72. The house of Vulpent

Ada's mouth fell open. If she had thought Lark to look like a summer prince, then Raeph was a creature not of nobility, but divinity. He had emerged from the depths of winter, freshest snow overlain with darkest night. His eyes were wide, shifting to the floor when they met with Ada's, and his lips were moving.

"Please." Barely a breath.

He offered to her an upturned hand, long shirt sleeve and unbuttoned cuff tumbling past his wrist. He was the picture of effortless elegance, far taller than Ada, but with his head bent down as if in supplication.

"Ok," Ada breathed back, feeling at once as if she had said pathetically little, yet agreed to far too much.

Still, she reached out and placed her hand in his, no longer shaking as their fingers entwined. He led her into the ballroom like a sleepwalker; escaped from a nightmare, though far from a dream. Fae on every side of them were staring, some with unconcealed shock as Raeph brought Ada to his chest.

"I'm not supposed to be noticed," Ada whispered, letting Raeph gently set her hand on his shoulder, whilst his own drifted down to her waist. His other hand remained within hers, clasped ever tighter as another fear came over Ada. "And I don't know how to dance."

"It's not the dancing that holds my interest," Raeph said. "Nor anyone else's, I expect."

His eyes broke from Ada momentarily to glance at the closest couples. The fae shrunk away immediately, just as they had done for Diane and the General. It didn't help to keep attention from them, but at least Ada felt she could speak without the worry of being overheard.

"This was a bad idea," she said, not quite able to remove herself from his arms.

"Yes," agreed Raeph, holding her closer even as he grimaced. "You shouldn't have come here. Everyone in this room would kill you in a second if they knew what you were. Though they would doubtless have a little fun with you first."

"I can handle myself," Ada replied sharply.

Raeph's hold softened. "I know."

"If you came here to force me to leave, I can save you the trouble and let you know that you can't," Ada continued, more warily now.

Raeph gave a bitter laugh. "I didn't come to force you into anything, and I regret that that is the impression I have given you."

"Then why come?" Ada asked, watching unruly lengths of hair tumble into Raeph's eyes as he shook his head.

"You'll think me mad," Raeph said, almost to himself.

"Perhaps I do already," Ada said,  losing her breath when Raeph's head fell forward, his nose brushing the tip of her ear.

He smiled against her cheek, teeth grazing her jaw as she suppressed a shiver.

"I came," he whispered, "because I wanted to dance with you. Because I knew that people would stare and slander, but the chance to hold you was too tempting."

He was looking down at her again, and all she could see were the dark depths of his eyes. His breath fanned across her face, and Ada could smell the tart tang of mulberry wine. But he stared as if she was the one to intoxicate him, all his thoughts scattering as they simply swayed together.

"I have no restraint when it comes to you, Ada."

"Raeph..." Ada watched his pupils blow large as she said his name, black and boundless.

"I was afraid that you would come," he admitted, both hands now wrapping an easy circle around her waist. "I've been wondering if I shouldn't have told you about tonight. If it was my senseless lack of restraint that would place you in danger."

The corset seemed to be growing tighter around Ada's ribcage, and she could feel Raeph's fingers threading through its strings. She quivered as his lips found the soft spot beneath her ear and he continued, "If I shouldn't have locked you in that attic and kept you for myself."

His loose cravat fluttered as they danced, brushing her neck, never quite falling. It reminded Ada of the mask that Raeph had once worn across his mouth, and she longed to slide her fingers up his chest and tug free the cravat. Let it fall away at last.

She slipped her hands higher, fingertips brushing bare chest beneath his unbuttoned shirt. A groan rumbled in the back of Raeph's throat, and his hands were abruptly around her arms, as if her touch was too intense for him to handle. His sleeves tumbled to his elbows, muscles rippling beneath skin, a green ribbon tied around his wrist.

"That's..." Ada said slowly. "That's mine."

