I found her in the hallway of the west wing.
The floor beneath my feet had a transparent, slightly reddish film that crunched when stepped on. The nobles passing through the corridor used the walls as handrails to avoid slipping. Some pretended to read notices. Others feigned ignorance and kept walking without looking at her.
She was at the far end. Standing in front of the door to her private room. Arms crossed. Chin high. Her garnet Empero spilled from her body in slow waves like a sigh of vapor, tinting the air a dark red that extended even onto the walls of the corridor.
Her garnet eyes found me. There I could catch a certain moisture, but not from sadness.
Was that jealousy?
"Dariel."
My name in her mouth sounded as beautiful as a bird's song at dawn.
"Lianza."
"Where were you?"
"I had an errand."
"An errand." Her eyes dropped to my neck. Ardwyn's mark, purple against my skin, was visible from several meters away. "Did that errand leave that on your throat?"
"It was a misunderstanding."
"A misunderstanding. With the crown prince. On the stairs of the south wing. Where the commoner everyone is talking about was."
I stayed silent for a few seconds.
"Who told you?" I finally blurted.
"All of Mayorka, Dariel." Her voice didn't rise. That was dangerous. When Lianza yelled, the situation was manageable. But when she lowered her tone... you had to be prepared for whatever came next. "The prince catches the new girl. You appear out of nowhere. You tell her she's an angel..."
"Lianza..."
"I'm not finished. Don't interrupt me, Elcronne."
"The prince lifts you by the neck. And I find out from a countess passing through the garden."
"Lianza..."
"I recall saying for you to remain silent."
She grabbed my forearm. The touch of her fingers was cold. She dragged me down the hallway. The nobles stepped aside. Three steps. Five. Seven. We reached the door. She shoved it open. She pushed me inside.
She slammed it shut.
The room was small. A well-varnished wooden desk. Two armchairs. A bookshelf with books underlined three times each. The curtains drawn. Light from the interior garden filtered narrowly through a window at the back, with yellow beams that gave it an air of majesty, like a photograph frozen in time.
Lianza stayed with her back to me. Her shoulders rose and fell. The garnet Empero trembled around her. It oscillated between dense and faint, unstable, reflecting something she didn't know how to contain.
"Lianza. Listen to me."
"You listen to me." She turned.
The pout on her lips started to tremble. Her eyebrows grew moist again.
"You told her she was an angel," she whispered. Her voice cracked in two. "To a girl you had just met. You told her she was an angel, Dariel."
"It was..."
"I don't care what it was." She brought her hand to her chest. Her fingers closed over the fabric of her dress. "They told me you looked at her. That you touched her hand. That the prince had to grab you by the neck because you were... because you were..."
She didn't finish. Her pout intensified. Small. Involuntary. It wrinkled her nose and tucked in her lower lip.
The woman who made countesses cry with a single glance was pouting in front of me.
"I didn't look at her."
"They told me you did."
"Half of what they told you are lies."
"And the other half?"
"Exaggerations."
Her shoulders slumped. She let herself fall on the edge of the desk. Her hands trembled in her lap.
"It's just..." her voice came out small, so small it didn't seem like hers. "It's just that it's not fair. I only have you. Only you. And if you also go off with someone else..."
I walked toward her. One step. Another. The footsteps echoed in the small room. Until I was close enough to see that her eyelashes were glistening from how wet they were.
"Lianza."
She knit her eyebrows slightly.
"What."
I took her chin and lifted her gaze to mine. Delicately, like touching the petal of a rose that had just bloomed in spring.
"That girl doesn't even reach the heel of your shoe."
"Don't say that if you don't..."
"I'm saying it because it's the truth," I interrupted her. Now it was my turn to advance.
I lifted my hand from her chin to her cheek, amidst caresses. Beneath the cold of her face, something pulsed. Warm. Constant. Uniquely hers. "I said a stupid line. The stupidest I've ever said in my life. And I did it because I had to. It's something I can't explain to you. But I promise you it wasn't because of her."
"Then why?"
"Because... Because I protect you, Lianza. In my own way. Even if you can't see it and you doubt me."
She closed her eyes. A tear ran down her cheek until it crashed against my fingers. I dried it with my thumb.
"You're an idiot."
By this point, my heart was torn between uncontrollable somersaults or melting entirely.
"I know..."
"An idiot who calls the first girl he sees an angel."
"An idiot who calls her an angel because they're the lowest in the hierarchy of the heavens. That's the place a commoner deserves. Because true beauty and power is destined for seraphim, the rulers of the heavens."
"Like the one my eyes see right now."
She opened her eyes. She tilted her head slightly, exposing her neck. The pout was still there.
I kissed her.
I couldn't help it.
It was clumsy. A bit desperate. Her lips soaked in a cold moisture, and mine in a warm one. The boundary between both dissolved. Her hands went up to my neck, brushing Ardwyn's marks, and squeezed. I pinned her against the desk. Her hips hit the edge. A book fell to the floor. She didn't care. Her fingers tangled in my hair, pulling, bringing me closer to her.
I bit her lower lip. Not hard enough to break it, but enough to show her the passion I felt for her.
"Dariel," she gasped.
"What."
"Keep going. Don't stop."
[STOP! Stop, stop, stop!]
[History class starts in 10 minutes. Professor Vauxol doesn't accept tardiness. Nor excuses. Nor swollen lips.]
[If you're late, Lianza loses her preferred seat and will be relocated next to Prince Ardwyn. Do you want that, Romeo? 😊]
I pulled away. The air hit my lips. She blinked, dazed. Glassy eyes. Pink lips; slightly red from my bite.
"We have to go to class."
"What."
"History. Ten minutes."
"I don't care about history."
It was a lie. Lianza loved books and knew by heart all the great events of Earolden almost as well as I knew this novel.
"You should. If we're late, they'll seat you next to Ardwyn."
That snapped her out of it. She straightened her back. She smoothed her hair and touched her lips.
"You left my lip swollen."
"I know."
"It's your fault."
"I know."
"And you're an idiot."
"You already said that."
"I'll repeat it as many times as necessary."
She stood up. She adjusted her dress. She picked up the book from the floor. She walked toward the door.
Before opening it, she stopped. She turned her head. She looked at me over her shoulder. The corner of her lips rose a millimeter.
"Ten minutes. You have ten minutes to make it worth having stopped."