Page 86 of The Starling and the Hatter

I raised my head so I could look up at him. “I’m not sure I would have been able to hear that. Yes, I feel like a fool for running after Robert, but what I learned in Lorta…”

“Whatever happened in Lorta,” he said, “I will forever be grateful for it.”

I moved closer and pushed my fingers up into his hair. “Me too.”

He closed his eyes on a sigh and when he opened them, they were bright with emotion. “Do you have any idea how much I love you?” he asked in a fierce whisper that made my eyes burn with tears of joy. “How long I’ve loved you?”

I shook my head. “I don’t think I do,” I admitted.

“Well then,” he said. “I suppose I’ll have plenty of time to show you.” He grinned just a little wickedly and I reached up to pull him down to me. He pressed his mouth to mine, kissing me with a new fierceness, and I was happy to settle into the warm tingles produced by the way he held me, running his hands up my back and kissing me until I felt quite melted.

Maddox

After I’d kissed Elise so long and so thoroughly that we were both a little breathless, I took her by the hand and led her down the hill and through the labyrinth of festival tents. Admittedly, we stopped along the way a time or two so that I could remind myself just how wonderful it was to kiss her. But eventually we made it back to the tent.

There, we found my father pacing outside the tent, his arms tightly crossed, his stance rigid.

“Dad,” I said as we drew close enough.

His head shot up and he ran to us, pulling both Elise and me into a fierce hug. “Everyone was talking about it. They said you’d been caught stealing from the duchess herself. I knew it couldn’t be true, but—” He pulled back and looked at Elise. “You were imprisoned?”

Elise nodded, her eyes a bit haunted.

“They threw her in the dungeon,” I said quietly.

He looked just as horrified as I felt.

We sat around the fire, explaining the entire evening. As I dabbed at the cut on her forehead and cleaned the blood from her face, Elise told my father about her brothers and their history. After I’d settled on the log beside her, she recounted what had happened in the dungeon in more detail than she’d told me earlier, and I had a difficult time maintaining my composure. What if they hadn’t let her out? What if they had believed her wretched brothers or that feckless magician? I couldn’t think about it. Instead, I continually reminded myself that Elise was here—with me, safe—and through it all, Elise never let go of my hand, and regularly leaned in to rest her head on my shoulder. My father listened with sympathy and relief, and by the time we’d explained it all, each of us was exhausted.

The festival would start in only a couple of hours, but we all needed to sleep. We went inside the tent, where it would be dimmer and quieter than outside, and got ready to bed down, my father planting his bedroll decisively between Elise and me. “Good thing I didn’t send you on your own,” he murmured to me, and all I could do was smile.

He had a point. If I had made the trip on my own, I would have found myself alone with Elise for the remainder of the week and the journey back; and though that prospect was so appealing that I didn’t dare dwell on it for too long, I knew it was better that my father was here.

Saints, I needed to marry that woman as soon as possible.

We all slept for several hours and then reluctantly got up and opened for business. Though Elise and I wanted nothing more than to leave Winhaven right away, my father convinced us to stay. We had skipped the festival in Faehurst, which meant that if we left now, we would have traveled all this way for only a few days of sales. And though I was loath to stay in the city where Elise had been imprisoned for any amount of time, I knew he was right. We needed the entire week here to make our travel worth it.

So we stayed. Elise didn’t venture to different parts of the festival grounds to perform as she usually did. She stayed within eyesight of our tent. She drew a larger crowd than usual, and I didn’t know if it was simply the new city or if it was the scandal surrounding her that brought the young and old alike to sit at her feet and listen to her sing her stories.

Business was brisk, so I stayed at our tent, answering questions and selling what I could. Elise was close enough that I often heard the melodies of her songs, but I couldn’t make out the words. Most songs I knew by heart and could hear the words rolling through my head as soon as I recognized the tune, but today there was one melody I couldn’t identify. It was late afternoon when I heard it for the third time, and she had moved close enough that I could finally understand the words. I paused in my work so that I could listen to her new song, stunned when I heard the first line.

He was only a hatter

Worked with fabric and thread

She was a maid in the forest

Who someone had left for dead

Though covered in dirt

Her clothing ragged

He saw her smooth cheeks

Though the scars were jagged

He brushed the dirt from her arms