Raeph looked away and his voice became strained. "The night the Bonneville burnt down."

He offered no more explanation, but Ada knew. She knew that when Raeph had leapt into the burning remnants of the Bonneville he had stopped in her room, despite her insistence that she had left nothing there. Despite the floor caving in beneath him. He had gone to her room and recovered pieces of her life that she had forgotten, and he had kept them with him.

Ada tried to say his name again, but her mouth had turned dry. Instead, she tugged a hand free and moved it upwards again, feeling a shudder run down Raeph's neck as her fingers curled into his hair. She gently turned his head towards her, his eyes pierced through with shards of moonlight.

He said softly, "I cannot force you, but I must still ask. Leave, now, and spare me this torment."

Ada grasped for words. "I can't leave. Diane is here and she's going to get a key for beneath the Barracks."

"I'll go," Raeph replied quickly. "Neither of you knows what could be down there."

Ada shook her head. "You said it yourself — everyone is watching you. They would notice if you left. And besides, the Hounds are celebrating up here, so it's probably the best time to search for Solen... Will you trust me?"

Raeph's face twisted, as though he wanted to tear down the curtains and shatter the chandelier. Eventually he said, "You must leave just as soon as you recover her, though the only entrance into the Barracks is the main doors. Find me here when you have Solen, and I will help you leave together."

"What about you?" Ada demanded.

They stared at one another a moment more, the air between them seeming to grow hotter with each breath.

"It is strange," Raeph murmured, "for you to see me where I despise myself most, and yet still worry for my sake."

"Come with me," Ada breathed. "We can leave here afterwards, just the two of us. No Hounds, no Stone Circle. Just us. We can finish all of this. Together."

Ada was sure Raeph could feel her heart hammering against his chest. She tilted her head and he was so close. Close enough that the world fell out of focus.

"Would it be foolish of me to kiss you?"

Raeph's lips almost moved Ada's as he asked, his eyes shut as though in pain. He kept his head perfectly still, although Ada desperately wanted him to move that single inch. To press his mouth to hers. She wanted to taste the mulberry wine on his tongue and see if she liked it any better in that ruinous form.

"Yes," she whispered, and after a heartbeat, Raeph pulled his head back.

The violinists played on. Their dance continued. Ada felt taut enough to snap, every part of her a string tightened to Raeph, their distance an ache she felt within her.

"Know that I would have done it," Raeph murmured, wine turned to venom in his mouth. "Know that if I was dancing with you in some other time and place⁠ —not here, where they use every small thing against me—but somewhere we were free to act as ourselves. Know that I would have kissed you. Held you. Been with you for every damn second my life would allow."

Ada struggled for breath as she looked up into Raeph's wretched expression. Whilst pressed so closely, it felt as though she had not noticed a crack turn into a chasm beneath them. She reached for him across the eclipsing emptiness, but he was turning away.

"I must apologise. I should never have come near you, and you are too kind to indulge me now. You'll end up hurt, or worse, with me at your side. I will not put you in that danger any longer."

The violinists had reached a shrill pitch, their note pulsing through the air as tears burned in the corners of Ada's eyes.

"Raeph," she gasped. But the violinists had drawn their final note, and before it could fade, he had dropped Ada's hand and strode away.

The attention of the dancers went with him, some whispering to their neighbours as he passed, others scurrying from his path. Ada was clearly no longer of interest, and so she straightened her gown and walked back towards her discarded goblet. She wasn't sure if she wanted another drink, or to throw the decanter through the window.

But before she could decide, the sound of shattering glass came instead from the far corner of the ballroom. A man stood beside the banquet table, the stem of a goblet crushed within his fist, crystal fragments breaking around his polished boots. He wore a courtly black jacket, cuffed and collared in red fur to match his long hair, and his sharp ears were hung with a fortune of gold. A sneer made his pointed face cruel, mirroring the golden fox embroidered upon his lapel.

"Father," said Lark, standing before him.