them. He had the most ridiculously long eyelashes, I noticed, and they were black too, like his beard, standing out against his pale skin.
‘Why have you brought me here?’ Galena demanded.
‘I think you might wish to ask yourself why you came,’ countered Lord Brandrel.
‘I – and my companions, who wait without – are here to rescue the maiden Zarah, who was captured by your troops from the village.’
‘I think you’ll find,’ said Lord Brandrel, ‘that Zarah merely wished to escape her overbearing mother and is not in any kind of captivity. Rather, she is gainfully employed here at the castle as a kitchen maid.’
‘But – but you captured her. You intended to force her to become your bride!’
‘I did no such thing. She came here of her own free will, escorted by my soldiers. However, I cannot deny that stewardship of this castle is a lonely life, and should I find someone to share it with me, my heart would be lighter.’
‘But I am a fighter!’ Galena said. ‘I will not set aside my freedom for any man.’
‘And I shall make no serf of any woman!’ blazed Lord Brandrel. ‘I seek an equal in all ways, to fight alongside me, share my board and my bed and my riches, even as she shares my heart.’
I felt a tightness in my throat, and swallowed to try and make it go away.
‘So long as she’s willing to share her cat with me,’ said Adam.
I tried to find Galena inside me, but I couldn’t. It seemed like she had… not vanished, exactly, but melted, back into the part of me that had imagined her in the first place.
‘There’s just one thing,’ I said. ‘What star sign are you – I mean, is Lord Brandrel?’
‘Truly it astounds me,’ Lord Brandrel said, stroking his beard, ‘that a woman so fierce and learned should put her faith in superstition.’
‘Even so. How should I be expected to plight my troth to one who will not indulge an innocent fancy?’
Adam laughed. His whole face seemed to come alive, the stillness and wariness all gone. ‘I’m Aquarius, you numpty. Same as you.’
‘Well,’ I said, ‘I guess that has potential. Aquarius man and Aquarius woman is one of the better matches. Our shared fascination with the spiritual world means we’ll never tire of exploring wider issues together, and we’ll have a rich, fulfilling and inventive sex life.’
I was making it up, just like Fabian’s paid writers had been, but it was totally worth it to see Adam blush.
‘Come on,’ he said, putting his glass down on a corner of Alice’s desk. ‘I want to show you something.’
Before I could ask what, he’d set my glass down next to his, put his arm round my shoulders and guided me out of Alice’s office. And then the closeness and warmth of his body and the juniper scent of his skin was so strange and new and wonderful I don’t think I would have been able to say anything if I’d tried. Adam led me into the lobby with the four doors opening off it – one to the kitchen, one to the bar, one to the stairs that led to my flat and one to the garden.
‘It’s like being back in the D&D game,’ I said, regaining the power of speech. ‘Four doors lead out from the chamber. Which one will you pick?’
Adam laughed. ‘Don’t take the piss. We’re going outside.’
The beer garden was empty – no smokers had ventured out that night, which wasn’t surprising, as it was bitterly cold. The night air bit through the thin fabric of my dress, and I was glad of Adam’s warm body next to me. The cold didn’t seem to bother him at all, even though he was dressed no more warmly than I was.
We stood there for a moment, our breath forming clouds of vapour that drifted away like ghosts. The garden smelled of damp earth, fallen leaves, the last of the cooking smells being pumped out by the kitchen extractor fan and a distant bonfire. The bird table was deserted and the parasols folded. I could hear a hum of voices from inside the pub, and the faint popping of firecrackers somewhere out in the night.
‘Well, this is romantic,’ I teased.
‘Zoë! Look up.’
I tilted my head, and everything changed. Above us, the clear autumn sky was pitch black but spangled with stars. A thin crescent moon like one of Frazzle’s claws hung over the rooftops. On the horizon, the lights of an