***
That night, Evan’s family came over for dinner. Sashe thought about changing her dress, but she decided against it. Everyone would notice. Instead, she asked Sierra to braid her hair. She sat in front of Sierra’s mirror as Sierra brushed through her hair. Their rooms were right next to each other, and they spent the night with each other just as often as they didn’t.
Sierra’s fingers combing through her hair felt so nice and relaxing. Sashe closed her eyes and tried to melt off her worry from their conversation in Alastor’s study.
They talked more about Seth as they got ready. Sierra seemed to be the only person who could distract her from morbid thoughts about the Protectors. Sashe had hardly concentrated during her afternoon lessons. She kept thinking of the Protectors coming to Rahuda and killing Natalia and Alastor. Or Dar or Evan. Would they hurt her and Sierra? They weren’t Avialies, and Sashe felt a small measure of relief that maybe they weren’t in danger, but even this relief brought on waves of guilt and shame. How could she—
Sierra pulled on her hair, breaking her out of her thoughts. “Did you hear what I said?”
“No, sorry.”
Sierra narrowed her eyes at Sashe’s reflection in the mirror. “You’re fretting over the Protectors, aren’t you?”
“No, I’m not,” Sashe snapped.
“Yes, you are. You fret over everything.” Sierra tied off her braid with a ribbon. “Finished.” She gave Sashe’s reflection an innocent smile. “Stay there, I’ll paint your face.”
“Don’t overdo it,” Sashe told her. “I don’t want to seem like I’m trying too hard.”
Sierra grinned at her as she sorted through the first drawer in her vanity. “You mean with Seth? Do you like him?”
Sashe grinned back at her. “I don’t know, all right? I hardly know him!”
Sierra laughed, then sat on her vanity and started painting Sashe’s face with make-up. Neither of them used it very often, but occasionally it could be useful. Sierra’s face was more round than Sashe, less angular, making her look younger than she actually was. Sashe was sure she’d grow out of it in a few years, as she had. They had very similar hair: dark brown, thick, and slightly wavy.
When Sierra was done, Sashe’s cheekbones looked more prominent, and she had dark paint on her eyes. “It looks great,” she told Sierra.
“How’s my hair?” Sierra asked, turning so her back faced Sashe. Just a bit of her hair was pulled back in a ribbon.
“It’s gorgeous,” Sashe said as she smoothed a small tangle out. “Come on, I think I heard them outside.”
When they went downstairs, Evan’s family and Seth were in the sitting room with Alastor and Natalia. Seth stood next to the fireplace with Evan and Alastor. He was cleaned up and, if it were actually possible, he looked even better than earlier. He had a clean white shirt on, the sleeves rolled up to above his elbows and the top open to show a glimpse of a fit chest. His black hair was still slightly damp, and a part of it kept falling in front of his eyes. Sashe tried not to stare, but she was pretty sure she failed. She didn’t feel so bad, though, because he stared at her, too, his lips slightly parted.
Natalia paused in her conversation with Evan’s parents as the girls came in. “Girls, where’s Dar?”
“I don’t know,” Sierra said, walking over to Seth. “Hi, Seth.”
“Sashe, will you go get him?” Natalia asked.
Sashe nodded. As she left, she caught Natalia’s amused look. She shook her head in the hallway. She wasn’t going to be that girl. She needed to act normal. Men and boys watched her as she passed, and she acted aloof, uncaring. That’s who she was, and one handsome newcomer wasn’t going to change that. Oh goodness, she was full of herself.
Dar was just walking out of his room as she came up. “Come on, Evan and the others are here,” she said.
They walked back down to the sitting room. Dar kept fiddling with his shirt.
“Are you nervous?” she asked, chuckling.
“No,” Dar said quickly. “Why? Should I be?”
Sashe laughed. “No, of course not.”
They entered the sitting room, and Natalia steered them over to where everyone else stood by the fireplace. “Seth, this is my son, Dar,” Natalia said.
The boys shook hands, mumbling greetings. Sashe wondered what Seth thought about meeting so many new people in one day.
“And Sashe said she and Sierra already met you,” Natalia said, putting her arm around Sashe’s waist.
Seth nodded. “They were at Evan’s earlier.”
She panicked for a moment, unsure whether to smile or look coy or incline her head. She couldn’t believe how stupid she was being. She smiled at him. “You look a lot cleaner now.”
He made a small bow, making her chuckle.
