Page 49 of Crown of Darkness
I’m still watching the dance floor, though I sensed him swimming through the tide of courtiers toward me like a hungry shark. “Admiring your cousin.” I can’t help laughing. “She’s absolutely merciless.”
Thalia’s also danced with every handsome fae male in the vicinity, leaving a trail of lovesick swains behind her.
So far she’s pointedly ignored Kyrian, but he noticed her the second she graced the dance floor. At first it was just a scowl. And then it devolved to red-hot glares. And now I swear he’s grinding his teeth through the fake smile he wears.
Neither of them will concede the dance floor, though Kyrian’s effortless grace seems to be a little less effortless, and he’s practically ignoring the woman in his arms.
Because Thalia candance.
And if she had every male glancing at her earlier, now she has them tripping over their own feet.
“I knew I shouldn’t have brought her.”
I lean back into his embrace. “No, no, I’m enjoying it.”
“You would.” He smacks my bottom.
“Anything to see my nemesis humbled.”
“He’s an ally,” Thiago points out.
“He’s arrogant. And he hates me.”
Stillness leeches through my husband. “It’s not as simple as that. Come on, let’s dance.”
I turn and slip my arms around me as he sends us whirling into the dancers. I love these moments. Having my arms around him, body to body and knowing it will lead elsewhere if I play my cards right. “You were saying?”
Thiago must have inherited some of Thalia’s grace, because he moves lightly for such a tall man. Clasping my left wrist, he spins me under his arm. “Kyrian doesn’t hate you. But there are similarities between us. He was with me the night I met you, and the second I saw you I knew you were the one Maia had made me for. But you were my enemy’s daughter. In his eyes, I might as well have been ensorcelled.”
“Well, you weren’t.”
“What Meriana did to him was cruel,” Thiago says, sweeping me in circles. “Ensorcellment isn’t an easy spell to break. Every day he woke, he could feel it gnawing at him. He could barely eat or drink, and couldn’t sleep. He spent years trying to break her hold over him.” Thiago gives me a long look. “I saw what it did to him, Vi. I’ve seen torture before, and none of them looked as desperate as he did. I was there to help him pull through it and he’s never forgotten it. He doesn’t want the same thing to happen to me. Give him some grace. Let him come to terms with the fact your love is true.”
I sigh. “You’re making me feel sorry for him.”
“I will always defend you, if he doesn’t watch his tongue,” he says, shooting a glance across the room. “But I understand where it’s coming from.”
Tension suddenly sweeps through him. I follow his gaze to see what’s caught his attention and realize the dance is changing.
The music becomes a sweeping reel, and one glimpse toward the musicians shows Lucere there. No doubt she wants to force me and Thiago apart, but she didn’t count on who else was dancing.
Thiago and I are forced to change partners. I arrive in the arms of a redhead, and then several beats later, I’m spinning toward a blond.
Thalia and Kyrian whirl toward each other with the inevitability of a ship facing an iceberg.
There’s a second where the two of them spin toward the next partner and realize they’re facing each other.
Both of them freeze.
Without another word, Kyrian stalks away, leaving her standing there behind him.
It could have been rejection, but Thalia throws back her head and gives a sultry laugh, before she summons a redhead with a crook of her finger.
She claims it as victory instead.
I try to roll my eyes at Thiago, but find him dancing with the crown princess of Ravenal, and suddenly the music is changing again, becoming smooth and gentle. No more changing of partners.
Well played, Lucere.
