Page 91 of A Fate of Ice and Lies
A stupid but catchy party song filtered from Ryenne’s phone. She stood and reached for both Everly and me.
“We need to dance this shit out,” she said.
I pulled Everly up to stand and bumped my hip against hers. Holding my hand, Ryenne lifted her arm, and I twirled beneath it. With a laugh, Everly started dancing with us.
It didn’t take long for the hurt behind her eyes to fadeaway and shine with the happiness we’d found at that moment.
We took turns shuffling through Ryenne’s music library and kept dancing. Singing pretty horribly, too.
That was how Elias found us—laughing and shaking our asses while we sang out of tune, sometimes with the wrong words.
Elias’s grin grew wider than I’d ever seen it. He took my hand and spun me around a few times before he cupped my lower back with one hand and used his free hand to capture mine. He pulled me to him, close enough that I rested my head against his firm chest.
Then he danced with me. A waltz maybe. I did my best to keep up with him but mainly stepped on his toes—not that he seemed to mind.
He beamed down at me as if the only thing he wanted at that moment was me in his arms. I couldn’t find any fault in that. It felt . . . right.
“Is this what you ladies have been doing all day?” he asked, loud enough for my friends to hear.
“If you mean having a testosterone-free day, where we competed over who has the bigger ding-dong,” Ryenne said with a mischievous grin, “you or Nate, then yep. That’s exactly what we did.”
I laughed, and although I couldn’t see her, I was certain Everly was blushing again.
“We didn’t do that,” I said.
His hand slid beneath my shirt to run his fingers over my back. I pressed myself closer to him, where he swayed us side to side.
“Wouldn’t be a fair competition,” Elias retorted.
“You’re right.” Ryenne smirked. “I’m sorry fae are cursedwith such tiny”—she pinched her forefinger to her thumb—“such tiny, tiny little men.”
Elias’s laugh shook his chest, and it made me happy that he could take Ryenne’s taunts without being offended.
“Such tiny, tiny. . .” Elias drew a single brow up.
“Tiny cocks,” I whispered.
His eyes flashed black, and I grinned when his fangs pulled down.
“Trouble.” He shook his head. “You are trouble.” He leaned down to kiss my nose.
I patted his chest. “Okay, old man.”
“This kitchen just got way too small,” Ryenne declared. “We’re taking this party downtown.”
She grabbed what was left of our mimosas, and with a quick peck on my cheek, she ushered Everly outside.
“Wow,” Elias huffed out. “I didn’t know I could clear out a party that quickly.”
“One of your many qualities.”
My front door opened enough that when an older song from the nineties came from the other side of the door, I laughed. It was one of Mom’s favorite songs to torment Ryenne and me with when we’d talk about boys in my room.
Elias stared at the door in disbelief when the lyrics said something about making love until dawn.
When the chorus came on, I belted right along with it. From the other side of the door, Ryenne did the same.
Elias watched me with such tender amusement.
