Page 27 of Of Songs and Silence

“She already has a partner.” There is no mistaking the authority in Ari’s tone.

Do I have a partner?

Ari looks at me as though he hears my response, despite my shields. Perhaps he is only learning to read me the way I am him.

“Co-commander,” the man stutters a bit before recovering himself. “Apologies, I was unaware. The debt is mine.”

“Return to your home, and there will be no debt.”

How very magnanimous of him. I resist the urge to arch an eyebrow, wondering if I am imagining the hint of amusement that emanates from his mind to mine.

“Sir.” He swims away faster than I can track, and I turn my full attention to Ari.

“Was that necessary?” I ask him, my body still swaying with the music.

“Yes.” Like he can’t stop himself, he closes the distance between us, putting his hands on my waist.

His thumbs graze my exposed hipbones, and I lean into his touch.

It doesn’t surprise me to see him moving in perfect timing with the beat. To feel him guiding my body in synchrony with his. I turn in his arms, putting my back to him as I see many of the Mayima around me doing.

I can’t deny that I have wanted this from the moment I saw the dancers on the floor. His hands on my body. His warmth against mine.

“Kala.” He growls the word like a warning, but I don’t bother to be embarrassed this time, not when he pulls me tighter against him.

He has one hand trailing my arm while the other is flush against my ribcage, drumming out a tantalizing beat in time with the song. My heart thunders wildly in my chest, but it’s not the only one. I can hear his, too, feel it echoing in my soul, the perfect complement to mine.

Some deeply carnal part of me hums in satisfaction at his closeness as he sweeps my hair to one side, burying his face in my neck.

One dance, he had said. But when the song changes, he doesn’t move. And a thousand black marlin couldn’t pull me from this spot.

Two dances turn into three, then five, until I am facing him once more. His features are obscured, but it still feels like I am drowning in his sea green gaze. The echo of it. The memory of it.

Then the music cuts off at the end of the final song. The spell is broken.

Ari’s hands disappear from my body, and every part of me mourns the loss. I know what he is going to say even before his voice sounds in my head.

“We can’t do that again.”

I want to ask him why, but I know he won’t give me the answer, certainly not now when he looks like he’s barely restraining himself from touching me again.

So instead I give him the easy acquiescence I’ve become accustomed to, avoiding what we both already know.

“I know.” I want to mean it, but my heart is still pounding, my skin still zapping from its contact with his.

If he senses that I’m lying, he doesn’t bother to call me out. He only slams his shields down tighter as he gestures for us to leave, shutting me out of his mind.

As usual.

CHAPTERFIFTEEN

MELODI

That night, when we fall into bed, it’s with the full weight of the dance between us.

And Napo.

Ari is quick to position the octopus between us, along with a mountain of pillows. He turns to face the wall as Napo curls into my side. The octopus stretches out his tentacles, wrapping them around me protectively. Within moments, his inky eyes are drifting closed and he’s drifting off to sleep.

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