people laughing and shouting over the music, drinking and eating. A few had started dancing already, including Kestrel.
‘Just look at Kes!’ mused Swift. ‘He’s in his element. He’s got the girls lined up and waiting for him tonight as ever.’
Leveret swallowed at this. She knew she wasn’t alone in wanting him.
‘He’s very popular,’ she agreed.
‘Too right! He could have any girl he wanted in this place tonight, and no exaggeration, he’s probably had at least half of them already. He’s been working his way through the Stonewylde girls, picking them off as they turn sixteen. And then there’re all the college girls too. He’ll have a challenge when he gets to university though. Even Kestrel couldn’t manage that many, though he’d love to die trying.’
Leveret couldn’t bear to hear talk like this – Kestrel was popular but not so promiscuous, surely? Her throat felt tight with jealousy at the thought of him with so many girls.
‘Let’s go and get a drink, Leveret – come on.’
Not allowing any refusal, he took her arm and tugged her away from the safety of the shadows right out into the open where the coloured lights played brightly. Leveret was terrified, her mouth dry and hands trembling. She walked beside Swift with a straight back, her head high and not daring to look around or catch anyone’s eye, just like a stiff-legged cat self-consciously picking its way along a high, exposed wall. She knew people were looking at her, lots of people, and she shook with terror. She’d been right all along – she was ridiculous, hideous, the ugly, skinny bitch her brothers had always told her she was, the ugliest, most boyish, girl in Stonewylde.
Kestrel stood before them smiling incredulously. He was sheened slightly with perspiration from dancing which merely accentuated his good looks. His eyes were alight with fun; they’d been sparkling with pleasure and now widened in sheer surprise. He removed Swift’s hand from Leveret’s sleeve and turned her around slowly, looking her up and down. Then he gazed into her face, tilted her chin and swivelled her head slightly to see her profile. He grinned and she felt the full blast of his charm.
‘I just don’t believe it! What happened to you? Where’s my grubby little girl with the mop of curls and the scowl?’
Leveret smiled shyly, lowering her eyes and then glancing up at him through her lashes, completely unaware of just how exquisitely alluring that was. She could think of nothing remotely intelligent to say so kept quiet.
‘Exactly how old are you?’ he asked, glancing at the silver Huntress’ bow hung on the scarlet ribbon around her throat.
‘Fourteen,’ she replied. ‘Fifteen at Imbolc.’
‘Pity,’ he smiled, chucking her cheek with a gentle finger. ‘But you’ll be worth waiting for.’
Then he was off and back on the dance floor with the girls he’d been with, whilst Leveret practically glided on wings after Swift to the bar, tingling with wild joy.
Sylvie stood by Yul’s side watching the party warm up. More people were dancing now, the food plundered but by no means finished as Stonewylde feasts were always abundant. She hadn’t wanted to come to the event but Yul had insisted. They were the hosts and should at least make an appearance although he realised the last thing their young guests wanted was to make polite conversation with adults. Sylvie stood sipping a glass of cordial and felt all her sensibilities recoil from the scene around her. The sight of the garish Outside clothes and make-up, the overt sexual display in the dancing and music all brought back memories of her visits to Yul at his university, when she’d had to endure such events.
Sylvie remembered the curiosity and hostility she’d encountered when meeting Yul’s peer group. She’d attended an agricultural college in Dorset which enabled her to return home frequently as her health and allergies had always been a concern. Yul, however, after sailing through his exams with amazing grades for someone who’d only learned to read and write at sixteen, had gone to one of the big city universities. Clip and Miranda, practically the only ones at Stonewylde who knew about education in the Outside World, had been sure that broadening his horizons was what Yul needed most, before returning fulltime to Stonewylde. They didn’t want him getting restless in the future or feeling he’d missed out on anything the Outside World had to offer.