Page 60 of Ties of Dust

It should have been a relief that Flora seemed to be having no difficulty securing invitations to join each dance, so that their tether wasn’t tested.

It should have been, but it wasn’t.

By the time Cassius finished the sixth dance, and his mother mercifully showed no sign of looking up from her conversation to pin him with another silent stare of command, Cassius was exhausted. He would have been glad to spend the next dance by the refreshments.

There was no reason he couldn’t. One glance in Flora’s direction showed that she was attuned to him, watching to see what he would do. There was a hopeful looking young squire edging toward her, so she wouldn’t have difficulty joining the dancers again if Cassius’s movements required her to do so. But if he stayed put, she would decline the offer. She would have to, or they would have the opposite problem of her dancing away out of range while he watched on.

It was a curious sensation, knowing how completely he could control her movements without ever activating the tether. He might chafe at the restrictions, but he still had far more control than Flora did, because she’d chosen to lay aside her own interests to help him keep the tether private. She must feel like a piece of baggage, tugged this way and that by his whims and responsibilities.

It would be out of place for me to complain, he heard her voice again in his mind,given I am nothing but a gift offered to you by the Siqualians.

Cassius found himself moving forward. The only thought in his mind was that he’d treated her with far less respect than she deserved. The poised and beautiful woman who was drawing him to her like a mothto a flame deserved more than respect. More, even, than mere admiration.

He didn’t dare name what she deserved, because it wasn’t something he could give her. He could, however, ask her to give him one dance. There might be consequences, but he didn’t care. He wanted to be the one to take her hand in his this time.

“Dance with me?”

His voice came out so low and gruff, it was no wonder Flora did a double take before meeting his eyes. Her own were uncertain, not like her normal, confident self.

“Are you sure?” Her voice was soft, but he didn’t miss the way she was already shifting toward him, as if her body was disregarding the warning her mind was trying to give it.

“Dance with me.” This time it wasn’t a question—Cassius held out his hand with the air of a royal command, and Flora didn’t hesitate as she slid hers into it.

Chapter

Fourteen

As Cassius felt Flora’s fingers find his, warmth erupted from the contact, shooting across his skin and up his arm. It was like she’d started a fire with her touch, but no fire had ever burned so much and hurt so little.

A moment before, Cassius had felt hemmed in by the bonds of the tether, but any sense of restriction fled as he led Flora into the dance by his side. They wouldn’t have to be careful of their movements, half their attention focused on making sure they stayed within their allotted distance, because they would be together for the whole dance. Their movements would be the same, their tether unnecessary. It flashed through his mind that this was freedom…not being cut loose from the bond that tied him to Flora, but transcending it by merging into one purpose, one mind, one dance.

It was an illusion, he knew, but he would embrace the sensation of oneness for as long as the song lasted.

He didn’t speak, and neither did Flora. But his eyes never wavered from her face as he led her through thedance. She moved with the grace of a swan, never missing a step, her touch light on his arm and her hand steady in his. It was hard to maintain the loose hold the dance required. The impulse to tighten his grip, to pull her flush against him and slide his arm around that tapering waist, was frighteningly strong.

He’d thought she had nothing of the guard in her earlier, but this was a new level. The woman in his arms was the most beautiful, elegant,comfortableperson he’d ever encountered. She was as captivating as a bejeweled princess would be to a peasant boy, but she also had all the familiarity of a trusted friend. He’d never experienced anything like it, and he couldn’t make sense of the fact that with Flora so close, he simultaneously felt safer than he had with anyone in his life and yet knew himself to be in a previously unimagined level of danger.

And the most intoxicating part of it all was that when he looked into her eyes, he didn’t see a part she was playing. It was her real self he held in his arms, no mask up between them.

The musicians picked up speed, and Cassius spun Flora in a circle as the dance required. It was no casual folk dance, and she knew the steps intricately, but any curiosity about that mystery was lost in the sensation that swept over him. As Flora moved in an arc, she used some mysterious flick of her hips to send her skirts cascading out in the most extravagant flourish—and a moment later, something akin to a hot wind swirled around their joined hands.

It seemed to press Flora’s hand closer into his, sealing them in an embrace of fingers before it passed up Cassius’s arm, raising goosebumps along his skin. He felt it ruffle his hair in a gesture that felt, in some inscrutableway, like Flora.

She was using the magic created by her skirt’s movement.

His eyes met hers in silent awe, and she took it as encouragement. With the next spin, he felt something even more curious, this time around his feet. It wasn’t like a wind, more like an invisible cushion had slid under him, buoying him up so that his feet left the floor by the tiniest margin.

For a breathless moment, they were both weightless, dancing on winged feet as they glided across the floor more smoothly than their normal steps could ever manage.

No one else would even see the difference, but to the pair of them, the sensation was marvelous. It somehow made physical what his heart had been experiencing throughout their dance.

The power petered out, their renewed steps feeling clumsy by comparison as the musicians gently closed out the song.

Cassius was left still and silent, staring into Flora’s face as her breaths came rapidly. He felt breathless himself, and it wasn’t just from the exertion of the dance.

“That was…the most magical magic I’ve ever felt.” He sounded as green as that squire who’d so presumptuously hoped to dance withhisFlora.

She smiled, the expression softening every feature, all the way to her eyes.

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