But maybe that wasn’t the wisest topic.
So she said the next thing on her mind. “My family. I miss them sometimes so much. Like tonight when the stars are so clear. I know my dad is here on Kingdom, and I can’t help but wonder if he’s looking at the same sky I am.”
His smile warmed her to her toes. “I’m sure that he is. How much longer until your release?”
“Twenty long, frustrating years.” She nibbled on her bottom lip, fighting the heat of tears burning her eyes. But they weren’t just for her parents. “An eternity.”
“No.” He grabbed her cold hands with his warm ones and brought them to his lips. “They need not be. Speaking from experience, sometimes it is possible to find joy even in the sorrow.”
She slipped one of her hands out of his and framed his face. So many words battled for dominance on her tongue, but she refused to speak them.
“I’m sorry that you live as you do.”
He shrugged. “Some days I am. But most days, I don’t mind it.”
“Then why?” She shook her head. “Why the urge to take Crispin down?”
Robin took a curl of her hair and wrapped it gently around his finger over and over again. The motion was very soothing and lulled her into a peaceful sort of trance.
“I have my reasons, though I think I should wait to tell them until you’ve seen him in person. More impact that way.”
“You plan to show him to me?” She cocked her head. “When?”
He took a deep breath, moving his hand off her, and she wanted to tell him not to stop touching her, but she didn’t.
“As I told you earlier, you’ll be getting a new gown, pet. But it is for a ball that Crispin is throwing a day from now. There, you shall finally meet him. And then I think my reasons will become abundantly clear.”
Wishes.
He’d finally be using them.
She’d prepared herself for this moment. Prepared herself for the fact that once he did, she’d be gone. But she’d not been as prepared as she’d hoped, because the sudden knifing pain to her heart made her want to cry.
The thought of being tossed once again to the wolves, to the whim of one careless master after another, it was like a red-hot poker to the chest. She sniffed.
“What is it?” he asked, his piercing stare making her skin shiver with prickles of awareness.
Closing her eyes, she lay down and placed her head on her bicep. “Nothing. I’m just tired, I think.”
She was moved into the shelter of his body, and a deerskin was draped over the both of them. For a second Nixie thought about moving away, but then decided she was too tired to fight this.
She’d be leaving soon. And the only things that would help her get through it would be her memories, so she might as well make the best of them while she could.
Wrapping her arm around the one he’d banded about her waist, she tossed her leg over his and snuggled deeper into him.
“If I only had one wish…” she mumbled sleepily.
And just as she was about to fall asleep, when her mind was hazy and full of that twilight between dreaming and awake, she felt a soft kiss on her temple and words that whispered, “With all my heart, my pet. All my heart.”
*
Robin had sent a man to buy the clothes for Nixie and himself. He’d not thought it wise, considering what they had planned this evening, to go down to the vendors themselves. He was going to take no chances of their getting caught.
But that also meant he had no control over the costumes that’d been chosen. He stared at the skimpy fabric of Nixie’s dress and grimaced.
“This leaves nothing to the imagination.”
Laughing, she snatched it out of his hand. “I think it’s kind of pretty, actually. You should see the stuff back on Earth. I think it might even make you blush, Robin.”
With a wink, she flicked her finger. “Now turn around so that I can dress.”
“As my pet bids, I do.” He bowed deeply.
Though this wasn’t a date by any means, he found himself oddly looking forward to taking his lady to the ball, to holding her body close, and swaying in time to the songs. If all went according to plan, not only would he take his brother down, but he’d be keeping Nixie for his own till the end of time.
There was a quick shuffle of clothes and then she said, “Okay, I’m decent. Or, well…I’m clothed at least.”
He turned around, and his heart slid into his throat at the sight of her.
She was a vision in red chiffon. Her perfect body on display for him to see. She traced the face of her peacock’s mask she held in one hand and smiled back at him. “Now it’s your turn. I’m sure the others will be waiting for us.”
Jerked back to the present, he nodded. The immediacy of the moment came back in a flash. “About the others. We’re all going in separately. It’s the best way.”
She smiled. “You’re probably right, I’ve never been really good at playing spy. Okay, well, still, you should change now. Or, you know what they say, the clock will strike midnight—”