“So suppose Azalea finds the sugar teeth after all," said Bramble, taking Azalea by the shoulders and spinning her. Azalea rolled her eyes but obliged, and let her feet turn beneath her. A lsight push, and Azalea spun to Delphinium."She breaks them," said Delphinium, catching Azalea and pushing her to Hollyhock in a spin, a ball with skirts."Snap!" said Hollyhock.Azalea flinched. Hollyhock fumbled to spin her to Bramble again."And in a burst of fireworks, he emerges from the passage! Burst!”

“It had ended with a battle; Azalea raked the front page, and then the one's after, searching for any familiar names among the wounded."Anyone we know?" said Bramble. "Anyone...at all?""No," said Azalea, relief sweeping over her. "No."Everyone exhaled."Not that we cared, naturally," said Bramble."Naturally," said Delphinium."I mean, I certainly don't.""Neither do I.”

“I suppose he'll try to court and marry Az. He likes her best.""He arrives at the palace doors, on a fine black horse," Delphinium prompted, picking up Bramble's lost thread, and Eve spun her again, "silver flowers in his hand-""And the King opens the door-" squeaked Flora, who caught Azalea.And then,everyone stopped.Azalea's skirts twisted, then settled. It occurred to all of them what would happen next."And boxes Keeper straight in the face," Azalea finished.Everyone managed to giggle, though it as true. Azalea shook her head, smiling."Well," said Eve as they gathered the sleeping girls up from their cushions. "It would be odd if you married him anyway.""Aye," said Bramble. "Your children would be dsappearing all over the place.”

“Keeper," Bramble said in a syrupy voice, grinning. "Have you met anyone so blasted handsome?""Hush," said Azalea through her teeth. "He can probably hear you!""And so dashing," said Bramble, though her tone was a touch lower."And so perfect.""I've never seen anyone with such...fingers," said Goldenrod.Everyone paused."Well, yes, his fingers, too," said Bramble.”

“He was shockingly easy to follow. The pressure of his hand, the step of his foot, the angle of his frame... it was like reading his mind. When he leaned right, they turned in perfect unison. He swept her across the gallery in a quick three, a dizzying pace. Gilded frames and glass cases and the window blurred in her vision, and Azalea spun out, her skirts pulling and poofing around her, before he caught her and brought her back into dance position. She could almost hear music playing, swelling inside of her.Mother had once told her about this perfect twining into one. She called it interweave, and said it was hard to do, for it took the perfect matching of the partners’ strengths to overshadow each other’s weaknesses, meshing into one glorious dance. Azalea felt the giddiness of being locked in not a pairing, but a dance. So starkly different than dancing with Keeper. Never that horrid feeling that she owed him something; no holding her breath, wishing for the dance to end. Now, spinning from Mr. Bradford’s hand, her eyes closed, spinning back and feeling him catch her, she felt the thrill of the dance, of being matched, flow through her.”Heavens, you’re good!” said Azalea, breathless.”You’re stupendous,” said Mr. Bradford, just as breathless. “It’s like dancing with a top!”

“It had been two weeks since they had last danced, and Azalea lay in bed, awake again. A dream hadn't roused her this time, but rather an odd tinny noise that had been clinking across the wooden floor of their room, under their beds and butting against the wainscot with a clinkety tap-tap. It sounded like ... well, quite honestly, it sounded like a spider dragging a spoon.Azalea knew it couldn't possibly be that (or, rather, she hoped it wasn't), but even so, she heaved herself from the bed and grasped one of Hollyhock's boots, strewn across the floor. The tapping now clinked from the fireplace, and Azalea caught a glint of silver among the soot. Raising the boot, she tiptoed to the unlit hearth.The fireplace in their room was massive - so large that Azalea could stand up in it and her skirts wouldn't brush the sides. The silver hopped. Azalea dove.In a puff of soot, Azalea found herself sitting in the hearth, and the silver bit skittering away like mad. Azalea grabbed at it and was rewarded with a very sharp, very familiar bite."You!" Azalea seethed, leaping up. Now she recognized the half-hopping half-skitter motion. The sugar teeth!”