Page 200 of The Nightmare Bride
“Hungry?” He offered a piece of fruit.
I set aside my mangled orange and snatched at the apple, if only to get Kyven to stop looking at me like that. Like he’d unearthed some private shard of me and tucked it into his pocket.
The fruit exploded between my teeth. As I chewed, a new sound joined the hubbub—the wheeze and whine of tuning instruments.
Thank goddess. A distraction. In the corner, a fiddler, a percussionist, and a banjo player were setting up.
“It’s about to get loud in here,” I said. “We should probably go.”
“Go?” Kyven downed his ale in one throat-bobbing swallow, then plunked down the empty mug. “Absolutely not. We’re just getting started, and I’m very much looking forward to this next part.”
My stomach did a slow capsize. I’d heard him say that before, hadn’t I? “Next part? What next part?”
Those blue eyes glinted with their own internal light. “The part where I convince you to dance with me.”
13.
Dancing.
Was that what we were doing? It felt more like having different parts of myself flung in different directions, moment by moment.
Kyven dipped and spun me, seemingly without effort. And I’d downed so much ale that I let him—a willing partner, pliant in his arms.
At least he made it easy, his instinct for the music impeccable. If I hadn’t known better, I would’ve sworn he actually knew this song, because he seemed to anticipate every twang of the banjo and rattle of the tambourine. But that was impossible. This song was pure Oceansgate—bayou music, fiddle-heavy and chaotic, not remotely suitable for the rarefied rooms of Hightower.
Which could only mean he was a natural. I briefly wondered if his innate sense of rhythm carried over into other...activities, then promptly stopped wondering, because what?
Fuck, I was drunk. I had no other excuse for the rogue thoughts tainting my mind. Or for the staticky thrill that shotthrough me every time Kyven steered me with a hand on my back or a nudge of his hips. Still, I didn’t stumble once, not until a stout patron with an inflamed nose bumped into us and sent me reeling.
Kyven caught me neatly and wheeled me back in, nestling me in the crook of his arm. “Excuse us.”
The man only glared, unplacated. “Hmph. If it isn’t the bog-witch and the prince. Descended from your towers to rub elbows with the likes of us, eh?”
My scalp tightened. The man lurched away, clearly deep in his cups.
I watched him fade into the crowd, surprised to realize our presence hadn’t gone unnoticed. At all. Half the women stole glances at Kyven, while the men put up a wall of flinty glares. In the corner, someone flashed crossed forefingers in my direction.
“They haven’t been doing this all night,” I said. “Have they?”
Kyven smirked. “I was wondering how long it would take you to notice.”
“A...while, apparently.” Shock cut my words into stilted pieces. Usually, the townspeople’s hostility drilled into me, impossible to ignore, but tonight... “I must not have been paying attention.”
“Yes, well. I tend to have that effect on people.”
I peered up at him. How strange. Even now that I’d realized, I didn’t care what anyone thought. Not right now. “Are you saying you’re distracting?”
His grip tightened, bringing me closer. “I prefer the term ‘all-consuming’, myself.”
All-consuming. It was a ridiculous claim. Outlandish. But my pulse surged, drawn by the gravity of those lunar eyes. I groped for a retort and failed to locate so much as a breath.
His other arm came up, pulling me into him, chest to chest. The music rollicked onward, stranding us amid a flurry of sound and activity.
“All-consuming?” I finally found a pocket of air in some unexplored region deep in my lungs. “You think way too highly of yourself.”
Kyven searched my face. This close, his scent drowned me—wild marsh and woodsmoke and lonely, star-strewn nights. Except those long-ago evenings had never felt like this one, so hot and close and intimate. Out there, no one had ever stared at me like they could map the exact shape of my soul if they spent long enough trying.
“I think every bit as highly of you,” he said. “If it’s any consolation.”
