fresh eyes. Much of the celebrating looked like the sort I’d spied on as a boy in Oriel, but here and there I caught glimpses of more. Bare skin. Sensual dances. Alcoves lit only by candles with lurid movements flickering. So odd to go from discussing a dangerous rescue attempt to this level of frivolity.
But I supposed that very tension encapsulated all that was Calanthe.
“I wanted some time alone,” Lia said, and I had to think back to what I’d asked her. “Just to look around. Without people … hovering.”
“Should I go?” I slowed my steps, preparing to be dismissed also.
“No.” She glanced at me with some surprise, eyes glittering with faceted light even in the shadowed gardens, and squeezed my arm. “You don’t count.”
As pleased as if she’d declared her undying love for me, I smiled at her. “I’m glad.”
She took us down another path, one that skirted a large, shallow lake. Small boats glided aimlessly, brilliantly lit with lamps, and groups of people reclined on them, laughing, talking, and indulging. “That looks fun,” I commented.
“Why, Conrí.” She widened her eyes and made an O of her pretty mouth. “I do believe that’s the first time I’ve ever heard you mention the concept of fun, much less an interest in a specific activity.”
“That’s not true,” I grumbled. “Sex is fun, and I’m always interested in that.”
“Besides sex. Name one thing. And don’t you dare say killing people.”
“I wasn’t going to,” I retorted, stung. Though, to be fair, that was the first thing that sprang to mind. Not fun, exactly, but satisfying to dispatch my enemies. All right, something else that sounded fun. What could I say?
“If you have to think about it this long…” Lia drawled teasingly.
“Fine. You have me.” I scowled at her and she laughed, a happy sound that did me more good than any amount of fun would. “So are those dining boats fun?”
She glanced over, a thoughtful line between her brows. “I imagine so. I’ve never done it.”
“You haven’t?”
“No.” She breathed a laugh. “You forget, wolf, that before you arrived to ravage Me, I was the virgin queen, the innocent and pure betrothed of the false emperor. If I attended evening events, they were formal affairs inside the palace salons. Afterward, I retired to My rooms, allowing this night garden to blossom.”
I understood then. See and be seen. “That’s what you’re up to. You wanted to see the Night Court.”
She glanced up at me, that new vulnerability in her face. It could be that it showed now, without the heavy makeup and jewels to mask her feelings, but I thought it was something more. The time in Yekpehr had torn away her shields and icy protections. Her body might be healing, but her heart and soul had yet to even scab over. I remembered that feeling very well—though by the time I’d escaped Vurgmun, my scar tissue was so thick I thought I’d never feel anything again.
“Is that foolish?” she asked. “I know there are pressing matters to deal with, but I thought—just until I meet with Dearsley—that I’d like to stroll the Night Court with you.”
“Not foolish at all,” I answered gravely, putting my hand over hers. “Though you deserve more than a measly hour to enjoy all that you created.”
“I didn’t create it. The traditions of Calanthe are very old.”
“But it’s all here because of you, because of the sacrifices you made.”
She flinched, ever so slightly, when I mentioned sacrifice—if I hadn’t been touching her, I’d have missed it—but she spoke before I could ask about it. “When I was … a prisoner, I couldn’t feel Calanthe anymore. Did I tell you that already?”
I shook my head. “That must have been terrible for you.”
“It was.” Her soft voice held a world of dark pain. “I was bereft in every possible way. And I kept thinking about all the things I hadn’t done.”
“I think regrets are natural, when you’re in a place like that.” We’d rounded the lake and entered a shadowed maze of tall shrubs dripping with red and purple flowers. Even here the rocks in the path glowed, and some kind of lights inside the dense foliage illuminated them from the inside. But the glow didn’t go far, even in the narrow aisles, giving the whole place a mysterious, even eerie cast. Above, the night sky shone with a glitter of stars, brighter than I’d ever seen them.
A cloaked couple passed us, bowing to their queen but moving on without addressing her,