And nothing happened.
Sparrow stepped away from Aldian, his expression falling as he too glanced around for the butterflies that weren’t there.
Aldian cleared his throat, still smiling. “Well, thank you. That was very nice. What’s the magic part?”
“I—” Sparrow looked at Aldian and then turned his horrified expression toward me. “There was supposed to be…” He trailed off and swallowed.
In the crowd, someone whispered and someone else tittered, and then laughter spread like wildfire. Sparrow’s face was bright red with humiliation, and his eyes welled with tears.
Teon threw the crowd a dirty look and took a menacing step toward the nearest tittering elf. It still took an excruciatingly long moment for the laughter to fade and for the crowd to grow silent again.
“Well,” Aldian said kindly to Sparrow, “perhaps you can show me again later. It was lovely to meet you. Thank you for taking the time to attend the market.” He turned his gaze to me. “And thank you, dearest cousin, for traveling with him.”
Sparrow’s eyes widened, and his jaw dropped. His face lost all its color.
“Sparrow,” I said, my heart clenching, and reached out for him.
I wasn't fast enough.
Sparrow, pressing a fist against his mouth to hold back a sob, turned on his heel and bolted, leaving Aldian and me, and half of the visitors to Everend Market, staring after him.
CHAPTER 13
SPARROW
Iran with no idea of where I was running to, hot shame burning through me. I just needed to get away from the prince, from the laughter of the crowd, and from Elowin. I had spent my entire life waiting for the moment I was presented to the prince, imagining every detail of how it might play out, and what had happened? The prince had been unimpressed with my magic, and then, as if that wasn’t bad enough, I’d humiliated myself by kissing him.
And he’d beenpoliteabout it.
Tears burned my eyes as I ran, making the market blurry and indistinct, like the world viewed through a window on a rainy day. I was only vaguely aware of my surroundings and was jostled roughly by the crowd, and I wasn’t expecting it when someone grabbed my shoulders and said, “Sparrow?”
I tried to pull back, but then I recognized a familiar, concerned face. “Silrisar?”
“What happened?” he asked.
“I made a fool of myself in front of the entire market,” I whispered, swallowing back more tears. “It was awful. He wasn’t interested in me, and my magic didn’t work, andeveryonelaughedat me, Silrisar. I really am nothing but a joke.”
“Oh, Sparrow,” he said with a sigh and pulled me into a hug. I listened to the steady beat of his heart under my ear, grateful that he hadn’t asked for more details. Although he probably didn’t need to, did he? It must have been obvious to anyone with eyes that I was no match for a prince.
No wonder they’d laughed at me.
The worst part wasn’t even the prince’s polite refusal. If I was honest with myself, I was relieved that he’d turned me down. He seemed perfectly nice and he was undeniably handsome, but when we’d kissed, there had been no spark at all. And when I tried to imagine being wed to him, I couldn’t picture it at all. Instead, my treacherous mind filled with pictures of Elowin—his smile, his green eyes, the feel of magic pulsing through me whenever we kissed, and butterflies.
Always butterflies.
Except there would be no more kissing Elowin, not now. He’d been sent to fetch me as an errand and was probably glad to be done with me. My chest ached at the loss.
“Can I come with you when you leave?” I asked Silrisar.
He raised one dark eyebrow. “You’re not going home to Hillstowe? Or staying here with your envoy?”
I blinked back the tears that were trying to make a reappearance. “He’s not mine. And all this time I thought he was a guard, and he’s not. He’sroyalty.”
“And?” Silrisar asked. He guided me into his tent, then picked me up like I weighed nothing and perched me on a tall stool and swung himself up onto the matching one next to me. “It seemed like you might have feelings for him, that’s all.”
I leaned into his side, my heart clenching. “I do,” I admitted. “But I don’t think he feels the same way about me.Elowin knew my duty lay in making a royal match, yet he never bothered to mention he was the prince’s cousin, even when we became close. So he must not care for me at all.”
But even as I said it, I struggled to believe it. It didn’t fit with the Elowin I knew and, yes, loved. But what other explanation could there be?
