Chapter 1148: The One He Looked Toward

At the beginning of the Second Measure, before Lucavion drew Elowyn onto the Floor, Selphine had been waiting for Reilan to look away from her.

Until then, her examination had gone well. Threshold rewarded the ability to sort genuine influence from ornamental importance, while Table required much the same judgment after food, courtesy, and other people’s principles had been arranged between them. Selphine had abandoned one objective when pursuing it would have exposed an alliance another participant wanted concealed, redirected a disagreement into a useful introduction, and preserved enough social ground that the evaluators would have little reason to punish her.

The Floor was proving more difficult because she actually wanted something from it.

During the First Measure, Selphine had received Initiative and known immediately whom she intended to invite. Reilan fit her assigned objective well enough that no elaborate justification would have been necessary. She had closed her Role Seal, crossed two steps of the distance between them, and watched another woman reach him first.

Reilan accepted without hesitation.

He had no reason to know Selphine was approaching him, and expecting him to anticipate an invitation she had never spoken would have been foolish. She understood that perfectly. Understanding had merely failed to make the moment pleasant.

Selphine redirected herself before her third step became noticeable, completed the Measure with another partner, and gained a useful connection before the music ended. Nobody watching had any reason to suspect that her intended evening had changed.

Now their positions had reversed. Reilan possessed Initiative, while Selphine’s seal required her to wait for an invitation.

She could choose where to stand, make herself visible, and provide an opening. She could not seize him by the sleeve and announce that his objective had developed an urgent interest in her.

Tempting, perhaps. Procedurally questionable.

Reilan opened his seal and read it with the seriousness expected of someone who did not consider examination instructions an optional inconvenience. Then he looked up—and directly past Selphine.

His attention settled upon Elowyn.

The confrontation around her had already gathered half the Salon’s interest. Gervase de Warenne had challenged Lucavion’s invitation, the argument had sharpened into mana, and Lucavion had answered a suppression art by turning his blood into an ashen flower. Selphine had stopped attempting to predict him shortly afterward.

Elowyn had now accepted his hand. Gervase remained close enough to justify concern, and Reilan watched the three of them with the focus of someone accustomed to treating Elowyn’s safety as his responsibility. Selphine had observed that instinct often enough to recognize it, even if neither had explained where it came from.

Reilan’s shoulders tightened when Lucavion began positioning Elowyn for the opening phrase, and Selphine started walking.

If circumstances refused to become convenient, they could occasionally be encouraged.

She stopped beside him. "Reilan."

He turned toward her. "Selphine." His attention remained with her for perhaps a heartbeat before drifting past her shoulder again.

The movement contained no insult, which did little to improve it.

Selphine tilted her head toward the Floor. "Are you planning to spend the entire Second Measure standing here?"

Reilan answered too quickly. "No."

She waited. Reilan offered nothing further, apparently trusting that his denial had completed a conversation it had barely begun.

"Your seal gave you Initiative," Selphine reminded him. "Mine gave me Response."

His attention returned to her more fully. "I can see that."

"I am relieved," Selphine said, allowing the dryness to show.

Reilan studied her expression, aware he had missed something. "Did you need something?"

The honest answer was embarrassingly simple. ’For you to think of me first, perhaps.’

Selphine kept that answer where it belonged and indicated the waiting Floor instead. "You need a partner. I need an invitation. The Academy has rarely made a problem so cooperative."

Recognition changed his face. Then, just as quickly, his gaze moved past her again.

His mouth opened, though no answer followed. "I..."

Selphine gave him the space to attempt it. "You?"

Reilan looked toward Elowyn once more before managing, "I should remain nearby."

He knew how the reply sounded. The slight stiffness in his posture and the care with which he avoided Selphine’s eyes made that clear enough, but the brief loss of composure softened her irritation rather than deepening it. Reilan was not dismissing her. He was trying, somewhat unsuccessfully, to satisfy two obligations without naming either of them.

