Wildwood 1 - Wildwood Dancing by Juliet Marillier

Author:Juliet Marillier
Language: eng
Format: mobi
ISBN: 9780375849442
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2007-07-22T18:30:00+00:00

My heart, still thumping from Sorrow’s narrow escape, slowed with relief when Cezar left me to go off and find the quiet corner he had mentioned. I kept myself very busy: first chatting to Aunt Bogdana, then dancing with Rǎzvan and Daniel and some other young men, whose names I instantly forgot. Gogu’s comments were predictable:

Too tall, you’d get a sore neck just talking to him.

This one smells.

Lavender silk. What more need I say?

I imagined a different face on my partner: a tangle of dark hair, a sweet mouth, wary green eyes. Beside the man in Drǎguţa’s mirror, tonight’s collection of suitors seemed entirely without character. Then, in my imagination, I heard my sisters’ screams as the green-eyed man turned to something monstrous, and I knew how foolish it was to let myself think of him. Dark of the Moon had opened up a realm of peril—dream about it too much and I might be drawn into forgetting my sense of right and wrong. This world, I told myself sternly. These suitors, this life. If you want your family to be safe, if you want to protect Piscul Dracului, this is the way.

I kept watch over my sisters, something that was second nature from our visits to Dancing Glade. I spotted Tati and Stela retreating upstairs together—Stela stifling a yawn, Tati drifting along at her side. Iulia was talking to Rǎzvan. Whatever he was saying to her, it had coaxed a smile to her face.

The supply of pastries began to run short, and people still seemed to be hungry. I headed for the kitchen to check with Florica. As I entered the passageway, my cousin stepped out of the shadows and grabbed me by the arm, making me gasp in fright. There was nobody else around.

“Don’t do that!” I snapped as my heartbeat slowly returned to its normal pace.

“Are you trying to avoid me, Jena?” Cezar asked, not letting go. “I need to talk to you alone. I said so when we came inside, but you’re always somewhere else. Come and share some ţuicǎ. Rest for a little.” When I opened my mouth to tell him that Aunt Bogdana had asked me to come straight back, he added, “I have something to say to you. You must know what it is. Jena, this needs to be in private.”

I glanced around frantically. The sound of laughter and clinking platters filtered up from the party. From the other end, behind the closed kitchen doors, came the sound of scrubbing: Florica and her assistants, starting to clean up. In the middle, Cezar and I stood in our own little patch of awkward silence.

“If you’ve got something to say, better just go ahead,” I told him.

He had held on to my arm all this time. Now he grabbed the other arm as well. I had my back to the wall, and his face was unpleasantly close to mine. I could smell ţuicǎ on his breath. I gritted my teeth.

Get on with it, wretch.

“You know what it is.

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