Honor and Desire (Gold Sky #3) - Rebel Carter Page 0,1
His shoulders, she realized, had filled out since the summer before and when had he grown a head taller than her?
August wasn’t a boy anymore. And if this past summer had told Seylah anything, it was that she was no longer a girl, on the verge of blossoming into a woman. How had she not realized the same was true for August? Her eyes had moved over him, taking in all the changes she hadn’t noticed until they had literally been put beneath a spotlight.
It was enough to make her dizzy.
He had turned towards her and given a familiar smile, that same smile he had given her when they were 5 on their first day of school. But instead of smiling back, she had been too wide-eyed, too focused on him that she hadn’t realized he was calling her name.
“What?” she asked, stumbling back a step. She had been staring at him. And she was caught red-handed when August had said her name. “What is it?”
“Why are you staring at me?”
“I’m not. I was stunned by the light.”
He scoffed, reaching out and rubbing his knuckles against her head, mussing her hair. “Liar.”
“I am nothing of the kind. I’m a lady,” she retorted with a toss of her head. August laughed along with her, throwing an arm over her shoulder. She tried desperately not to notice the gesture as anything more than a friendly touch from her friend.
Her best friend.
She breathed in deeply and fixed a bright smile on her face when August blew out a huff of laughter and leaned against her.
“A lady are you?”
She nodded keeping her smile in place. “Truly.”
“Then as the only lady I know, would you accompany me to the fall dance this weekend?”
Her heart warmed, lighting up brighter than the street lights around them.
“A dance?” She squeaked.
He hummed, tweaking her nose. “Yes, a dance. Do me the honor of attending the dance with me?”
“What?”
“The dance this month. May I escort you?”
Seylah nodded dumbly and managed a quick breathy: “Yes.”
“Then I shall call on you, my lady!” August’s voice rang through the night, carrying above the din of voices and the stray sounds of the gathered band that heralded the lighting of the lamps.
He wanted to call on her.
She didn’t care if he tweaked her nose or ruffled her hair like he had done when they were children, nor did she give any amount of attention to the old women giving them knowing looks from across the street. It was common knowledge around Gold Sky that you could not find Seylah without August in tow. Of course, that gave rise to more than a fair amount of gossip and well-intentioned wishes from the majority of the townsfolk. And until that moment, Seylah had brushed off the giggles and hopeful looks from the adults around her as meaningless.
She knew that he thought the same as she, the pair of them rolling their eyes and ignoring the pointed looks or playful comments whispered just loud enough for the friends to hear.
“The pair will marry when they grow up. I know it.”
“Isn’t it darling how they’ve always been together?”
“Young love is so exciting!”
Seylah would wrinkle her nose and shake her head while August blew out a weary sigh. The both of them intent on carrying on as if the remarks hadn’t been overheard. August was her friend and she was his. They had always been and thus would remain so until they perished, of that she was sure.
There would be no separating them. Never. Not even under the duress of incessant gossip from the townsfolk. She was happiest when she was with August. No other place she would rather be, if given the choice.
Except now … now it felt different to Seylah. As if her eyes had suddenly been opened, her heart made aware of something she had always known but hadn’t possessed the words to express it. August. She looked up at him, the bright light of the street dazzling her nearly as much as the boy she had grown up alongside. Because suddenly he wasn’t simply August.
Then I shall call on you, my lady!
He was the first boy to call on her. Her.
The first to set her heart pounding. The first to make her shiver with a feeling she couldn’t quite place. Her cheeks heated with a blush that left her hot and shaky beneath the arm August had thrown over her shoulders.
Heart fluttering in her chest, Seylah felt dizzy with the still new exhilaration that accompanied