Page 41 of A Fragile Enchantment

Niamh gasped. “Your Highness.”

Kit stood at the foot of the terrace stairs, one hand tight on the pale stone balustrade. His expression hit her somewhere tender. Beneath all that tightly wound aggression, she glimpsed a sparkof uncertainty. By now, she’d begun to learn all the textures of his glares. This one, she thought, belonged to a man bracing for either cruelty or kindness.

“You’re following me.”

Indignation sparked within her. He was only trying to put her on the back foot, but two could play at that game. “Maybe I am.”

She could tell she’d disarmed him. He drew himself up taller. “What? Why?”

“What nobleman rises before noon?” she asked. “I had to see if you were hiding some terrible secret.”

The wariness dropped off his face, replaced instead with displeasure at being teased. “Oh? Like what?”

“Well… For example, perhaps you turn into a wolf under the morning sun. Or perhaps you had a body to hide.”

He looked thoroughly unimpressed. “Is that really the sort of thing you worry about?”

“They’re legitimate concerns!” Perhaps it was different in Avaland, but Machland was the kind of place where a man really might be a monster. “At any rate,no,I am not following you. I just so happen to be walking the same way as you, and that is not at all the same thing.”

He frowned at her as though he hadn’t been listening at all. “Are you sick?”

Her every tender sentiment vanished in an instant.Musthe always say whatever came to mind in the bluntest way possible? She hadn’t slept a full night since she’d arrived in Sootham a little over two weeks ago, but he didn’t need to remind her of how haggard she looked. “I don’t lookthatbad, do I?”

“No,” Kit said hastily. “You look… Your hair is different.”

Her hand flew to the streak of white. “How strange. I’ve done nothing different with it.” After a moment, she asked, “Are you feeling better today?”

Roughly, he said, “I am. Thank you.”

“Good.” She hesitated. “And, ehm… I’m sorry about the other day in the library. I did not mean to—”

“It’s fine. It isn’t worth mentioning.”

A few beats of silence passed between them. The breeze carried the smell of roses and ruffled the hem of his black jacket.

“I assume you came out here for a reason,” he said. “Walk with me, or don’t.”

Don’t,said her good sense—but too late. The words “Oh, very well” had already come tumbling out of her mouth.

If he kept seeking out her company, it wasn’t as though she could deny him. Despite her better judgment, despite all the risks, she’d almost come to enjoy spending time with him. As much as he frazzled her, he had a way of making her forget her melancholy.

She trotted to keep pace with him as he led her through the gardens, her sketchbook clutched tightly to her breast. Her weary joints ached with protest, but she forged ahead. Kit was incapable of a casual stroll. Nothing surprised her less. Then again, she supposed she was, too. A smile tugged on the corner of her mouth. However, her fondness shifted into confusion as he steered them toward the woods. “Where are we going?”

“You’ll see. I want to show you something.”

Now that was ominous. “In thewoods? With all due respect, sir, this seems like a very bad idea.”

“Do what you want. I’m going this way whether you follow me or not.”

To that, she had no further argument.

Soon enough, she saw a greenhouse emerging from behind the tree line. It looked like a ruin, coated all over with moss and choked with thick curtains of ivy. Its glass walls shone in the sun, as brilliant as the facets of a diamond. Kit said nothing as they approached. The only sound was the wind sighing softly against the shell of her ear, the tread of their footsteps in the knee-high grass.

He opened the door and let her inside. The first thing she noticedwas the heat. It nearly smothered her. Condensation beaded on the walls, and her hair immediately separated into a cloud of frizz. But once she pushed past the discomfort of the air bearing down on her, she fully drank in her surroundings.

Beautiful.

The greenhouse burst with light and color, as whimsical and lush as an enchanted wood. Every shade of green bristled and tangled and bloomed before her. The air hung thick around them, redolent with earth, sweet nectar, andlife.Emotion pulled taut in her chest. The wild splendor of it reminded her so much of Machland. Here was a place teeming with magic.