Chapter 1141: What the Room Sees

Lucavion noticed her before she reached him.

That much hardly surprised Elara anymore.

He stood near the edge of the Floor while the Rotunda settled into the interval between Measures, one hand resting inside his pocket. Attendants had entered the outer ring with refreshments, and above them the musicians exchanged sheets beneath a quieter melody meant to cover the break.

His eyes found her through all of it.

Then his mouth curved.

"Well?"

Elara stopped before him. "Well, what?"

"You looked like you were coming here with purpose."

"I was."

"That sounds dangerous."

She ignored that and glanced toward the eastern side of the Salon. Lianne had already rejoined the two girls Elara remembered from the previous day. Whatever had happened during the dance, she had left it more thoughtful than she entered it.

"What did you talk about?"

Lucavion looked mildly surprised by the question. "That was your purpose?"

"Yes."

"Nothing important."

Elara did not believe him.

She told him as much, pointing out that Lianne had approached looking prepared to test him and returned smiling. Lucavion, with characteristic modesty, observed that many people smiled after speaking with him.

"That is an impressive interpretation of your social life."

A quiet laugh escaped him.

Elara continued before he could enjoy himself too much. "The way she was watching you changed."

"Oh."

She immediately disliked that sound.

Lucavion turned his head slightly toward her. "You were watching me the entire time."

"You already knew I was watching you."

"Well..." His gaze lingered on her face. "If you look at me with that much attention, my senses are going to notice eventually."

"With what much attention?"

"Exactly."

Elara folded her arms.

His smile deepened.

"Though isn’t that a little disrespectful to your partner?"

She gave him a short laugh. "You are saying that?"

"Why shouldn’t I?"

"You looked at me while dancing with Lianne."

"A glance."

"You mouthed an entire sentence."

"That was concern."

"For me?"

"For your examination score."

The shamelessness of the answer nearly impressed her.

Nearly.

Still, one useful piece had slipped through the teasing. Lucavion admitted that he had suspected Lianne intended to embarrass him. The choice itself had given her away: among forty-eight students, after everything that had happened during the Entrance Banquet, she had selected him and immediately opened with the harder variation.

"She may simply have wanted an interesting partner."

"I considered that too."

"That rather weakens your argument."

"I am capable of considering more than one possibility."

"How impressive."

"It takes training."

Her mouth almost moved before she stopped it.

Across the Salon, Lianne happened to look their way. Lucavion met her gaze, and the two exchanged a small inclination of the head.

Elara watched it.

The mirrored panels around the Floor caught the three of them from different angles. Other students were beginning to drift back from the refreshment tables, and more than one glance passed over Lucavion and Elara before moving elsewhere.

Julen’s warning returned with inconvenient timing.

"That is not how a neutral House behaves."

Elowyn Caerlin had already spent enough time near Lucavion to invite speculation. Approaching him again during the interlude certainly would not help.

Yet another question had been irritating her for several minutes.

"What did you say to her at the end?"

Lucavion looked back at her. "You’re still curious?"

"Yes."

"You are persistent."

"You are evasive."

"I complimented her."

That caught her.

"What did you compliment?"

He considered her for a moment, apparently deciding exactly how troublesome he wished to be.

"I don’t think I’ll tell you."

"You brought up the compliment."

"I told you one existed."

"That is an incredibly convenient distinction."

"I thought so too."

Elara stared at him.

Lucavion glanced once toward Lianne. "Some things are better kept between the people involved."

Her arms tightened across her chest.

Between the people involved?

They had danced for several minutes.

"So you became that close to her already?"

"When did I say that?"

"You are suddenly protecting a private exchange as though it were some treasured secret."

His smile widened. "Lady Elowyn, your imagination is becoming dangerous."

"Did you fall for her just by dancing with her?"

The words left before Elara decided whether they deserved to.

Lucavion went quiet.

A few notes of the interlude melody passed between them before he chuckled.

"Heh... Is that how you interpret it?"

Elara narrowed her eyes. "Isn’t that what you are trying to lead me to?"

"Of course not."

"Is that so?"

"Yep."

That effortless certainty finally made her realize where the conversation had gone.

She had approached to learn what happened during his dance with Lianne. Somehow Lucavion had maneuvered matters until she was asking whether he had fallen for the woman after one Measure, while he stood there thoroughly entertained by the accusation.

Further questioning would only reward him.

Elara turned her attention toward the Floor.

Beside her, Lucavion began humming.

The sound was low enough to disappear beneath the surrounding conversations, yet he followed the melody cleanly, including the small rise before the closing phrase.

