Midnight in Everwood(65)

Marietta’s fingers stilled, her hair half-plaited. ‘I have no such thing as a helpless expression,’ she said. ‘Do I?’ she asked Pirlipata as an afterthought.

‘Not in the slightest, you have been gifted with lovely eyes.’ She smiled back at Marietta. ‘Wide and trusting.’

Dellara’s grin sharpened. ‘Helpless eyes,’ she repeated. ‘Ones that beg: turn your eyes on me, captain, swoop me away into your strong, captainly arms—’

Marietta raised her eyebrows. ‘Have you quite finished?’

‘You’re rotting my fun,’ Dellara grumbled. Seconds later, she poked the cushion Marietta was resting upon with her scarlet-painted toes. ‘Well, are you going to inform us what happened? Or were you too busy dancing in his arms to remember your task?’

‘I asked him,’ Marietta said, pouring a jug of molten drinking chocolate into three cups and spooning lashings of whipped cream atop the other two women’s.

Pirlipata accepted her cup, clasping her hands round its comforting heat. ‘Tell us more.’

‘I believe he shall attempt to aid us.’

‘I can’t say I’m surprised.’ Dellara’s impish smile at once raised Marietta’s guard. ‘From the odd glimpse I caught of the pair of you, it looked as if you were on the verge of ripping each other’s clothes off.’

Marietta dearly wished her cheeks would not inflame at such moments. It seemed they only served to betray her and further Dellara’s amusement.

Dellara’s smile turned suggestive. ‘Don’t pretend you’re not the slightest bit tempted.’

Pirlipata sipped her chocolate. ‘Perhaps there is someone cherished in your life back home?’

‘Oh, do tell.’ Dellara leant forwards with a gleam of intrigue. ‘Does the blushing wanderer have a lover?’

Those long, thin fingers toying with a lock of her hair. Chipped-ice stare raking down her gown. Ballroom doors locked with keys and magic. A nightmare stalking her through cities and worlds, dreams and dances. Marietta closed her eyes against the mounting panic.

A hand on her knee startled her. ‘Whatever it is, you can confide in us,’ Pirlipata said softly and Dellara nodded, handing Marietta her mug of chocolate.

‘The last person I divulged to failed to believe me so I am a little wary to take people into my confidence again,’ she said in a low voice, filled with regret that Frederick, who she missed dearly, had brushed her instincts aside at the very moment she’d needed him the most. Then she realised that was not true. She had already confided in Captain Legat.

Dellara’s eyes flashed. ‘We will.’

Marietta looked at the two women with whom her days unfolded; Pirlipata, a princess whose armour was not a patch on her shining kindness. Who was tender and strong all at once. Dellara, a creature that lesser mortals would do well to fear, yet whose loyalty was as fierce as those sharpened teeth. If they were strong and fierce, what could she bring to the fold? Perhaps she might be brave. She opened her mouth and let her story, her truth, pour forth. The tale of a man that she was to be betrothed to but could never marry. A man that had charmed her until she realised the dark magic he wielded.

And they listened. And they believed her.

‘Are you certain you wish to return?’ Worry veined Pirlipata’s words.

Marietta took a deep breath. ‘If I allow him to prevent me from living my life, accomplishing my dreams, then I am not the woman I want to be.’

Dellara clinked her mug against Marietta’s with a nod of approval. ‘And what of the captain?’ she asked a beat later. ‘He has feelings for you; do you share those?’

‘Do stop interrogating her about the captain.’ Pirlipata shook her head at Dellara. Marietta had become familiar enough with the gesture that she now saw the fondness underlying it. ‘Besides, we both are well aware that she would not be able to do a thing about it even if she desired to; if King Gelum found out, the consequences would be dire for both of them. That nutcracker was a warning. If the king knew of any romance, his actions would be far darker.’

Marietta drank her chocolate, focusing on its creamy sweetness rather than her wash of bitter regret. She ignored the hunger that whispered in her ear, the fluttering in her stomach as if some tiny winged creature resided there, with hope-bright wings and a silky dress of longing.

‘Fine. At least he’s aiding us in our secret endeavour. Now, onto other, more pressing matters; how shall we retrieve my wand?’ Dellara reclined on her cushion, stretching out and yawning.

‘We assumed you already possessed a scheme to liberate it since you knew the details of where it resided.’ Pirlipata noticed Dellara’s glinting expression and sighed. ‘If you required our assistance, you only had to ask.’

‘I don’t need help. I had merely made the mistake of thinking that since my wand benefitted all of us, we should all work on finding a way to retrieve it as a priority.’ Dellara glared at Marietta.

Marietta surveyed her back. Dellara could be trying and each time she assumed she’d reached the point of understanding her, the woman would baffle and infuriate her all over again. ‘The only mistake you committed was the time you wasted lounging about in your hand-painted silk pyjamas, cossetted by enchantments, the finest gowns, and silver trays of cakes and drinking chocolate. You have grown indulgent and it is not on my head that you have been too lazy to formulate your own plans in which to achieve your escape.’