“Assuming you’d like to get to know me.” Durae put his hand on Blaze’s.
Blaze curled his fingers and laced their fingers together. “I would.”
Drawing Blaze’s hand to his waist, Durae wrapped his other arm around his shoulders. “Then you must attend the dances at the very least.”
“I could go for an hour or so,” Blaze said slowly. “Perhaps you could leave early and join me here.”
“I think I could manage that.” Durae kissed him. He tasted of ginger and cheese.
With a groan, Blaze grabbed Durae by the hips and nudged him further away. “Kidd and the others’ll be opening soon, and a mess of elflings who are helping varnish the deck will be here. I need to get a few things squared away before work.”
“And I have a window to climb back into.” Durae forced himself to look away from Blaze and put on his breeches. “Will I see you tonight at the celebration after the opening ceremony?”
“No—and you know that the opening ceremony is this morning, right? The celebration will start directly after.”
“Morning? Are you certain?”
“Yes. The whole reason we drank last night was that we’re bound to have a slow morning because everyone will be at the shrine.”
Startled, Durae clambered up the three steps before he finished tying his lacings. He fumbled them, creating knots, but his clothes wouldn’t fall off, and that was all that was important. Shoving his feet into his boots, he said, “We might have to cancel all our plans. My mother’s bound to skin me alive.”
“Dawn only just broke. You still have a couple hours.”
“I need to bathe and fix my hair, and between all of that, she’ll insist on reading my tea leaves. All of which will take hours, and I have to find my way back!”
“Surely you know your way?” Blaze asked.
“There are no landmarks to navigate from any reasonable distance!” Durae thrust his hand up at the sky. “And now, I don’t even have the stars!”
Blaze was holding in a laugh, which would have been cute if Durae weren’t in greater and greater jeopardy. With a grin, Blaze went to the railing and whistled at the house not far from the end of the tiny dock. An elfling who couldn’t be more than sixteen years old ran out. They wore their silver-blue hair in tight braids that reminded Durae of scales. “What d’ya need?”
“Durae, this is Mack, our local guide. Mack, do you have time to take Durae back to—where are you staying?” Blaze said.
“The Radiant Flower,” Durae replied.
“If he can keep up.” The elfling tilted their head and ran their gaze over Durae. “Or hire us a hackney. We should be able to find one in the main market. Kidd wants me to run to Cloud Cake and get some of those jewelberry treats before they’re sold out, so getting your noble sorted won’t be trouble.”
A ruse came to mind. Durae said, “I’d love to go to this Cloud Cake, too.”
The elfling shrugged. “Makes my job easier.”
Suddenly, the time to separate had arrived. Durae longed to tell Mack that never mind, he was staying, but not only did he lack clothes, but his parents would comb all of Everend if they couldn’t find him. He couldn’t worry them, or Uleyri, that much. He spun toward Blaze. “If I can’t make it out here tonight or tomorrow?—”
“Then I will see you at the Emberleigh dance, for at least an hour.” Blaze kissed him, light and quick.
It warmed Durae the same as his searing, passionate kisses did. Unfortunately, he didn’t have time to linger. He hurried off Blaze’s ship and down the dock.
The elfling, Mack, giggled under their breath as they led the way. “You better hope there’s a line at Cloud Cake so you have an excuse to put yourself right. You look like you’ve been ridden hard and put away wet.”
“What does that even mean?” Durae asked.
“You’re afancy, fancy noble. Got it,” Mack replied. They shot a glare over their shoulder at Durae. “You didn’t make Blaze a bunch of promises that you don’t intend to keep, did you?”
“I would never break my word to someone so wonderful,” Durae stated. He had siblings who were less rude than this elfling was getting, and one of them had a habit of hiding overplump berries in his shoes.
“You’rethatkind of fool.” Mack laughed and hurried down the street. Durae had to jog to keep up. They pumped their fist into the air a few times. “I freaking love market time!”
CHAPTER 5
