Free Heart's Magic by Gail Dayton

until
she succumbed to laughter and the whirling, bouncing energy of the
dance.
    After that, there was no
hope of backing into her corner again. She danced with Grey and Jax
and Nikos Archaios. She danced with the American conjurer who had
come as part of a diplomatic mission from one side or the other of
their warring country and stayed to study the dead zones. She even
danced with Dr. Rosato when he convinced Pearl to play the three
songs she knew, only one of which was suitable for dancing. They
danced to all of them anyway.
    After Pearl's turn at the
piano, the party broke up. Elinor had Freeman send for her pelisse
and shawl when the other coats were brought, but when a footman
returned with the items, Harry took them away from him.
    "Stay a bit," he said
quietly. "We've a thing or two to discuss, 'aven't we?"
    Elinor was tired, but she
knew if she went back to her flat in the mews behind Harry's
garden, she wouldn't rest. And the magisters did have matters to
discuss. When to wall up the second London dead zone on the south
bank of the river in Bermondsey, for instance. Then there was
Dodd's new challenge to consider, though she didn't want to discuss
that.
    "All right." She might as
well use up her restless energy and calm her whirling mind at
Harry's as at her own flat.
    Now that she was no longer
Harry's apprentice, she probably ought to find another place to
live. Except she hadn't begun to earn anything from her magic. She
didn't think she could afford anything as nice as the place she had
now.
    Nor would it be so
convenient to the other magisters, since Grey and Pearl lived
across the street and down a few houses, and Amanusa and Jax still
resided in Brown's Hotel, up the other way from Harry's, while they
looked for a house. Perhaps she could use her expectations as
magister to secure a little house to rent.
    "Bright an' early then?"
Harry was saying.
    "Not too early," Grey said
at the door. "You know how Pearl is, laying about asleep all
hours."
    Pearl poked him in the arm.
"You're the one all chatty with your spirits at three in the
morning. We'll be here by ten," she said to Harry.
    "Ten? Is the sun even up by
that hour?" Grey protested. "It is January, you know."
    "Good night." Harry
chuckled, closing the door on them.
    "They're leaving?" Elinor
belatedly realized the house seemed very empty. Even the servants
had vanished to wherever servants stayed. "Amanusa and Jax
too?"
    "They've already gone."
Harry gave her a puzzled look as he walked toward her.
"Why?"
    "I thought we were going to
talk. About the school. Strategy." She waved a hand. "Magister
things."
    "We can do that in the
morning when they come back." He stood very close. Close enough she
could feel his warmth. Close enough that his legs pressed into her
skirts, causing them to billow around him.
    She'd gone without hoops
today, using layers of petticoats to fill out her skirts, fearing
the bone cage might trip her up during the challenge. Now, she
didn't know if the missing hoops made her feel safer or more
vulnerable. Her skirts didn't tip up in the back as he stood so
close, the way hoops would, but she could feel his legs through the layers of
cloth and netting.
    "Wh-what are you doing?"
Why did she ask that? She didn't want to know. Elinor's hands
trembled. Her head felt lighter than air.
    Harry cupped her face as if
it were a delicate blossom in his rough-textured hand, his
expression intent. On her. "This."
    And he kissed
her.
     

CHAPTER FIVE
     
    This wasn't like that other
kiss, the first one Harry had given her. That one had been a
question. Do you want this?
    This kiss was the
answer. You know you do.
    His perfect mouth opened on
Elinor's, demanding she respond in kind, and she did. She opened,
accepted the sweep of his tongue inside, and when he retreated she
felt so bereft, her tongue had to go questing forth. Timidly, she
touched his lips before scuttling back inside her own
mouth.
    Harry groaned, an arm
whipping around her waist to