Before I took my next breath, he lifted me up and swung me around flaring my skirt, clearing a circle through the throng of dancers. He kept swinging and twirling me until we made it off the dance floor. Then he grabbed my hand and tugged me after him, and we ran.
He kept looking back, making sure I was keeping up, oblivious to all disgruntled gasps and growls as we plowed through the milling guests.
Then we burst through a set of open doors, leaving the ballroom behind, and crossing into the massive, adjoining terrace. We cleared all those who’d come out for fresh air, but he didn’t stop until we reached the farthest spot overlooking the moonlight-soaked gardens spread before the sparkling city of Eglantine. After the stuffiness of the crowds, the night air carried a rousing chill, and the song of nightlife subdued the noise emanating from the ballroom.
As he turned to me, I swayed, and he steadied me against his strength, making my clammy body heat up further with a giddy flush.
He was now so close I could see past the hollows of his mask, and into his lively eyes. After the fire-tinged illumination of chandeliers, the blue-edged silver of the moonlight still made me uncertain what their color was. Whatever it was, it was clear and pure, and I wondered if the rest of him was as breathtaking beneath that mask.
Once he made sure I was steady on my feet, he released me and leaned on the marble balustrade.
Looking down at me, his imposing figure lit by the golden light seeping through the terrace doors, and the steel moonbeams peeking through the dark clouds above, he said, “So, what would it take for you to loosen up?”
This was one question I’d never thought I’d be asked.
I had nothing but the truth in answer. “I don’t know. I’m wound up too tight, always have been.”
“Then our goal tonight is to find a way for you to unwind.”
“Heh. Good luck with that…” I stopped mid-grumble.
What was I doing? I was supposed to be sweet and charming and accommodating, not petulant, self-pitying, and confrontational.
Seemingly unaffected by my unfiltered responses, he rubbed his hands together. “I suppose I’ll need that luck. Or as performers say, I’ll need to break a leg.”
“At least you won’t be breaking one of your funny bones…” I stopped again, grimacing under cover of my mask, and exhaled. “Why do they say that, anyway? I’ve been told that before I entertained people, but I never understood why. Why tell an actor or a singer to break a leg?”
“Maybe because every performance has to have a cast?”
It took me a few seconds to get it. “Oh. Cast. Broken limbs. Ha-ha.”
“You have to admit that was funny.”
“That was yet another inane pun, not worth the roaring laughter you want me to muster…”
What was wrong with me? Where had my finesse and decorum gone? I couldn’t even summon my princess-like manners anymore.
He still didn’t seem to take any kind of offense as his voice turned teasing. “Since you’re so focused on being proper, you should humor me. Use some of that charm that had mountain-man and that manimal chasing you like starving men would pursue a fleeing, juicy steak.”
The absurdity of the image he painted, not to mention that word, wrenched an exclamation out of me. “Manimal!”
“It gets the meaning across better than shapeshifter or therianthrope, doesn’t it?”
“It does, but it sounds—so silly.”
“Most loan words do.”
“Like what?”
“Like our friend the werewolf. This is literal Avongartan for ‘man-wolf.’ Same goes for mermaid—‘sea-girl.’ ”
“What about sea-cow? Is manatee a literal translation for it?”
“Not that know of.” I could see the corners of his eyes crinkling. He had to be grinning. I bet he had a big, perfect smile. “But in some places, mermaid and manatee are the same thing. This came from the time before roads were established throughout the Folkshore, and trains were invented, and the fastest way to get somewhere was by sea—”
“That’s still the case.”
He just nodded, muffled voice sounding more amused. “But ships don’t wander aimlessly like they did before. Back then, men were stuck aboard for so long, they began to mistake manatees for mermaids.”
I gaped at him, horrified at what it must have taken to drive men to such hallucinations, but still unable to keep from giggling at that scenario.
He whooped. “There we go! We’ll get you chortling in no time.”
My hand instinctively shot to cover my mouth, only to smack into the