The Twisted Way (Champions of the Crystal Book 3)

Chapter 13.1

When the dance was over, Sabrina fulfilled her promise, then turned to search for the General, who had passed most of the evening in conversation with various military officers. Right now he had corralled Scotty and was making the young man blush as he related a tale to Mukryilla. Sabrina's curiosity as well as her duty drew her toward them, but halfway there she saw Tassan, looking uncomfortable and severe in his formal attire. She willingly took a few steps out of her way and smiled at him. "Citizen Nikolar, I'm glad to see you here. I can't seem to pry the General away from the clutches of the military; will you take pity on me and dance with me?"

He gave her a wry bow. "As if that will not make me the envy of every man here! I would be honored."

They headed for the dance floor as the music began, but before they reached it, Tassan pulled Sabrina to a halt. "Not this dance," he said. "It is for married and betrothed couples only. We call it the carassonna."

"Oh," she said in disappointment, drawn by the soft, gentle lilt of the music. Sure enough, only married couples and those who had publicly announced their betrothal took the floor, Leran and Selémahs prominent among them. She noticed Sehaèri standing nearby, looking longingly at Miosch. Sabrina sighed, and Tassan looked down at her, then followed her gaze.

"Thinking of your own betrothal?" he inquired, his voice edged.

"What? Oh! No. I'm not going to marry him, or anyone," Sabrina said, laughing a little. "Not while I'm Regent, anyway. And I hope soon to be able to approve Miosch's marriage to Princess Sehaèri, my Mistress of the Household. I do not think I am at all cut out to be any Miahn's wife." She glanced up at him, wondering at the reason for his sudden dark mood. "Are...are you remembering? Oh, I'm so sorry. Forget I said that," she gasped out, appalled.

Strangely, he did not seem offended; in fact his mood seemed to lighten a little. "You mean Ambria? You are very well informed. No, I was not thinking of her, though perhaps I should have been. I never saw her in a setting such as this. Our betrothal dance, if we had had one, would have been around a campfire in one of our hideaways, no doubt. As it happened, we agreed that to make any commitments during the War was absurd. And we were right." His lips tightened. "We agreed that to be married, to have children in the midst of that madness would have been criminal. I still think that. Only sometimes, when I miss her most, I regret having nothing left of her but memories."

Sabrina laid a hand on his arm in sympathy. "I know," she said. "When you are grieving, you cast around for something to hang on to, something to keep the memories alive. And later, much later, you realize that the gift they left you was something inside yourself. Part of who you are. And you have to cherish that."

"I never thought of it that way," he said, looking down at her in surprise. "And yet I know that knowing Ambria changed me, and for the better."

Sabrina sighed again, looking out over the happy couples swirling in time to the music. "I hope there will be someone to say the same of me."

"You have a planetful of people to say the same of you already. And in the long years before your death you will doubtless amass an equal number more."

The dance ended, and the orchestra struck up a livelier tune. Tassan led Sabrina onto the floor, and they carefully made their way through the first figure of the unfamiliar dance. It was a while before they were near enough, and comfortable enough with the steps, to talk again. "Do you sing?" Sabrina asked.

He looked startled. "Not well. Why?"

She had to turn from him, circling the man on her left, but when they came together again in the dance she said softly, "Sing for me. At my funeral. Please."