Page 44 of Monsters' Manor

“Even when it gives me the Death card?”

“Especiallywhen it gives you the Death card,” she says with another laugh. “No bad cards, remember? Death represents change, Rose. Inevitable, irrevocable, sometimes painful change, but just change when all is said and done. As much a part of life as anything else is.”

Mira looks like she’s going to say more, when something over my shoulder catches her eye.

“Remember that, alright?” She reaches out and gives my arm an encouraging squeeze. “And enjoy the party.”

She turns to go, and I’m about to call after her when another voice draws my attention.

“You came.”

A shiver races down my spine at that deep, familiar timbre, and I turn to find Renwick staring down at me with firelight flickering across his face.

Even though I haven’t been bold enough to come watch his show in the Parlor, looking at him now it’s easy to see him as precisely who he plays every night. Lucifer. A devil with the bonfire’s flames sparkling in his crimson eyes and temptation written over every muscled inch of him.

“Dance with me?”

The question catches me off guard, and all I can do is stare at him for a few long moments, not sure I heard him right.

“You want to dance?”

Those flames in his eyes burn hotter, and I let out a little squeak as he whips his tail up to band around my waist and tug me closer. I crash into his bare chest, bracing both my hands against him. His skin is warm,sowarm, and my palms tingle with the spark of magick between us.

“Don’t tell me,” he says, smirking. “You don’t know how to dance?”

“I absolutely know how to dance.”

Well, kind of, I mentally amend as I look over at the couples twirling around the clearing near the musicians. I’m not sure if there’s much rhyme or reason to it, or if everyone is just caught up in the moment and letting the night carry them away.

“It’s alright if you don’t, Rosie. I’m more than comfortable leading.”

His voice is low, intimate. He’s still smirking, eyes glimmering with a wicked taunt, and it’s enough to have me rising to meet his challenge.

I hold out a hand. “Fine. Let’s see what you’ve got.”

The expression that flashes across Renwick’s face is equal parts surprise and satisfaction as he takes my hand and leads me into the crowd of revelers.

No one bats an eye at us or looks twice as he pulls me close with his other arm wrapped snugly around my waist and whirls me right into the dance. We’re just one of the many couples lost in the music and moment. A jumble of humans and monsters and magick, everyone swept up by the joy of it all.

Renwick is… a pretty damn good dance partner, I have to begrudgingly admit. Just like with everything else this demon does well, he knows it and he’s arrogant as hell about it without saying a word.

It’s there, in the way he keeps me held firmly against him, the way he easily maneuvers us between the other couples, the way he’s making us look so much more graceful than we would be if I was the one leading the dance.

And in the oh-so-satisfied grin on his face as he leans in close to murmur to me over the melody from the fiddlers.

“Are you ready to admit it?”

“Admit what?” I snap back, letting out a little gasp as he lifts me off my feet and whirls in a quick half-turn.

“You know what.”

I roll my eyes, and apparently that’s enough of an answer for him.

He leads me through two more songs. The way he’s holding me has me all too aware of the warmth of him, the strength, how our bodies fit and sway together in a way that feels new and familiar all at once. Easy. Natural.

By the time the second song ends, a slow-building heat has broken out over my skin, and not just from the bonfire.

“I need a little air,” I murmur as we spin to a stop. “Away from the fire. To cool off.”

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