“All right,” she said. “I’ll be there, though I don’t know when.”
“I’ll wait for you.” His gaze drifted to a point behind her. Emerence didn’t need to turn to know what he stared at: all her neighbors avidly watching the two of them converse and trying their very best to overhear what was said. Gaeres winked at her. “Until tomorrow, Emerence.”
She watched him go until he turned a corner and disappeared from sight. Even then, she didn’t move until her stepmother’s voice at her shoulder startled her out of her reverie. “A constable is here to speak with you, Emerence.”
Questions and statements by the constabulary and her father’s insistence she sleep at his house for the rest of her life made the night long and tiresome. At dawn she was still wide awake and cleaning her small abode with a demon’s fury. She’d resisted Tocqua’s demands to come home with him and Linnet.
“There’s no possible way I’ll sleep tonight, Papa,” she’d told him. “I just want to clean my house, boil my sheets and get rid of any sense of Culkhen being there.”
“You can do that in the morning,” he began, only to be interrupted by Linnett who came to Emerence’s rescue.
“Remember that time the pair of thieves broke into the apothecary and made off with the emergency fund? Only the coin box was taken, but you had all of us clean the store from top to bottom.”
At that reminder, a glint of understanding dawned in Tocqua’s eyes. He grasped Emerence’s hands. “We can stay to help.”
She pressed his hand to her cheek. “Go home. It’s late. Get your rest. You can help by giving me the day free away from the shops.”
“Done,” he declared.
After promising him and Linnett she’d be fine and wishing a good night to the other neighbors who finally dispersed and went home, she returned to her house and began her cleaning frenzy. She’d presented a calm front to everyone and hadn’t lied when she’d said she was fine, but every creak of the house or noise in the street made her jump. The arrival of the dawn and Linnett at her door with a basket of cleaning supplies had been welcoming sights.
Several hours later, with her house sparkling and new linens on her bed while the ones she washed dried on a line in her back garden, Emerence took pity on her hard-working stepmother. “You’re right. I don’t’ think there’s a spot of dirt to be found.” The lingering sense of being somehow violated remained. No mop or cleaning rag would get rid of that, only time.
“May I use your washtub?” she asked Linnett. “I’m attending the Sun and Rose party tonight, and I’m too dirty for a just a sponge bath.”
Delighted by the request and the fact Emerence didn’t plan to hide in her house from fear, Linnett had readily agreed. When Emerence arrived next door, she found not only a hip bath full of hot water but scented soaps and oils available for her use. And it was Linnett who dressed her freshly washed hair in an intricate knot of braids wrapped in a bun that rested against her nape and was decorated with a sprinkling of pearl hair pins.
She donned the nicest outfit she owned, a gown of forest-green embossed velvet with cuffs, hem and bodice embroidered in silver thread. Her father’s eyes widened when she entered the parlor where he sat by the fire enjoying a cup of tea. “Well,” he said. “Aren’t you a fine sight in the that gown with your hair just so.”
She saw the questions in his eyes: why attend a Delyalda festival this year? And why this particular one with its nod to marriage? Had Gaeres been the one to motivate her to go?
He asked all of these with his gaze but kept the words behind his teeth. Emerence gave him an answer that was true and would please him. “I refuse to let street muck like Culkhen Goa turn me into a fearful hermit. Tonight I will attend a celebration and enjoy myself.” And bid farewell to a man who’d given her a brief view into what it might be like to fall in love.
Smiles wreathed Tocqua’s lined face. “Do you need an escort?”
She almost declined then changed her mind. “I’d love one.”
Tocqua wasted no time. He abandoned his tea and hurriedly exchanged his shoes for his boots. He donned his coat and rushed to open the door for her. “Ready?” he said.
They both checked her house before they left. Tocqua had replaced the broken lock earlier in the day, adding a second for good measure. He’d done the same to the door that opened to her back garden. Satisfied the house was locked up tight, they set off for the Sun and Rose celebration.
