Cursed: Briar Rose's Story - Kaylin Lee Page 0,75

Ah, it’s fine. I’ll just fight both.”

“Fighting! No—”

“Just tell me which one asked to court you.”

“Neither …”

He pulled back, enough to look me in the face, his brows wrinkled. “Neither? I find that hard to believe. Corbin looked far too determined when he walked over here. Wait—I saw Deacon come this way, too, didn’t I?”

I shrugged, enjoying the intensity of his gaze on my face. “They did want to know if I was taken.”

“What did you say?”

I rose up on my toes and kissed him right on the freckle at the corner of his mouth, sending a tingle of satisfaction through me. I drew back and shivered. “Guess.”

His eyes stayed closed for a moment, and when he opened them, his lids were heavy. “What were we talking about?”

I took his hand and toyed with his fingers, brushing them across my palm. “Eugene and Corbin.”

“Eugene and Corbin.”

“They just wanted to make sure that I was well. And …” I pursed my lips. “They reminded me that I never thanked them for rescuing me from the crater.”

“Ah.” Tavar leaned back on his heels and glanced around the room. “So I get to punch both of them after all.”

“What? Why?”

“I’m obviously the one who rescued you.” He rolled his eyes. “You were stuck to the bed! All they did was run around and yell things, maybe shoot a few bolts. I broke your curse and carried you to Alba. They were just support.”

I snorted. “Fine. Just not tonight. It’s Victory Day, after all. We’re supposed to be celebrating, not fighting. And if you start a fight in here, you’ll get food all over the parlor.”

“Your parents wouldn’t like that, would they?”

“Probably not.”

We were quiet for a moment, our hands clasped as we sipped chrysos, each unable to look away from the other.

“I like your dress,” Tavar said at last, looking me over with a grin.

“Oh.” I released his hand and patted my skirt. “It’s mage-craft, you know,” I said, surprising myself by pretending to preen.

“What? Briar Rose, the city’s fiercest, mage-fighting Sentinel, is wearing a mage-craft dress? I don’t believe it.”

“Yes.” I nodded. “And it’s brilliant. Instead of using magic to make the skirts flutter, the dressmaker put the magic in to keep it neat.” I handed him my glass of chrysos and stepped back, then feigned a kick and a punch, drawing laughter from the Sentinels in the parlor nearby. The skirt slid right back into place when I stopped. “I could fight bandits like this.”

“Wow.” Tavar wiggled his eyebrows. “Not saying I wouldn’t love the … ah … fluttery kind of skirt, but that was impressive.” He scratched the side of his face, his laughing tone fading slightly. “But do you want to? Fight bandits, that is?”

“No.” I swallowed. “I don’t know. Probably not. You?”

“I don’t want to sound ungrateful for winning, but I can’t imagine it.” He shrugged. “Maybe.”

Someone tapped me on the shoulder. I turned to find Ella and Alba, grinning remorselessly as they pulled me away from Tavar.

“This romantic interlude is over, young lovers,” Alba sang. “The ladies are gathering in the kitchen, and we want to toast Bri.”

“We want to toast both of you,” Ella said, linking arms with my sister and me and leading us toward the kitchen. “Or maybe toast all of us.”

Chapter 46

Even though the window by the sink was open to the evening air, the kitchen was hot. Mom and Ella bustled at the kitchen counter, moving savory meat pastries fresh from the oven onto serving platters. Chloe leaned against the kitchen counter by the open window, fanning herself and sipping chrysos, and I sat with Ruby, Belle, and Alba at the table.

The toasts had been fun—silly, even—and though I missed Tavar’s steady presence, I was enjoying the comforting quiet of my mother, sisters, and friends in the kitchen.

“Don’t you think that’s odd?” Alba sounded more serious than usual.

“Hmm?” I dug through the pile of crumbs on my cake plate to find more frosting.

“Everyone who was hurt in the storm was healed during the eruption.”

“Not just those hurt during the storm,” Belle added. “Kaia told me Cole had scars from a curse he ran into a few years ago, and even those disappeared during the eruption.”

“Exactly.” Alba tapped her fingers on the table. “It’s odd.”

“Why?” Ruby snagged a pastry from the tray before Mom handed it off to Dad, who stood just inside the parlor with his hands out. “There’s more magic in the air than our land has seen in centuries,” she