Page 19 of The Rake and the Cake

A fair assessment, though Brook couldn’t quite admit it aloud. “Will I fare as well with your family?”

“Oh, at least. Though they may be too shocked to respond at all.”

“Do they really expect you not to settle down? To have a family?”

Aisling shrugged. “I never really saw the point of it. Darra’s life seems so…” She wrinkled up her nose.

“Boring?”

“Constraining,” Aisling decided, sticking out her little chin defiantly. “I’ve always done everything on my own, and I’m fine.”

“Well…” Brook instinctively proceeded with caution here. “If you had a little help, you might be able to treat yourself to nights like this more often.”

“You hate this,” Aisling said.

“But you don’t.” It was obvious in her wide-eyed stare, her ever-present smile, her eagerness to engage with strangers.

“I don’t. And I feel better about the dress now.”

“Good.” Brook smiled with satisfaction. “Really, I don’t even hate this, tonight. It’s worth it to see you stun them all.”

“I’ve been called many things, but never stunning.” Her tail swiped from side to side behind her, like a curious cat’s.

“Well, now you have been.” Brook leaned down and brushed her lips over the tip of Aisling’s upturned nose.

Aisling blinked rapidly, chest heaving in a deep sigh.

Brook suddenly felt a touch weak in the knees. She drained her glass and held out her hand. “Shall we dance?”

Aisling glanced toward the center of the pavilion, where the exhibition was still ongoing, and then back. “Now?”

“Why not?”

Aisling laughed out loud but covered her mouth with her free hand to stop it. “No one else is!”

Brook leaned down and said into her ear, “Want to disappear?”

Aisling pulled back, looked her in the eye, and with zero hesitation said, “Can we?”

Brook wound an arm around Aisling’s cinched waist and pulled her close. Even cleaned up and trussed like a princess, Aisling still smelled faintly of berries and honey; she probably tasted like it too. Brook pulled her magic cloak around them both, murmuring the spell until they faded out of the world, light wrapped tight around them.

Aisling gasped, a puff of air against Brook’s chest. “I can’t see myself!”

“Well, no.” Brook tightened the arm around Aisling’s waist to anchor her. “That’s the idea.”

“I didn’t know you were invisible to yourself when you did this.”

“Yes. I completely disappear. Isn’t it lovely?”

“I rather miss seeing you. But yes, it is, otherwise.”

“Mind if I lead?” Brook asked, already taking the first steps of a waltz.

Aisling, already following, laughed and said, “Please do.”

Brook led her carefully at first, dancing past gossiping elves and papier-mache clockwork décor. Aisling was light on her feet and gave the loveliest little trill of a laugh when Brook twirled her around and then back again. She felt tiny in Brook’s arms, and yet even unseen her presence was soft, inviting, warm, sweet. Calming even here, in the middle of the very thing Brook had spent her life hiding from: a formal party where so very much was expected of her.

Brook danced them around the pavilion’s edges, then brought them to a close as the music stopped. “Shall we reappear?”