The host for this popular Delyalda event changed every year, and this year’s host was the powerful Jakarin family whose estate sat at the end of Timsiora’s market district, surrounded by a high wall that protected a mansion set in the middle of an expansive, manicured garden.
The festival was open to the public for a price. Proceeds went to funding the following year’s party at the next host’s residence and to repair any damage done at the current residence. The second usage was a rare event. No one wanted to be blacklisted from a Sun and Rose celebration.
Her father left her at the main gate where a huge crowd of celebrants had gathered to wait for entry. “When should I return for you?” he said.
“You won’t have to. You know how this works. I’ll just join one of the big groups that always travel together. If you’re still awake when I get back, I’ll knock.”
She chatted with several business acquaintances who waited with her outside the gates. Once inside, she paused to admire the gardens decorated for the festival and the great house shimmering with the light of countless lanterns. Hundreds of people strolled the grounds or gathered in clusters to drink or partake from the numerous tables of food laid out in various spots to be enjoyed.
Emerence set a meandering course toward the house, her gaze sweeping the crowd, looking for one face in particular. She spotted him inside in one of the three packed ballrooms, surrounded by a flock of Beladine maidens whose infatuated expressions told Emerence he’d managed to charm them just as quickly and thoroughly as he’d charmed her. She chuckled under her breath at the hunted look he wore.
Dancers swirled around them, and she caught sight of three dressed in garb not of Beladine fashion and similar in style to Gaeres’s. The cousins, she was sure, and somewhere among the crush of people a venerable dahran watched them with a hawk’s gaze.
This was a young crowd for the most part, but there were plenty of watchful parents or relatives playing chaperon who were closer to her age as well. Emerence’s attention on Gaeres was drawn away by a handsome lord she recognized as one of her father’s clients. He asked her to dance. She obliged and soon found herself whirled about by one partner after another until she begged a moment to rest and fled for small corner of the room, away from the crowd, where she could cool off and enjoy the taste of wine from a goblet a servant had given her. The drink was cold and soothing on her parched tongue and throat.
She spotted Gaeres again and this time his gaze met hers across the room. So much for catching her breath. The look he bestowed on her was hot enough to set her clothes on fire. That look made her wonder what it might be like to stretch naked under the light of a summer sun.
Gaeres began shouldering his way through the crowd of celebrants toward her, his gaze locked on her. She’d come here as he’d asked to say goodbye. Maybe if she were fortunate, he’d kiss her hand or possibly her cheek when he bid her farewell. It would be a lovely memory of him to hold.
He never made it to her. The musicians playing on a second story balcony overlooking the ballroom struck up a familiar tune. The crowd bellowed its excitement and surged together like the inhalation of a great, heaving beast. The dance of Sun and Rose had begun.
Emerence no longer saw Gaeres in the crowd. He was tall but so were many other men in attendance, and it was easy to lose sight of someone among so many. The sea of people broke up into four huge circles. A master of ceremonies held up a bowl to pick the first of four names, men who would act as avatars for Yalda, god of the sun and creation. The four would dance with many of
the Beladine maidens in attendance until the music stopped and the lucky woman still dancing with one of the Suns received a Rose of blessing as a token of luck that she might be married by the following Delyalda.
Emerence abandoned her place in the corner, not to join the dance, but for a better view of the dancers, and a better chance of seeing Gaeres in the crush of bodies. She laughed aloud when his name was one of the four called to act as one of the Suns. He wore a resigned expression as he stepped forward to the crowd’s cheers and wagged an admonishing finger at an older woman Emerence recognized as Dahran Sulti. No doubt it had been Sulti who’d entered his name into the lottery.
Emerence almost pitied Gaeres. He and the other three men chosen were in for a long slog of it, fun though it was. While the women either waited their turns to dance with the Suns or bowed out after a time, the men acting as the Suns danced continuously. It was a grueling exercise in stamina, especially when the crowd was this large.
