Page 122 of Dancing for the Minotaur

Lisa’s face lit up when she saw the tiny living bracelet nestled inside its protective leaf wrapping. “Is that mine?”

“It is,” Taurex said quietly, crouching so he was closer to her height. “The flowers change color according to your mood.”

“Oh my gosh!” Lisa breathed as Terra fastened the delicate vine around her wrist. Almost immediately, several tiny blossoms opened in brilliant yellow.

“That means excited,” Terra told her, remembering what the vendor had said.

“They know I’m excited?” Lisa demanded.

“Yup.” Terra nodded.

“That is so cool!” she exclaimed.

Cody was trying very hard not to look jealous, so Taurex reached into another bundle and handed him the small silver seed.

“This is for you.”

Cody squeezed it, and the little object unfolded in midair into a complicated floating geometric puzzle.

“Whoa!” His entire face transformed. “How do I solve it?”

“You will have to discover that on your own,” Taurex told him, and Terra remembered with painful clarity how he had chosen the gift because Cody asked so many questions and liked puzzles.

Then Taurex lifted Lucy’s glowing plant from the shuttle.

“Oh, now what in the world is that?” Terra’s mother asked as she came down the porch steps, one hand resting over her heart.

“It is for you,” Taurex told her. “It helps purify the air and requires very little care.”

Lucy gave Terra an accusing look.

“Did you tell him I kill plants?”

Terra tried to smile.

“I might have mentioned it.”

“I do not kill all plants,” her mom protested.

Terra rolled her eyes.

“Mom, you killed a cactus.”

Her mom made a shooing motion.

“It was temperamental.”

Taurex’s mouth twitched, and for one brief second Terra saw the man he had been yesterday—the Taurex who laughed with her in the Market and bought gifts for her family because he wanted to.

The sight hurt her heart more than she wanted to admit.

Lucy accepted the glowing plant with obvious delight, but Terra couldn’t look at Taurex anymore.

Every gift reminded her of him. Lisa’s bracelet hadn’t been Terra’s purchase—Taurex had insisted on paying for it because he wanted to give her daughter something. Cody’s puzzle had been chosen because Taurex had remembered what kind of child he was after meeting him only once. Even Lucy’s plant had been his idea.

He had paid attention to the people Terra loved because they mattered to her, and now she was standing in her mother’s driveway wondering whether she had completely misunderstood everything about him.

Taurex carried Terra’s luggage to the porch and set it carefully beside the door. For a moment she thought he might say something about work or about when he would see her again, but he only looked at her with that same bleak expression he had worn all morning.