Elara looked sideways.

There it was again.

His dance had carried habits that belonged somewhere beyond the lessons a commoner entrant should have received. Now an Arcanian salon melody sat comfortably enough in his memory that he could follow it without effort.

Whether he remembered where he had learned such things remained another question entirely.

The musicians brought the interlude toward its close. Attendants withdrew from the Floor, students returned to the inner ring, and the final violin note thinned into silence.

The senior instructor stepped forward.

"The First Measure is concluded."

A low chime answered him.

"Your positions will now reverse. Those who held Initiative will receive Response. Those who held Response will now possess Initiative."

Warmth passed across Elara’s palm.

Her Role Seal opened.

RESPONSE

The dossier beneath it had changed with the room.

Lady Elise Maraven no longer needed to seek an advantageous partner. Elara’s task now concerned the invitations that came to her: which associations preserved Maraven’s political flexibility, and which tied the House too visibly toward a particular circle.

Her earlier dance with Julen had already entered the social record. So had Ildic Varenn’s courteous refusal.

The objective remained broad enough.

Maintain flexibility. Accept a useful association where appropriate. Avoid making Maraven appear unnecessarily committed.

Elara began reading the newly added Houses.

Then she noticed Lucavion had not opened his seal.

He remained beside her exactly as before, one hand inside his pocket while Initiative holders around the Salon studied their dossiers and began choosing partners.

"What are you doing?"

He looked over. "Standing."

"I can see that."

"Excellent."

Elara pointed toward the seal closed against his palm. "Why aren’t you reading your seal?"

"Do I need to?"

"You have Initiative."

"I noticed."

"You are supposed to choose someone."

"Correct."

"And you intend to choose without knowing what the Rotunda wants?"

Lucavion finally looked down at the seal, though he made no effort to open it.

"I don’t need to do such a thing."

"Why?"

"Because I already know the person I want to invite."

Elara’s attention sharpened.

For reasons she declined to examine, one beat of her heart landed heavier than the last.

"You already chose someone?"

"Yes."

"Who?"

Lucavion gave her a side glance and nothing more.

Elara waited.

He remained perfectly comfortable with the silence.

Then his gaze returned to the Floor. "Someone who appeared rather bothered that my previous partner smiled when she left."

Elara turned fully toward him.

"Who said I was jealous?"

Lucavion looked back.

"And who said I was talking about you?"

Her mouth twitched.

Ah.

So that was how he wanted to play.

"Is that so?"

"Mm."

"Then perhaps I should leave you to your chosen partner."

Elara turned away before he could answer.

Someone else had already been watching her.

She had noticed him several times during the examination: a gaze lingering through Threshold, the same presence somewhere beyond the conversations during Table, his attention shifting whenever she happened to look across the Rotunda.

She had dismissed it before. Everyone watched everyone here.

Now the young man was walking toward her.

Elara looked at him properly.

She could place neither his face nor the name shining above his assigned identity. His clothing was formal without being ostentatious, and he crossed the Salon with the unhurried confidence of someone accustomed to gatherings like this. Students moved aside naturally as he passed.

His seal showed INITIATIVE.

Elara’s fingers rested against her own open dossier.

She had yet to finish reading the new associations. Still, there was no reason to bury herself in the seal while someone crossed the room to address her. She could hear his invitation first and decide from there.

Perhaps accepting him would even serve Maraven’s objective.

More interestingly, she might finally discover why he had spent so much of the examination watching her.

That was reason enough to listen.

Four paces remained.

Elara shifted toward him.

He noticed and adjusted his path.

Behind her, Lucavion remained silent.

Three paces.

The young man’s gaze met hers, and a courteous smile appeared.

Elara prepared to receive him.

—SWOOSH!

Air brushed across her side.

Lucavion moved through the passing students and curved around her before she properly registered the steps. One moment he had been behind her; the next he stood directly between her and the approaching Initiative holder.

The other young man stopped.

Elara stared at Lucavion’s back.

’This man...’

Then he straightened.

The lazy posture vanished beneath a movement so natural it only made his earlier refusal to behave properly more aggravating. One hand settled behind his back. The other extended toward her, palm open in the formal manner of an Initiator requesting the Measure.

"My lady."

Elara’s heart struck hard against her chest.

Lucavion met her eyes.

A trace of the earlier teasing remained there, though he made no joke of the invitation itself.

Behind him waited the stranger she had been prepared to evaluate.

Before her stood the man who had claimed he already knew whom he intended to invite.

Lucavion inclined his head.

"Would you grant me the Second Measure?"