The master of ceremonies raised a hand and signaled for the musicians to begin again. Just before Gaeres’s first partner approached him, he found Emerence. The tiny tilt of his head encouraged her to join the circle. She refused with a quick shake of her head and a smile. As she’d told him before, this dance was no longer for her though she was happy to watch.
He was a graceful dancer, even when it was obvious he was learning the steps as he went. Even as the dance grew progressively faster and wilder, with partners switching at increasing speeds and the musicians played with a gusto only matched by the crowd’s enthusiasm and the dancers’ flying feet, Gaeres didn’t falter or stumble. People in the crowd shouted encouragement to their favorite dancer and the four Suns, two who looked ready to faint from exhaustion.
When the master of ceremonies finally called a halt, the musicians could hardly be heard over the crowd’s roar. A deafening cheer went up, along with a round of applause for the Suns who managed to make it through the entire event and the four women who’d won their Rose of blessing. Emerence clapped and whistled her approval at discovering that Gaeres’s final partner was one of his cousins. He gave her a brief hug, then nudged her toward the master of ceremonies who presented her with one of the roses.
It was Emerence’s turn to be enveloped by the crowd, and she lost sight of Gaeres a third time. Hemmed in from all sides, she managed to shove her way to the perimeter of the ballroom where a set of doors led outside to the gardens. Spotting freedom from the crowds and the heat, she slipped outside, grateful for the shock of cold air that suddenly buffeted her face and cooled her skin.
Snow continued to fall, blanketing the gardens so the white landscape took on a sparkling, ethereal quality. It was only a matter of time before the cold became too much, even for her heavy dress, and she’d retreat inside once more. Until then she followed the line of neatly manicured bushes iced in white to where they stopped just shy of a towering conifer whose sloping branches defied an accumulation of snow so the tree stood tall and black against a night sky made charcoal gray by snow-heavy clouds.
“Emerence.”
She turned at the sound of her name behind her. Gaeres stood nearby. She’d hadn’t heard him come outside. He stood in a pool of lamplight, dressed in the warm colors of autumn, his dark hair tousled from the wild dancing, his hawkish features burnished by the light.
“You finally escaped the crowds too,” she said, walking toward him.
He met her halfway. “It was a battle hard-fought but worth it. I found you again.” His gaze swept over her. “I didn’t think you could be more beautiful. I was wrong.”
She blushed at the compliment. “You’re very kind.”
“No, I’m very honest.”
“Then I will be as well,” she said. “You look magnificent in your finery, and I know I wasn’t the only woman in that room to think so. Was your cousin happy to win one of the roses?”
“Ecstatic.” He angled his body ever so slightly toward hers as she drew ever closer. “She’s the envy of her sisters at the moment and will be bragging about her rose the entire trip home, much to their disgust I’m sure. She was also the one who was sick.”
“Then the honey and ginger worked.” Emerence clapped her hands. “I’m delighted for her.”
Gaeres’s expression turned somber with a shadow of disappointment overlaying it. “I’d hoped you would join the dance so I could dance with you.”
“You know my reasons why I didn’t.” She touched his arm. “I would have liked to dance with you as well.”
Gaeres surveyed their surroundings. “We can dance together here,” he suggested. “Though we have no music.”
Anticipation beat delicate wings against her ribs. “I can hum the tune.”
His grin surely matched her own. “Well then,” he said and held out his hands to hers.
Their fingers entwined and soon they swayed and spun to the tune she hummed. There was no change in tempo to signal a switch in partners, and they danced together as the snow fell ever heavier on and around them.
Emerence forgot the cold as with each step that separated them, then brought them together again, Gaeres drew her ever closer until they no longer spun but only swayed, breast to chest. His arms wrapped snug around her waist, his hands pressed warm to her lower back. Emerence slid her arms over his wide shoulders to rest her fingers against his nape.
