Court Duel by Sherwood Smith Page B

slightly
    dizzy and almost said
Blue,
but I had just enough
    presence of mind to stop myself. Blue being the primary
    Renselaeus color, this might be misleading. "Lavender," I said.
    My voice sounded to my ears like a bat squeak.
    The music ended then, and he bowed over my hand and kissed
    it. Then he smiled into my eyes. "Will you wear it tomorrow?"
    he asked.
    "Certainly. Your grace," I managed.
    "Call me Russav." Another bow, and he turned away.
    "Here's Geral Keradec." Bran stepped up, took my arm, and
    turned me to face a tall red-haired young man. "Wants to dance
    with you, sister."
    Desperately I tried to clear my thoughts and respond
    correctly. Geral—he also insisted on abandoning tides
    right away—was funny, shy, and mild voiced. Encouraging
    him to talk, I discovered that he liked music and poetry, and
    that he was the heir to an old barony.
    And so it went for the remainder of the evening. I was never
    still, never had time to stop or sit down—or to think.
    Increasingly I felt as if I had stepped down from a quiet
    pathway expecting to encounter firm stones, but had instead
    tumbled into a fast-moving river.
    Twice I looked across the room to find Savona standing
    against the wall, his powerful arms crossed, watching me. When
    my eyes met his, he grinned. After the second time, I just had
    to know what the Marquis of Shevraeth made of all this, and I
    darted a fast glance at him under my partner's velvet-sleeved
    arm as we twirled.
    Shevraeth was in the dance at the other end of the room,
    conversing quietly with his partner. He seemed completely
    oblivious to everyone else.
    And the Marquise of Merindar was not there at all.
    NINE
    "SAVONA DIDN'T DANCE WITH ANYONE ELSE," NEE said.
    We were curled up in my sitting room. Outside the window,
    the garden was a silhouette in the faint blue light of
    dawn.
    "We only danced that once. But then he asked me that
    question about my favorite color," I said. "Ought I to wear it
    tonight?"
    She pursed her lips. "I'll wager my best necklace all the
    decorations in that ballroom tonight will be lavender, even if
    he has to empty the entire city today to find them. Did he say
    anything else?"
    "He asked me to call him Russav."
    Her eyes widened. "I don't think
anyone
calls him
    that—except for Vidanric, and sometimes Tamara. I think I
    told you that he inherited when his parents died under
    mysterious circumstances, when he was very small. We all grew
    up calling him Savona."
    "Well, I can't think of him as anything but Savona." Again
    that sense of rushing down a rock-strewn river engulfed me.
    "What does it all mean?"
    "It means you are going to be very, very popular," Nee
    predicted.
    "Is that it?" I said, frowning.
    "You mean, what does it signify in personal terms?" she
    asked, her brows rising. "That question, my dear, you are the
    one to answer, not I."
    "But I can't answer it," I wailed. "I feel like I'm in a
    whirlwind, and the wrong move will dash me on the rocks."
    "You'll learn how to maneuver as you steer your own course,"
    she said. "Everyone began with no experience."
    I shook my head. "I think that Savona was born with
    experience."
    She set her cup down. "He was always popular with the wilder
    children, the ones who liked dares and risks. He and Vidanric
    both. Only, Vidanric was so small and lightboned he had to work
    hard at it, while everything came easy to Savona, who was
    always bigger and faster and more coordinated than anyone else.
    I think it was the same when they discovered flirting—"
    She hesitated, then shrugged and closed her lips.
    And since the subject had come to include Shevraeth, I
    didn't want to pursue it. Ever since our conversation on our
    arrival at Athanarel, Nee had stopped talking about him. I told
    myself I didn't want to hear any more anyway.
    Now she drifted toward the door, her dressing gown trailing
    behind her. "We'd better get to sleep. We have a very long
    evening before us."
    I nodded, wishing her a good rest. As I