The rest of the night was mostly small talk. Seth didn’t speak much at the dinner table. When he did speak, he was polite and soft-spoken. Not the charming boy who smirked at her like they shared a secret.
After dinner, the adults retired to the sitting room. Alastor and Damon, Evan’s father, started political talk, and Lina, Evan’s mother, and Natalia chatted about the town. The teens sat around on the stiff couches and chairs. Sashe and Seth had been allowed some wine, and Sashe let Sierra drink some of hers when Natalia wasn’t watching.
Sierra made a face. “It’s so bitter!”
“It’s an acquired taste,” Seth said. He’d already finished two glasses.
Alastor’s voice raised suddenly. “I’m telling you, Damon, Jared will never stop working for the Protectors.”
Damon shushed him, glancing back at Seth. Seth took a long drink of his wine as the conversation in the room quieted.
“Let’s go outside,” Dar suggested.
“Yes, please, I’m so bored,” Sierra said, getting to her feet.
“We’re going to take a walk outside,” Dar told the adults. Lina and Natalia waved as the teens left, but the men were deep in conversation again. Seth stopped to fill up another glass of wine. Sashe scrutinized him as they trailed behind the others.
“What?” he asked. “Afraid I’m going to get drunk?”
“Should I be?” she asked.
He grinned. “No, I’ll be fine.”
They walked outside. It was a cool night, and the stars were bright in the black sky. Sierra gazed at them for a moment before following the others to the barn. They had converted a corner of the barn to their own personal space. The platform above the animals had snacks, games, and things they’d brought from the house. The boards were cleared of hay, and old blankets lay across the wood. Nevertheless, she always managed to find hay in her hair or on her dress after visiting this place. They spent hours here some nights, just the four of them. Some kind of silent agreement between them had allowed Seth into their secret place. He already seemed like one of them.
Evan, Sierra, and Dar were already up by the time Seth and Sashe got to the ladder. “Will you be all right in your dress?” Seth asked. In the dim light, she couldn’t tell if he was joking or was genuinely concerned.
“I’ll manage,” she told him. She motioned for him to go up. He went, holding his wine glass with one hand. Shaking her head, she followed after him.
After sitting down, he leaned against his back the side of the barn. “I thought you would have some room with diamond-encrusted chess games or something.”
Sashe chuckled as she sat down a few feet from him and folded her legs under her.
“We do have a couple rooms like that,” Dar said as he lit a lantern with his flint. “But don’t you like the smell of barn animals?”
Seth laughed loudly. Sashe wondered if he was drunk already. “Yeah, the best thing I’ve ever smelled,” he said.
Warm light flooded over them from Dar’s lantern. Evan fished through the trunk and brought out a loaf of week-old bread.
“Aren’t you full?” Sierra asked. “We just ate!”
“I’m ne
ver full,” Evan said as he ripped off a chunk of bread. He was fifteen years old and never seemed to stop eating. In the last year, he’d grown three or four inches, leaving poor Dar short and skinny. Sashe wouldn’t have minded maturing at fourteen—she had breasts much too early.
“What do you want to play?” Dar asked, looking through the trunk.
“Oh, damn,” Seth said quietly. Sashe glanced over at him. He tipped over his wine glass, and a lone drop fell onto the blanket. “All out.”
Sashe chuckled. “Don’t worry. Before long, we’ll probably start smuggling in liquor.”
“Smuggling,” Seth repeated. “Like you guys can’t do anything you want already.”
“What makes you think that?” Sashe asked, narrowing her eyes.
“This place is huge.” Seth motioned with his arms. “You even had servants for dinner!”
Sashe shrugged. She reached for her hair to play with it before remembering it was pulled back in a braid. “That’s what happens when you’re the governor and a lord.”
“Do you two want to play?” Sierra asked. They were setting up a card game.
Sashe half-glanced at Seth, who shook his head. “I’ll watch this one,” he said.
“Me, too,” she said, trying to sound casual. Sierra hid a grin behind her hand as she turned to Evan and told him he could start.
Seth turned to Sashe. “What did your parents do?”
Sashe moved a foot closer to Seth. Evan got loud and competitive during this game. It wouldn’t be long before he was yelling. “They were merchants,” she told Seth as she watched the others. “They sold perfumes. We had the biggest garden, with so many different flowers and scents.”
He didn’t respond, and she thought maybe he hadn’t been listening to her.
She glanced at him to find he was staring at her. Her face warmed. “What about your parents?” she asked. “What did they do?”
