent over a week bickering about whether I could serve as Skorsa’s blacksmith. They debated if they wanted me to have a claim to my own house and forge. I hadn’t been in a place to act until matters settled.
Then I had to wait longer because the Haiwellan magistrate wanted to bring a master smith out to Skorsa to certify my mastery.
Then Powell returned.
After the incident with his new charm, I truly realized how wrong I had been to imply Mina’s use of a charm was anything like his.
Then I discovered that the invitation was missing.
“I would have been here two days ago,” I told Mina, “but I think Powell stole my invitation.”
