Chapter 12: Nobody Wants That Seat

Sabine sat in the ceremonial chair after everybody had left the dance floor.

Her feet didn't reach the footrest.

She looked down at them, then at me.

"Try it," she said.

"I don't want it."

"I thought you might find a good angle."

I sat after she moved aside.

The carved wolf head pressed into my elbow.

The back kept me so upright I couldn't see my own lap.

Sabine leaned against the arm.

"You could put a cushion there."

"You could put a different woman there," I told her.

She laughed and looked ashamed of laughing.

I got up at once.

"I didn't mean you should have it instead."

"I know," she said.

We stood on opposite sides of the chair.

It occupied enough space for an argument nobody wanted.

The dancers had moved into the supper room.

Music still came through the doors, softer now.

I loosened the ribbon around my wrist.

My skin remembered Osric's fingers beneath it.

I didn't want my liking him to make Sabine lonely.

"You don't have to tell me anything," I said.

She picked a loose thread from her sleeve.

"I accepted a visit," she told me.

"My family announced I was considering the honor before I reached the car."

I waited.

She looked relieved that I hadn't filled the pause for her.

"I thought refusing in person might finally count," she said.

"The other refusals kept being described as modesty."

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