He was big and warm, solid and comforting in her arms. His breath tickled her neck and ear as he bent closer to whisper, “I hold the stars.”
She fancied herself too old to go weak-kneed over sweet words, but her knees shook and she sagged in his arms. Gaeres gathered her close until there was no space between them. Emerence leaned back to stare into his eyes. For a moment an odd trick of the lamp light seemed to edge his irises in a thin band of glowing blue. She blinked and it was gone. Only the soft blackness stared back at her.
“You’ve stopped humming,” he said softly.
“You can’t kiss me if I’m humming.”
Gaeres didn’t hesitate. He swooped down, captured her mouth with his and kissed her until she thought all her senses would explode from sheer pleasure.
He tasted of sweet wine, his lips firm but also soft, his tongue a deep caress that filled her mouth and invited her to do the same to him. Muscled arms held her not as if she were something fragile and easily broken but as something he desperately wanted to sink into, be enveloped by, revel in until he was exhausted. Sated. Her light moan only made him hold her tighter, kiss her more deeply.
“Gaeres?”
His name sounded from the direction of the doors. Emerence abruptly ended the kiss and Gaeres groaned a low voiced protest when she jerked out of his arms.
She stared at him wide-eyed. That was Dahran Sulti’s voice, and by the tone of her question, she hadn’t spotted her and Gaeres where they’d ended their dance by the giant conifer.
When he answered, his voice was calm, giving nothing away and completely at odds with his intense expression as he stared at Emerence. “I’m here, Aunt. Stay inside. The snow is coming down harder.”
“We’re ready to leave,” she said.
“I’ll join you in a moment.”
When the doors closed with a click, Emerence exhaled a sigh. “I don’t think she saw us.”
His regard didn’t lighten. “Would it have mattered if she did?”
The question took her aback for a moment and she hesitated before answering. “No,” she said. “Not for me at least.” She was neither embarrassed nor ashamed to return Gaeres’s affections, no matter how fleeting. If he’d been able to stay longer, she’d invite him to continue.
His expression eased and he coaxed her back into his arms. “Nor I,” he said and brushed a second, lighter kiss across her mouth. “I wish could stay, kiss you more, kiss you longer. Walk you to your house and see you tomorrow morning and all the days to come after, but we have to return home.”
“I would like that too,” she said, sliding a lock of his damp hair through h
er fingers. “But your family awaits you, and as you say, you must return. Thank you for the dance.” She trailed her thumb across his lips. “And for the kiss.”
She stepped out of his hold once more. If she didn’t put some distance between them, they’d end up locked in another passionate embrace. He let her go. Slowly, reluctantly.
“I don’t know if or when I’ll return to Timsiora,” he told her. “If I do, may I escort you home again?”
Kiss you again? Dance with you again?
Emerence heard all three questions in the one he spoke. She smiled, a difficult expression now that melancholy shadowed her heart at his leaving and the very real possibility she might never see him again. “Come back to Timsiora and I will answer you,” she said.
He captured her hand and kissed her fingers. “Summer,” he said as he backed away. “Look for me when summer comes, Emerence Ipsan.” He bowed and left the garden to find his aunt and cousins.
Emerence listened for the door’s click. Only the towering conifer bore witness to her promise. “I will wait as the seasons turn. Wait and remember.”
Also by Grace Draven
World of the Wraith Kings
https://gracedraven.com/world/4
World of Master of Crows
https://gracedraven.com/world/3
The Bonekeeper Chronicles
https://gracedraven.com/world/2
The Fallen Empire
https://gracedraven.com/world/5
Other Works
https://gracedraven.com/world/1
About Grace Draven
Grace Draven is a Louisiana native living in Texas with her husband, kids and a big, doofus dog. She has loved storytelling since forever and is a fan of the fictional bad boy. She is the winner of the Romantic Times Reviewers Choice for Best Fantasy Romance of 2014 and 2016, and a USA Today Bestselling author.
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