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.” She drank some of her own wine before adding, “I have kissed a young man several times, and I must confess that it was quite pleasant.I can only imagine that it will be even better with Lord Senric, for he will have had much more practice.”What I was supposed to make of any of those pronouncements, I was not certain.Of course I had never kissed a young man, much less participated in any of the activities I had accidentally spied Mari and Janks sharing that one notable day.Even so, I thought of the Emperor kissing me, of his arms going around me, and a shiver fluttered its way down my spine.My voice deliberately prim, I said, “And I imagine that your parents would not like to know that their daughter thought nothing of speaking of such things.”Gabrinne only laughed, and raised her glass of wine toward me in a mock toast.“Ah, you may say that, but I saw the look on your face just before, and it was anything but proper.You were thinking of him, weren’t you?”Since I could not deny it — well, deny it without Gabrinne spotting the lie immediately — I only looked away from her and took another very small bite of a chicken medallion.“As I thought.” She pushed her plate away and dabbed at her mouth with a napkin of linen so fine that in my household it would have been used for a gown, not a bit of cloth to wipe one’s hands with.“It looks as if the servants are preparing to clear away this course from the high table.We will need to look sharp, for I am not sure exactly how they are going to determine who sits where.”“It is really no matter — ”“It is for me.You may sit at the end and stare up at the ceiling and feel put upon, but I must sit close to Lord Senric, and that means sitting close to the Emperor, for the Duke is but two places away.”“Of course,” I said at once.I reminded myself that Gabrinne had her own stakes to play here, and it was selfish of me to ignore them.“I will do what I can, but I do draw the line at fisticuffs.”The grin returned.“Then I daresay that makes you better than half the girls here.”I could only shake my head at such a remark, but I did follow her lead in touching my mouth with the napkin and wiping my hands thoroughly before I set it aside.Around me I noticed the other young women were doing the same, then shifting to the edges of their seats, as if they expected to break into a sprint the second the signal was given.My heart began to pound, and I willed myself to stay calm.There were three more days after this one — three more opportunities to see him, possibly speak with him.I could not act as if everything hinged on this single night.The chime sounded, and everyone jumped out of their seats as if pinched.No one ran, precisely, but it was certainly an inelegant rush that descended upon the high table.Gabrinne was a pace ahead of me, and I followed in her shadow, hearing the familiar voices of my stepsisters only a few paces behind me.“Jenaris, move faster! If only you weren’t so fat — ”“I am not fat — someone is in my way!”Somehow I forced myself to not look back, to keep moving forward.And then it was as if we hit some sort of invisible wall, for a distinguished-looking older gentleman stood between us and the table, one hand raised.“I admire your enthusiasm, ladies, but there are seats for all.Two at a time, please.”As somehow Gabrinne and I had managed to place ourselves more or less at the head of the pack, we were neck and neck with two or three other girls, all of whom shot us venomous glances.I guessed they would not be so ill-disposed toward Gabrinne once they learned she had no designs on the Emperor, whereas I was already the source of a good deal of ill will because of the attention he paid me the day before.We stood there, irresolute, apparently no one wishing to show poor breeding by stepping forward first.I wondered how long this impasse would last.But then I heard the scrape of a chair being pushed back, and the Emperor rose from his seat and came toward our group.His dark gaze flickered over all of us, at last coming to rest on me, and he smiled.“This way, ladies,” he said with a nod at Gabrinne and me, and spread his hand toward the empty seats at the table.Words seemed to fail both of us, but we managed a curtsey, then went to take our seats — I across from the Emperor, and Gabrinne next to me, where she would be on the diagonal from where Lord Senric sat.Not perhaps the most ideal location for conversation, but apparently she deemed it well enough, for she smiled as she allowed a servant to push in her chair.I also took my place, swallowing nervously and praying that my stepsisters were not tall enough to have seen exactly what just transpired.The Emperor returned to his own chair and smiled at me, expression warm and perhaps almost too familiar, while in the seat next to him his sister appeared to repress a grin of her own, and on his other side the Dowager Empress, a beautiful but forbidding woman of perhaps some fifty years, shot a scowl at me from beneath a pair of perfectly arched eyebrows.What on earth had he been thinking?Chapter 8TorricNo doubt my mother would have said some imp possessed me, to show such favoritism in front of everyone.After all, for the other two courses, I had been content to let Lord Hein manage the placement of the girls at my table.None of them interested me in the least, although I did my duty by smiling and making conversation with them, even as my eyes continually sought out Ashara where she sat across the chamber.When she turned up at the front of the latest group, it seemed the most natural thing in the world to make sure she had the best spot at the table — she and her friend, who I believed was the youngest daughter of the Earl of Kelsir, although I could not recall her name.To my surprise, that young lady, though bold enough in other respects, seemed not interested in me in the slightest, and instead turned her attention toward Lord Senric, inquiring as to his grape harvest with a most predatory gleam in her eye.Ah, so that was her game.I wished her luck with it, for in my estimation the Duke had gone long enough without a wife.And I had to confess it was a relief to know that at least one of these young ladies had no desire to be Empress.The others, though…I looked across the table to Ashara.Thank the gods that Lord Hein had had the good sense to make sure the centerpieces weren’t so tall they obscured my view of my dinner companions.Her gaze met mine for a few seconds before she looked down, a warm flush staining her cheeks.Yesterday I had thought her lovely, but she seemed even more beautiful now, in a dark green gown that brought forth mysterious copper glints from within her russet hair, and which warmed her ivory skin [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]