Selphine turned toward the neighboring circuit. Lucavion had taken Elowyn into the opening lift, while Gervase remained near the edge with whatever restraint his upbringing could still impose upon him.

"Then remain nearby," she said. "We can choose the inner line beside theirs."

Reilan looked at her.

"You are required to dance regardless," Selphine continued before protectiveness could become an argument. "Standing here will not improve your score, and following them around the Floor without a partner would create precisely the spectacle you are hoping to prevent. Dance with me, and you will remain close enough to intervene if something actually happens."

His gaze crossed the distance to Elowyn, then returned to Selphine. This time, it stayed.

Selphine held it without pleading or allowing irritation to sharpen her expression. She knew better than to ask people for affection by making refusal expensive.

"You’re right," Reilan said.

He straightened and extended his hand, recovering the formal certainty that had abandoned him a moment earlier. "My lady. Would you grant me the Second Measure?"

Selphine looked at his palm. She had wanted him to reach this point without being guided through every preceding step, but disappointment did not require her to reject what she had asked for.

Her fingers settled into his. "I would."

Gold traced briefly along the edges of their Role Seals, confirming the match before fading. Reilan led her toward the neighboring circuit, close enough to satisfy his concern without making that concern visible to everyone watching.

’Then, for a few minutes, look at me.’

The opening note sounded.

Reilan took the first step, and Selphine followed.

His dancing was exactly what she had expected: clean, measured, and properly paced. His hand carried enough pressure to guide without forcing, while his shoulders remained steady through the opening turn. He had clearly learned the forms young and, unlike Lucavion, appeared content to perform them as they had been taught.

Selphine found the predictability reassuring. She had experienced enough surprises for one evening.

"You dance well," she said as their hands rose between them.

Reilan turned her beneath his arm and received her smoothly on the other side. "So do you."

The answer was safe and pleasant. Selphine allowed it to be both.

Their conversation developed much like the dance itself, carefully at first, with Selphine supplying most of the direction. She asked about his Table, and Reilan admitted that he had abandoned one objective when the trouble required to complete it exceeded its value. When she suggested the Rotunda might be teaching him restraint, he regarded her for a long moment before asking whether she had insulted him.

"Why would you think that?" Selphine asked as they crossed into the next figure.

"You usually sound like that when you are being polite."

The observation surprised a laugh from her. "So you have been listening."

Something faint shifted around his mouth. The expression was too restrained to qualify as much in another person, but on Reilan it was unmistakably a smile.

Warmth replaced a little of the pressure beneath Selphine’s ribs.

She waited until the next recovery before asking, "And your first dance?"

Reilan guided her through another turn. "It was fine."

Selphine studied him upon the return. "Only fine?"

Reilan seemed to consider whether fairness demanded a more generous assessment. "She was competent."

Selphine almost laughed again. "I am certain she would be delighted to hear that."

His brows drew together. "I meant it positively."

Selphine’s smile remained. "I know."

That was precisely why it was amusing.

For several measures, Selphine allowed herself to enjoy the evening. The music was pleasant, Reilan’s movements were dependable, and when she spoke, he answered instead of allowing every sentence to die between them. She might have dragged him toward the invitation through logic and procedural necessity, but he was here now, smiling faintly when she teased him and paying enough attention to anticipate the smaller changes in her timing.

For those few minutes, that could be enough.

Then his hand stiffened against hers.

His head turned toward the neighboring circuit before Selphine followed the shift in his attention. Lucavion had drawn Elowyn close after one of their faster turns, his arm secure around her waist while he leaned near enough to speak beside her ear.

Against every expectation, Elowyn was smiling.

The expression held enough challenge to suggest that Lucavion had done something to earn it, but Reilan could not know that from this distance. He saw only their proximity and an ease Elowyn rarely allowed anyone to witness.

Selphine looked back at her partner.

Reilan had forgotten their conversation entirely.