Page 18 of A Tale of Mirth & Magic

“I get that. But, I mean, you could pull your hood up and camouflage right into those trees.”

“Kind of the point,” he said under his breath.

“I’m just saying. You’d look amazing in some color. Or ohh—even black! Show off that hot body,” I teased. “You’re really denying the public a treat. That’s just unfair.”

He stayed silent. Crap, had I taken the teasing too far? I wanted to open him up a bit, not make him self-conscious.

I untied the ribbon that was pulling my hair back and held it up to his eye level. “Here,” I offered, a touch too enthusiastically. “Start small. You can try this. If you want.”

He stopped walking and lifted a hand to the ribbon. I let it fall into his palm. It was fairly thin, silky, and dark red.

“It matches the corset you were wearing yesterday,” he said.

“That’s… that’s right. And it’s basically the same as brown anyway. If you think about it. Just a bit more… reddish. It’s red, but it could be brown if you squint at it.” I was rambling again. Shut up, shut UP!

“Reddish brown,” he said quietly, his gaze moving to my hair.

“Right…” I repeated, transfixed on his face.

He knelt slowly on one knee in the dirt in front of me, his face at my chest level. My eyes widened in surprise. What was he doing? Were we going to do something here, in the road? Even for me, that was a bit much.

I look in front and behind us. But I guess no one was around…

Barra held the ribbon out to me and bent his head forward. “Can you tie it in?”

I flushed, glad he couldn’t see my face. “Oh—of course!”

Holding the ribbon in my teeth, I gathered his locks together with both hands. His hair was thicker than I expected, and very soft. I combed the golden-brown strands through my fingers. They caught the sun, bringing out a burnished glimmer that brought polished bronze to my mind. There was a slight curl to his hair, and it definitely could use a good brushing, but it was lovely. I could play with it for hours.

I scratched my nails experimentally along his scalp, moving my way toward the base of his neck. Barra had been holding perfectly still through my initial combing, but at this he shivered. Reaching one hand back, he lightly grasped my wrist.

“Elikki.”

His tone told me it was too much. I smiled evilly to myself and resumed pulling his hair into a low, simple ponytail. Tying it into a long, secure bow with a flourish, I announced, “There! Perfect.”

“How does it look?” he asked, getting to his feet.

“Striking but understated. It works,” I assured him.

“Thank you.”

We resumed walking. Barra reached back to feel the ribbon, running it through his large fingers. I wound my locks up with a silver hairstick to keep it out of my face.

“My sisters are always telling me the same thing,” he said.

“What?”

“To… try something new. Mix it up.” He chuckled. “Once they even stole all of my shirts and replaced them with different styles they’d each picked out for me. Wouldn’t give my own clothes back until I threatened to go to the market shirtless in protest. Our mas stepped in then.”

“I don’t think anyone at the market would have complained.”

He gave me a sidelong look. “In any case… I was bluffing, of course. But it worked. Our compromise was that I’d keep their shirts in my closet ‘for a special occasion.’” He rolled his eyes. “They’ve never seen the light of day.”

“Wait, hold up. Are you telling me all of your clothes are brown? As in, all of them?!”

Barra said, “No, not all, exactly. Some are tan, some are a dark beige. I have a gray pair of breeches somewhere.”

“Oh. My. Goddess.” I stared. “No wonder your sisters took drastic measures! They should have burned them!”