in a new seamstress who doesn’t know you’re always to be shabby and a bit misshapen?”
Judah flinched. She was suddenly very conscious of the green fabric draped around her and—worse—the grand mass of her hair, which was marginally contained in a delicate web of silver and sparkling crystals but still very much its unruly self. In the soft flattering light of the solarium, the red of Judah’s hair was almost black, and Elly said the headdress looked like stars peeking out at sunset. Judah thought it looked like her hair, with some metal and rock wrapped around it. “Elly did it.”
Across the room, still with Theron, Elly caught Judah’s eye, winked.
They heard the small flourish in the music that meant a switch in partners. The courtier who should have been Judah’s new partner, a tall, handsome young man in lavender, ignored her and held tight to his original partner’s hand. A wave of dysfunction rippled through the dance. “You’re murdering me,” Firo said through gritted teeth, but he kept her in his arms.
Elly and Theron had managed to stay together, too. “No,” Judah said. “Just embarrassing you.”
“They’re the same thing.”
The Seneschal was back at the dais now, speaking with Elban. “Then get me to the edge and let me go.”
“That’s not the way this dance works,” Firo said. “You’ve already called enough attention to us.”
Gavin was dancing with somebody Judah didn’t know, a courtier in yellow with huge red ladybugs nested in her hair. She didn’t even notice that Firo was carefully moving her to the edge, like she’d asked, until their two bodies revolved and she found herself at the foot of the dais, staring up into Elban’s eyes. He regarded her hungrily; the Seneschal stood next to him, stern and forbidding.
She clutched at Firo. “No. Don’t let me go.”
“Make up your mind.” But he spun her away, back toward the middle of the circle. Then there was another flourish and suddenly Judah was standing in front of Gavin. With a cool nod toward Firo, he took her hand, and she let herself be pulled back into the dance. She was glad he was wearing gloves. She didn’t know what he would have been able to tell if he touched her bare skin.
“You’re dancing,” he said with a mirth that went nowhere near his eyes. “Your courtier beau actually convinced you to dance.”
“Not exactly.” Over her shoulder, she saw Firo standing alone, trapped awkwardly among the dancers but with an expression that said it didn’t matter at all; then somebody stepped up to him, too. Somebody in blue. Amie.
Gavin’s grip on Judah tightened—sensing, perhaps, the sudden tension in her body. “What’s wrong?”
“I’m avoiding the Seneschal. I think he wants to talk to me.” Elly and Theron were still together, still dancing. Elly seemed almost to be enjoying herself. Theron looked, as always, dazed.
Gavin’s eyes went to the dais behind her. “He certainly does. Did you do something to piss him off? I’ve seen friendlier-looking torturers.”
“You have not,” she said.
A little of the mirth in his voice touched his face, like a candle flame that wasn’t quite dead. “You don’t know what I’ve seen. But don’t worry, we can keep you away from him. This is the last dance before Elban’s speech.”
As he said the words, the flame guttered and died. “Don’t lose hope,” she said to him gently. Elban was watching the two of them like they were food now.
“Too late. Amie’s already trading favors in my name.” Gavin sounded morose. “Look at her, working your courtier. I hope he tells you about it later.” Then she felt his breath freeze in his chest. Something had just occurred to him. He glanced back at the Seneschal and when his eyes came back to Judah they were full of panic. “He can’t take you away,” he said. “It’s too soon.”
With the grandest flourish of all, the music stopped. Judah felt cold fingers lace through hers: Theron, who was creeping close like a scared puppy even though Elly held his other hand. The four of them stood in a tight group, almost a circle.
And then the Seneschal was there, too. He glared at Judah, but it was to Gavin that he spoke. “It’s time.”
His words sent pain like ice through Gavin’s body. In front of Judah, Elly’s hand found his. Her fingers were squeezing Gavin’s as tightly as she could, and a wave of—something—coursed through Judah. Grief. Nerves. Hope. They were all linked, she saw. All together.