Page 72 of A Dance of Water

A flurry of commotion broke her out of her deep thoughts.

Vale’s steps did not falter, but hers did, forcing him to stop before her. His fingers flexed on her waist.

"What’s happening?" she inquired softly, staring up at him.

The revelers stopped their dancing; the music flowed with the barest of hitches, a mere screech of the violin before it continued with a sweeping, haunting tune that made her heart pick up in her chest, and her breaths quicken.

Luella did not know the precise moment she realized something was amiss, but sometime between the halt of the dancing bodies, the fall of enchanted dust, and the crescendo of the orchestra, she saw hints of shadows creeping into the room.

Blue flames flickered, gasps filled the air.

And the bodies parted.

A male stood at the furthest reaches of the room, a space wholly encompassed in shadow and darkness. His image shimmered like an apparition, the darkness curling around his frame. She saw a hint of black hair and pale skin. And was that…

Green eyes?

The shadows enveloped him.

She blinked.

"Caliban!" Sweet, feminine laughter. "I thought I told you to wait for me!"

Blinked again.

Glass shattered. A pale, male hand gripping a delicate throat. "I’m going to fucking kill you. Cut you up into little pieces and feast upon your flesh."

Shuddering, she came out of whatever had befallen her with one name ringing in her ears.

"Caliban," Luella whispered aloud, tasting its foreignness on her tongue.

The maelstrom of sound in the room nearly drowned out her voice. But not enough. Not from the ears that truly mattered.

Vale gripped her shoulders. "Wheredid you hear that name?" His voice was more serious than she had ever heard before.

The shadows grew darker. The cacophonous cries of the revelers turned to fearful gasps when the blue light of the flames was blown out completely, shrouding the throne room in utter darkness.

She couldn’t see.

She couldn’t see.

Luella’s whole body shook, hands grasping nothing but the air before her. She felt Vale’s heat, but he evaded her searching touch, leaving her adrift in an ocean of dark.

"Vale?" she asked into the shadows.

And nothing but the shadows answered.

Until a hand touched hers.

She jolted but grew calm when she felt the threads wrapped around her soul sing with joy.

Honeyed cloves; winter’s frost; rich, melted sugar; bergamot.

And the warmth of a crackling fire…

…All wrapped around her senses and melted into her flesh.

They were all here, surrounding her.

---