He turned his face from her, turning to look at the others. “They owned a bakery.”
He didn’t say anything else. She played with some stray hay on the blanket. “What did they make?”
He shrugged. “Bread, pastries, pies.” He paused. “My mom’s black cherry pie was the most popular in town. Everyone in our village loved it. She got the best cherries from Lina.”
Sashe smiled. Damon and Lina’s cherry orchard was world famous. Each year, they took their cherries and cherry-filled treats to Renaul for Victory Day and made the money that sustained them for most of the rest of the year.
“I just got here a couple days ago and I’m already sick of cherries,” Seth said with a dry laugh.
“I could never grow tired of cherries,” Sashe said, smiling.
“I didn’t think so, either. . .but they just make me think of my mother.”
Sashe’s smile faded, and she studied him. He stared down at his feet, his hair falling in front of his eyes again. She had a sudden urge to reach over and push it out of the way, but she kept her hands in her lap. “Is that so bad?” she asked quietly. “When I first moved here, I used to spend hours in the garden here to feel like I was at home.”
Seth slowly shook his head. “It’s bad.”
Sashe wasn’t sure what to say. As predicted, Evan was yelling at Sierra and Dar now, convinced they were cheating.
“I’m going to take a walk,” Seth said abruptly. He stood, walked past the others, and went to the edge of the platform. He disappeared down the ladder.
Sierra looked at Sashe, grinning, but Sashe avoided her eyes and smoothed down her dress. Then they heard a cry and a thud.
They rushed to the edge of the platform. Seth lay on the ground of the barn, groaning. Sashe pushed the others aside and went down the ladder. “What did you do?” she asked, stepping around him.
“Fell,” he said. “Twisted my ankle or something.”
She bent down and pulled his pant leg up. His ankle looked perfectly fine. She checked the other one. “You’re okay. There’s nothing wrong.”
He slowly sat up. “Are you sure you’re not a Thieran?”
She half-smiled. “I’m sure.”
“Are you okay, Seth?” Evan called down.
Seth waved his hand. “I’m fine. Probably had too much wine or something.”
“Come on, I’ll walk you back,” Sashe said, extending her hand for him.
He took it and pulled himself up, barely pulling on her arm. He stood inches from her, holding her hand, and her breath caught in her throat. She could smell the faint alcohol on his breath, and his eyes bore into hers. This far from the lantern, half of his face was cast in shadow, the other lit orange. She picked a piece of hay out of his hair, and he stared at it.
Evan whistled a catcall from above, and Sashe stepped away, dropping Seth’s hand. “Come on,” she repeated. She walked out of the barn, her face heating up as Sierra howled with laughter above them.
When they were out in the open, Seth gently caught her elbow.
She turned to him. “What?”
“Where are you going?”
She motioned to the manor.
“I don’t want to go inside.” He took a deep breath. “It’s a beautiful night.”
“Do you really think you should be walking around in the dark?” She crossed her arms. “After that fall you took?”
“How do you know I didn’t fall to get you out here with me?”
Her mouth fell open, and she shivered. She was sure it had nothing to do with the weather.
“I didn’t, by the way.” He winked at her, then motioned for her to follow.
“Where are you going?” she called after him.
“I don’t know,” he said with a shrug. “Take me somewhere neat.”
“I’m not going to walk off alone with you,” she said, shaking her head. A drunk sixteen-year-old alone with the pretty girl who’d been flirting with him all night—that was a great idea.
“Why not?”
“I hardly even know you!” She took a step back and glanced over her shoulder so she could see the platform where the others were.
He stared at her. In the dark, she couldn’t decipher his facial expression. He walked towards her slowly until he stood half a foot from her. “I’m sorry,” he said quietly.
She was taken aback by his apology. “For. . .?”
“I shouldn’t really. . .I shouldn’t have asked you to come with me. It’s not proper. We can go back inside.”
She fiddled with her hands, then forced herself to still them. “We could stay here in the barn,” she offered. She could hear Evan, Sierra and Dar behind them, laughing hysterically at something. Hopefully no longer at her and Seth.
Seth glanced back at the barn. “Yeah, okay.” He walked towards her and paused at the entrance. “I know you said you hardly know me, but. . .I feel like I know you. Even though we just met.”
Sashe smiled. “Well, I’m certainly looking forward to learn more about you.”
He smiled at her, too, as they went back into the barn. “Anything you want to know,” he said, “it’s yours.”