I lowered my book and glanced up. “What are you talking about?”
Zafir’s dark eyebrows jumped up on his face. “You didn’t do anything to my tea to get me back for giving you an infatuation elixir last night?”
I went back to my book. “What, I made you take an infatuation elixir once and now you think I’m spiking your drinks constantly? Maybe you’re getting paranoid.”
He grinned. “I’ve always been paranoid, and if you remember correctly, you had me take the elixir twice. I vividly remember.”
I shrugged.
Zafir held the cup out to me. “If it isn’t drugged, let’s see you take a sip.”
There was no use lying. I let my book fall down. “What gave it away?”
He brought the cup over so I could look inside. “There’s a thin film on the surface of the liquid. If I wasn’t in the habit of always checking, it would’ve fooled me.” He squinted at the cup and gave a sniff. “Truth serum?”
“Yeah,” I admitted glumly.
“If you want me to be honest, all you have to do is ask.”
I rolled my eyes. “You said that you did and did not drug me last night. I have reason to be suspicious and suspect you of lying.”
“Fair point,” Zafir said. He returned the cup to the table, hesitated as he looked at his stack of paperwork, then pushed it aside. “I’ll finish this later. I thought it would be helpful to give you some instruction about how to convey interest to Julian tonight when he takes you to the Emberlight Revelry. It’s a more urgent need than court protocol.”
I couldn’t stop the heat that insisted on creeping up my neck and fought to keep my voice neutral-sounding. “That makes sense.”
“Stand up,” Zafir instructed me. “Now, Julian can be charming and he knows it. Men like him are used to being admired, so subtlety matters.”
I gave a wry smile. “Subtlety isn’t my strongest trait.”
A corner of his mouth twitched. “No, it’s not. Hence the practice.”
He moved closer, close enough that I could feel the warmth radiating from his body. “What did you notice about my behavior when I took that infernal infatuation elixir?”
My voice struggled to come out normally. “You made me hide in the washroom.”
His lips curled. “Besides that. Think about at the beginning. What made you first think the potion was working?”
I thought back. He had hovered and guided my hands while making the potion. “You found excuses to touch me.”
“Yes,” he said softly. “Not because I was wholly unable tocontrol myself but because I wanted to. At that point in time, Iwantedyou to know I was interested.”
His words sent an unexpected jolt through my chest.
“Touch creates familiarity,” Zafir continued, voice steady even as his eyes searched my face. “A hand at the small of the back when a man is guiding a woman through a doorway, for example. Fingers brushing when passing an object. None of it is accidental, even if it appears to be.”
He reached for me then, allowing his thumb to brush a speck of dirt off my hand. “Like this. You find an excuse to touch them that could easily be explained away.”
My pulse leapt traitorously under his touch.
“When Julian speaks,” he went on, “let your touch linger.” His fingers pressed against my skin again, longer this time, then he released me. “Just long enough to be noticed. Then you withdraw.”
“What if he doesn’t notice?” I asked.
“He will,” Zafir said “It would be impossible for him not to notice.”
He gestured for me to try. I hesitated, then reached out and rested my hand against his arm, just above the elbow. His muscles tensed beneath my palm before he forced them to relax.
“Good,” he murmured, though his voice had become slightly rougher. “Make sure to lean in slightly when you speak. Not enough to invade his space…just enough that he has to focus on you.”
