I laughed. I held him closer, half out of some misplaced excitement and half to remind myself what I already had and how little else I needed. “Maybe we should leave town. Go back to Alamadour. Or the City.”

Sorcha took my face in his hands. “You’re his falo. Falos stay, remember? What’s this about?”

I held his hand against my cheek. I laughed again. “I don’t know.”

“You want this to happen with her, you think?”

“I don’t know.” I burned with it, this half-confession. Anything other than a resolute, immediate denial felt to me like a betrayal.

Sorcha searched my face, but I wore an old mask. He pulled me against him, my face in the hollow of his shoulder. He stroked my hair, and he felt calm, but I’d seen the trace of a frown cross his face. The guilt I felt was overwhelming. “Matchmaking with you all, it’s not a fast thing.”

“No, it isn’t. Even when you express an interest it’s not a fast thing.”

“Then you’ve got plenty of time yet to decide what you want. Grab a couple hours’ sleep before you have to go to that damned factory, yeah? No reason to fret over anything.”

He’d said it with unruffled patience, but there had been that frown. I edged just far enough away to get a good look at his face, catch his eye, and then I read him for all I was worth. “You don’t think I can split attentions.”

Sorcha sat up and turned his back to me. “Oh, come on, don’t read me.”

“A man needs his privacy?”

“Ariah, stop.”

“I love you.”

He looked at me over his shoulder.

I laughed. The magic fell away. “I don’t know,” I said. “I’m not sure if it was you or me that felt that. Probably both of us. But it is true. I do love you.”

“I know.” He rubbed his face. He leaned against the wall and lit a candle. Our sole clockwork lantern had broken weeks before and neither of us had managed to scrape together enough to replace it. The light flickered a harsh orange. “I guess I’m up,” he said.

“I’m sorry.”

“Ah, hell, worse things have happened.”

“I never expected this.”

Sorcha smiled. He held out his arm, and I nestled in against him. “You know,” he said slowly, “I didn’t expect it, can’t claim that, no, but I won’t say I’m surprised either.”

* * *