They followed her, tumbling out of her room and down the hallway, to Zera’s infamous balcony. One doll scurried out, climbing a trellis onto the roof, while another ducked within a potted plant. The third draped itself over the edge, disappearing from view. She was certain it was clinging beneath. She hopedJentt wouldn’t mind their chaperones. She felt better knowing they were there.I’m not naïve,she thought.I’m hopeful. And tired of living with fear and sorrow.After everything, she deserved this, didn’t she?
Walking out on the balcony, Kreya admired the view. Night had fallen while she’d prepared, and the mountains were cloaked in stars. Three peaks were overlapping shadows that merged into pure darkness below. She walked to the edge. The lack of edge didn’t bother Kreya. Lifting her arms to her sides, as if she were a bird about to take flight, she felt the night breeze caress her. The silk whispered around her.
“You remember the first time I kissed you?” Jentt’s voice, behind her.
Kreya closed her eyes and tilted her head back, breathing in the night air. “Ikissedyou.”
“Sure, for our first kiss. But by the fifth, I’d figured out that you might be interested in me.” She heard his footsteps behind her and then felt his arms wrap around her. His breath was warm on her neck, and she leaned against his torso. She lowered her arms to rest them on top of his. “Our fifth kiss, the first timeIkissedyou,we were on top of a mountain.”
Kreya smiled. “That doesn’t narrow it down.”
“The very top. You’d wanted a view.”
She remembered. “For strategic purposes. As I recall, you complained the entire climb because you hadn’t worn thick enough socks.”
“‘Come for a walk with me,’ you said. You left out the fact the walk would be near vertical up an ice floe. I used up a third of a steadiness talisman.”
She twisted her neck to see his face. “You did? You said you didn’t need any talismans.”
“I was lying to impress you. Were you impressed?”
Kreya laughed. “Very,” she lied.
“Do we need to talk only about the past?” Jentt asked. “Or do we dare talk about the future? Our future?”
The future.Our future.She had imagined it a thousand times, but they’d never spoken those dreams out loud, when they’d lived in stolen bits of time. The future felt too fragile, as if making plans would shatter any chance at happiness. Now, though, did she dare?
Before she could answer, a servant cleared his throat from the doorway. He held a covered tray. A second servant carried a crystal pitcher filled with tangerine-colored liquid. Neither ventured onto the balcony.
Kreya and Jentt crossed to them and thanked them, before carrying their dinner and drinks to the table in the middle of the balcony. Bowing, the servants retreated, obviously relieved not to be required to set foot on the open balcony. Kreya and Jentt sat. He uncovered the dishes, while she poured their drinks into spiral flute glasses.
Both of them stared quizzically at their plates. On each was a tiny... Well, it looked like a squishy white square. Jentt poked it with a fork. It was framed by curls of carrot. “Vegetable, animal, or mineral?” he asked.
“It sounded like a kind of fish? I asked for an appetizer appropriate to the night air. Probably should have been more specific.”
Jentt began, “Do you remember—”
Kreya cut him off. “We can talk about our future.”
He smiled. “If Eklor gave you hope for that, then I’m grateful to him.”
“We aren’t talking about him.” She sliced the squishy square,and it collapsed under her knife, spronging back to its original height as soon as she was done.
“Fair enough. What do you think about traveling?”
“Where to?” She stabbed half the square with her fork, lifted it, and examined it. It didn’t smell like fish. It smelled like herbs and vaguely of soap. She wondered if they’d mistakenly served them homemade soap.
“Everywhere.”
She liked the sound of that. “Are you waiting for me to try it first?”
“Together?” he suggested.
Together, they popped a slice of soaplike fish into their mouths. Together, they spat it out into their napkins and washed out the taste with their tangerine-flavored drinks. They laughed, and they ate the other courses while they talked about all the places they’d love to see someday and all the things they’d love to do, if they were given the chance.
Silently, the rag doll constructs kept watch through the night.
Chapter Twenty-Three
