She waited for him. For months, she had waited for him. Fay stood at the edge of the path, fingers flexing uselessly at her sides as the breeze toyed with the hem of her dress.
Voices blurred behind her, maids gossiping by the stairs, a groom shouting at a stubborn mare, the clang of a gate closing, but none of it reached her properly.
The whole world felt like it had been pushed a few steps back. Because he was here. Finally, he was here. Zakai. Her heart tripped over his name, the memory of it on her lips after too many quiet nights alone.
She’d rehearsed this moment in her mind a hundred different ways. She’d imagined being composed, offering some wry remark, looking poised when he arrived. She’d imagined him smiling that faint, crooked smile that always made her stomach twist.
