Folding the Sky

-55-

Zuri hadn't thought Celandine Castle could get any more beautiful, but alas, it evolved at night. The high glass walls showcased a dark sky full of white-hot stars, rivaling the golden light of the five glittering chandeliers that hung from the ceiling of the ballroom. The marble floors were painted like frescoes: cherubic angels and ornate reddish suns beside cold, demure crescent moons. It was as though the hundreds of people gathered there for the banquet danced across the surface of the universe itself.

It was the second time Zuri had been forced to don an evening gown in the past month, and yet she still wasn't any more comfortable with it. This one—Kalindi had helped pick it—was deep sapphire satin, with bell sleeves and a neckline that formed the delicate shape of a heart. She lingered near the ivy-decorated fountain at one of the ballroom's far corners, her hands interlaced in front of her, her eyes tracing the decorous gowns and suits of the visitors around her.

It was supposed to be a celebration. Celebrating her, even. But instead Zuri just felt squeamish.

"Zuri?" It was Sorin, appearing at her side, two champagne glasses filled with something purple and fizzy in his hands. "Here. For you."

She took the one he handed to her, but not without frowning at it. "What is it?"

Sorin hesitated. "I'm not sure, but I think it's grape-flavored."

"You're just saying that because it's purple."

Sorin fussed with one of his cuff links, looking away. "Perhaps."

Zuri rolled her eyes, but she was smiling as she leaned to set her glass down on the fountain's edge. "Come here for a second, you," she said, taking him by the shoulders and turning him towards her. "Your tie's awfully crooked. Did you tie it with your eyes closed?"

"Ha, ha. A natural comic," Sorin said, and Zuri felt his eyes on her as she reached up, unraveling the knot and tying it again, pushing it up closer to the collar of his dress shirt, also a sapphire blue. He'd borrowed it from Asante, who was mingling around the ballroom somewhere, though Zuri had lost track of him ten minutes ago.

"There," Zuri said, patting his chest. She looked up, combing back a strand of his hair that gone awry. "Now you look like a proper gentleman."

"Disgusting," he said with an exaggerated scowl, but soon his face was serious again. He leaned in, his lips hovering just above Zuri's ear. "You're breathtaking, by the way. I've always thought so."

He stepped back again, a smirk forming at his lips when he noticed the flush the words had brought to Zuri's cheeks. She should've known that was the reaction he was aiming for the whole time.

"What's the matter?" he taunted then, pressing the back of his hand to her forehead, his eyes round with a mock concern. "Are you feverish all of a sudden? Should I take you home?"

"Damn you, Sorin."

"Pardon me, miss," said Aldric, joining them with a pleased, albeit mischievous smirk on his face, his own glass of grape-flavored something perched within his fingers. "Is this guy bothering you?"