11. Try

Try

Rose

I’m safe. For now. Tristan’s saying something but I don’t hear anything until my eyes find Daisy. She’s dancing with Ceres and Ceres' little brother, oblivious to the horror of my almost fate.

“Are you okay?” Tristan asks, and I have the feeling he’s said this more than once.

“I think so, just a bit shaken up.” I can hear my pulse racing in direct contradiction to that characterization, but it feels like the thing I should say. Hysteria is unbecoming of a lady. I clear my throat.

“Let’s dance,” he suggests. I start to shake my head, because men can’t dance the maiden. Ceres' brother is out there, though, and when I look again I see that indeed, the floor is full of couples. It’s later than I thought, and it’s the courtship dances now.

“I guess we could.” My body is numb, but my tongue knows what to say.

“I’m flattered.” Tristan smiles, leading me out onto the floor. The jest makes me think of Augustus and my stomach tightens. What would he think of me dancing with Tristan? What would he think of how I used his name to try and save myself?

As if he hears my thoughts, Tristan draws me flush against him and asks, “You’re betrothed?”

My body follows his, the dance giving my limbs something to do with their nervous energy, the memory of the dark alley slipping away in the warmth of the suns. Heat rises in my cheeks at my earlier lie, desperate or not. “No,” I admit.

“You said you were betrothed to Augustus?” Tristan cocks his head, leading me into a small twirl, then back into his arms. He’s strong, and when he swings me away I’m afraid that he’ll let go, and I’ll go careening off the dance floor.

“I just thought it might make him let me go, and your brother’s was the only name I could think of,” I rush. “Please don’t tell him I said that. I know he’s not…” I trail off, wishing I could sink beneath the dance floor.

Tristan’s hand flexes against my low back, making my skin tingle. I’ve never been so close to a boy before. I’ve never been held like this. I inhale, slowing my heart against the tangled emotions of earlier and the nearness and newness of this.

“My brother,” he says slowly. “Augustus?”

I nod and he laughs. It must be at my presumption, and whether it’s from mortification, terror at almost being taken as a Sabine, or relief that I wasn't, I feel the telltale prick of tears. I won’t cry. Pater hates it when we cry.

“I’m sorry, I was just so afraid.” My voice cracks, but it’s better than tears.

“Shh.” Tristan presses impossibly closer, our bodies so flush together that I don’t know where he ends and I start. “It’s alright. You’re alright.” I don’t look at him, but I do nod. I feel like a child, at once comforted and reprimanded for my reckless emotions, for my lack of control. “I was just surprised for a moment. My brother… Augustus? He’s not usually serious about girls. Women,” he corrects.

“What do you mean?” I tip my head back to look into his beautiful golden face.

Tristan shakes his head. “He likes to flirt. Lead women on.” He drops his voice, tilting his head towards my ear. His warm breath makes me shiver as he says, “Then after they’ve dishonored themselves, he moves on.”

I shake my head. That doesn’t sound like Augustus. Or does it? I’ve only met him once. He was charming. So charming, in fact, that I’ve thought of only him for days. I bite my lip. “So, he wasn’t… interested in me?” I manage to ask.

He spins me again, then whirls me back into him, hard. The breath leaves me in a gasp and I look up at him. My savior.

Tristan meets my eyes, the deep amber seeming at once hard and warm, blessed like basanite. “No, but I am.”

After our dance, Tristan goes to find me something to drink.

“Don’t tell me what you like, I’ll surprise you,” he says, smiling, and leaves me near a copse of trees.

A new voice interrupts my thoughts. “Daisy looks like she’s having fun.”

I start, turning to find Augustus. His copper hair glistening beneath the twins, eyes twinkling. My heart leaps, and then falls, remembering what Tristan told me. “Augustus, you scared me.”

“I’ve been looking for you, but when I went to your domus your pater said-”

“You talked to my pater?” I shouldn’t have interrupted him, but the idea of Augustus seeing my pater. My domus… What did I think would happen, giving out my name like that? I’m such a stupid girl. A stupid, romantic, hopeless girl.

“I wanted to bring you to the festival, but he said you were already here…”

Venus. I know what that means. It means he said much more than that. “I’m sorry.”

“Sorry for what?” Augustus cocks his head.

“If my pater was… unkind.”

He smiles. “You’re not responsible for how your pater behaves. Besides, you’re here.” He steps closer to me and I step back. The corners of his mouth dip down ever so slightly. “What’s wrong?”

I shake my head. “Nothing, I’ve just had a bit of a morning.”

Hands come around my shoulders, and Augustus clenches his jaw. “Nothing I couldn’t take care of, right, Rose?” Tristan says, his demeanor both calm and challenging, like he dares someone to bother me. Like he dares Augustus to bother me. Something foreign flutters in my stomach.

“What happened?” Augustus says, hands fisted at his sides.

I’m saved trying to answer by Tristan. “The Sabines tried to kidnap her.”

Augustus narrows his eyes. “Lucky you were there, then.”

Tristan's voice takes on a taunting edge. “Very lucky.”

Not that it will matter. The only difference is now my pater will receive payment for me. I bite my lip.

“What is it?” Augustus asks, eyes dropping to my mouth.

I can’t tell them. My shame, my position? It’s mine. It’s mine to bear and mine to solve. “Nothing.”

“Rose?” Augustus pushes. Does it really matter if they know? Augustus was already just toying with me and Tristan, interested or not, will find out soon enough.

“It might not matter soon.” I look down, and Tristan comes around to my side.

“What do you mean?” Tristan says. Augustus steps closer, as if he wants to step between us, but holds himself still.

I shake my head, not looking up. “I’m almost twenty.” Their confusion is palpable, their lives on such a distinctly different trajectory simply because they are boys. “And I’m not married.”

“That’s bad?” Augustus asks.

“Of course it’s bad,” Tristan speaks for me, the understanding seeming to dawn on him. “She should be married with children by now.” He looks to me. “What does that have to do with The Sabines?”

“Nothing,” I say again. I can’t actually say it. Not out loud. The lie Daisy and I spoke just hours before still clinging to me. Maybe it wasn’t a lie, maybe he’ll change his mind once he sobers. Maybe I’ll have more time. Or maybe…

“Rose,” Tristan says, voice stern. “Tell me.” It’s not a question, it’s a demand to be obeyed.

“My pater will sell me.” The words are quiet. A confession and a plea. I don’t know if I just want someone besides Daisy to hear my pater’s plans, to understand my terror, but I can’t turn back now. “He’s going to sell me to The Sabines.”

“Stones,” Augustus says, his hand reaches towards me, but then drops. Tristan is silent for a long moment, and I know he must be thinking about what I said to the man who tried to kidnap me.

After impossibly long he says, “Maybe I can fix this.”

Augustus snaps his head up to Tristan and they share a look I can’t decipher. “No,” he growls.

Tristan shrugs at his brother and looks to me. “Let me see what I can do, Rose. I’m not promising anything.” Then he takes my hand again, kissing it. He looks over at his brother, his lips lingering. “But it would be my pleasure to try.”