“Whatever you need, Aria.”
He said it with such intensity, her heart kicked right along with her leg.
The music ended too soon, but when Baron moved to exit the dance floor, Aria held him back.
“What I need,” she said quietly, “is to dance with you.”
The intensity which had filled his voice now filled his eyes. Though the modest-sized ballroom was packed with people, it felt vast, filled with just the two of them and a sea of uncertainty. Up close, Aria could see that Baron’s suit was not mourning-black, as it had been the first time they’d met, but rather a deep green, complementing his eyes. Perhaps that meant he was looking forward.
Perhaps he simply favored green. Aria bit her lip, holding back a smile.
“There’s something else I need,” she whispered, though she found herself blushing too deeply to say the single, final word caught in her throat:you.
She still held one of his hands. With far too much boldness,
she pulled gently on the white glove, sliding it free of his fingers. He tensed, and she paused. When he didn’t protest or moveaway,
she claimed the second glove, sliding both into a pocket of her dress. His hands were beautiful—strong, smooth, and defined in the joints. His magic, his hands. Baron hid the most beautiful parts of himself from the world because that was what it demanded.
But there wasn’t any part of him Aria feared.
She laced her bare fingers through his, sliding her thumbs across the smooth curves of his palms. She wondered if he could feel her heartbeat. From the way his breathing grew unsteady, he feltsomething.
As the music began anew, this time with a slower tempo, Baron kept one hand in hers and used the other to gently pull her closer. They glided across the floor, and she couldn’t imagine how he safely navigated the other dancers when he never seemed to take his eyes off hers. That unruly lock of hair had fallen onto his forehead again, and this time, Aria reached up without hesitation to tuck it back, trailing her fingertips down the side of his face.
“Baron, I made a mistake,” she confided. There was no quill for this, only a deep aching in her soul. “I told you not to answer my letter yet, but I’m losing my mind to the waiting.”
The curse breathed down her neck with winter’s chill, and while she held uncertainty about defeating it, she found she could not endure another unknown. If she was to die in a matter of days, she did not want to do so without tasting Baron’s lips. Not if there was any chance he would let her. If there was any chance he felt the same yearning she did.
The music crested as Baron led her into an underarm turn. They’d drawn close to a wall, and Aria’s outstretched fingers brushed the curtain as she turned; she saw a quick spin of the ballroom and everyone in it, lively, warm, engaged, the whole room glowing with the comfort of a world without cold.When she completed the spin, Baron stepped closer than before, bringing his lips right to the edge of her ear with a whisper.
“Come with me.”
He grasped her hand and pulled her through a narrow doorway she’d not even noticed. It led to a cramped hallway, likely for servants to navigate between the kitchen and the entertaining rooms. It was empty except for the two of them. Afternoon sunlight spilled from a window slit in the outer wall.
With his free hand, Baron reached into his vest and pulled out a letter, folded and stamped with his seal. “My project from earlier. I thought I should deliver this one in person.”
Baron hardly breathed as he watched Aria read. All night, he’d dueled his feelings, resisting something that could either remake him or destroy what was left. Then she’d kissed his cheek in the guest room, called him incredible rather than dangerous, and he’d realized the match was already decided. It had been since her letter.
His reply was the shortest of any they’d exchanged, but he’d rewritten it three times and then reread it enough to have every word memorized.
My Dearest Aria,
So that you may have the words from my own hand: I love you. I thought to pinpoint the moment it happened, but the moment doesn’t matter, because looking back on our encounters, I can only think it obvious I should have loved you from the start. If the choice is mine, I ask for a place at your side for the rest of our lives and forever.
I would sign with all my heart, but it is yours already.
Baron
After keeping her eyes down long enough she must have read it twice, Aria refolded the letter and hugged it. She looked up with tearful eyes, her lips slightly parted, such raw emotion in herexpression that he instinctively stepped toward her, cradling her face in his hands, his bare fingers chill with nerves against her warm skin.
“You’ve done it again,” she whispered as a tear dripped down her cheek.
“Would you like me to stop?”
In answer, she laced her arms around his back, pulling him closer, removing any distance left between them. Baron’s heart thundered, and he found himself shy. Not because he didn’t want what she wanted, but because he wanted it so deeply he feared getting it all wrong.
“I’ve never kissed anyone,” he blurted.
