Page 280 of A Dance of Water

Everything stopped: Vale, Luella, the air in her lungs.

"I’m the Princess of?—"

But she never could finish.

The King gripped her cheeks and pressed a fierce kiss to her lips, silencing her.

Oh.

He did taste like smoke.

Cedar and burning embers. Hot to the touch. Her lips tingled with heat as he kissed her.

And the sky broke free with the perfect storm.

Rain battered the roof of the castle, finally freed from its prison in the clouds.

Vale’s kiss was possessive and protective, all at once. She pulled away to stare up at the skylight, and he kept kissing her, moving from her lips down to her jaw. She heaved as she stared up at the thick sheets of rain pounding against the glass dome.

It cracked—tiny spiderwebs etched across the glass from the force of the rain.

Something within her chest cracked with it.

"Kiss me," Vale demanded, ripping her attention away from the glass back to him as the Binding mark pulsed. Her lids closed as she let herselffeel.

Too consumed with each other to pay any mind to the swelling chaos around them, as the cracking grew loud enough to get the attention of the revelers.

Finally, Vale pulled away, eyes burning behind his mask as he stared at her lips. "Do noteversay it."

Luella licked her lips, and his hand tightened on her cheek as he watched.

It was all too much.

Concerned voices ripped through the haze, and Vale looked up to the glass dome, just as it broke under the weight of the storm, caving in around them.

"Watch out!" Vale yelled, covering her with his body. He forced her to the floor, half on top of her, as he bore the brunt of the shattered glass raining down on them, mingling with the icy rain.

It was hard to discern which was which—rain or glass? They were both crystalline.

She gasped as rain quickly filled the throne room. Only when the shattered glass stopped did Vale let up, pulling her to her feet. Her wings ached, body on fire.

Vale ran his hands over her hair and face. "You’re not hurt?" he said, nearly crazed.

"No," Luella breathed, "you… protected me."

His expression was unreadable.

Loud calls filled the rain-soaked air. Water fell all around them. Shards of glass littered the gilded blue floors.

The revelers seemed not to care, spinning and twirling, bodies entwined among the falling rain.

Luella’s gown quickly grew drenched, swaths of feathered silks sticking to her body.

And she knew that this storm was her doing.

Water quickly filled the room. Puddles splashed as dancers flit around.

"Luella, we have to get you out of here. Come!" Vale called. His hands gripped her shoulders, his hair sticking to his forehead and mask.

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