Page 104 of A Slipper in the Smoke

“Doesn’t mean I don’t worry.”

She sighed, glancing across at the clock on her desk as if she could speed up time if she gave it enough attention. They were due back today, if they were coming at all.

Asami didn’t want to think about what would happen if they didn’t, or if they’d failed. If Prince Phillippe had been killed, if Snowdrop had…

“They’ll befine,” Beau insisted.

“Stop reading my mind!”

Beau laughed, pulling her in for a kiss that lasted a little too long and gave her all sorts of deeply distracting thoughts. Which, she supposed, was rather the point. She let her fingers glide towards his neck, skirt the top of his impressive pectorals. His own hands slid up her thighs, brushing the tops of her ribboned stockings—

A bell sounded from outside, crisp and clear.

“Ignore it,” Beau groaned into her mouth. “They’ll save us some lunch…”

Asami glanced at the clock again. It was at least an hour until lunchtime.

“It’s not lunch,” she told him, scrambling off the bed. She ran to the door, scooting out onto the stairs that wrapped around the giant tree the rebels had built their base around. Through the trees she could make out six figures walking into the camp. Buttercup, Dandelion, Clover, Snowdrop, a brown-skinned girl she didn’t know, and…

And Phillippe, crown prince of Toulouse. Her home country. Possibly the key to ending this all, once and for all.

She turned back to Beau, face beaming.

“They’ve done it.”