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Following the direction of the old woman’s gaze, I saw my mate. As usual, I was filled with a wonderful warmth when my eyes picked Ayla out of her circle of friends. Seraphina, Halle, Darla, and even Aodin were all in her orbit, but for several moments she was the only one I saw: her bright smile, her even brighter eyes, the pink flush on her cheeks as she laughed and laughed, and then danced clumsily with them. If I wasn’t mistaken, she was acting pretty inebriated. Even as just a half shifter, she had to have knocked quite a few back to get even tipsy.
“I suppose times like these have been few and far between lately,” I said as I stood up. “I shouldn’t let these opportunities pass me by.”
“Definitely not. Tomorrow is never guaranteed, after all.”
“It most certainly isn’t. Thank you, Luci. For everything you’ve done for both me and my mate.”
“Ah, don’t worry about it. Was nice to relive my youth.”
“You’re more than welcome to go on an adventure with us should you ever want another hectic trip down memory lane.”
“Why do I feel like that’s never an exaggeration with the two of you?” The corners of her eyes crinkled, and she made me wonder if talking to her was something like talking to a particularly lovely grandmother. Mine had passed before I had been born—something that was supposed to be rare for shifters, but was becoming increasingly common with the war.
“Because it’s definitely not.”
I sauntered off, approaching the gaggle of compatriots as they laughed and danced. Well, Seraphina, Ayla, and Darla were dancing, while Aodin and Halle leaned against the bar counter, sipping their drinks.
“Hey there, handsome,” Ayla drawled, sending me a flirtatious look. She wasn’t sloppy or full on drunk, but she was definitely feeling herself. I didn’t think I’d ever gotten a chance to see her under the influence of anything, so Luci was bang on the money about enjoying the moment.
“Hey there, gorgeous,” I answered back, sidling up to her, and wrapping my arms around her waist. “You look like you’re having fun.”
“Well, I am now that you’re here!” she cooed, leaning her head against my neck.
We stood there for a moment, swaying, and I was reminded of our time together dancing after the gala, except there was actually music playing around us, and it was far livelier than anything that’d been played at the palace. A jig if I wasn’t mistaken, but rowdier, and full of a type of instrument I wasn’t familiar with, but it sounded quite fun.
Ayla peeled away from me to look up at my face, her eyes half-lidded and cheeks bright pink. “Wanna dance with me?”
“I would love nothing more.”
“Yay!” I didn’t think I’d ever seen Ayla so unencumbered, and I liked to think it wasn’t just the alcohol rapidly being burned off by her shifter side, but also the freedom from her curse granting her such levity. “Then, let’s dance!”
She let out a cackle and grabbed Darla’s hand, too, who then grabbed Seraphina, who grabbed Halle, who grabbed Aodin. The next thing I knew, we were spinning around, running this way and that, stomping and occasionally even kicking to the beat. We weren’t exactly coordinated about it, but that didn’t matter because we were having fun.
It was like the moment we’d never been able to have in the palace. All of us had had to hold our cards so close to our chests, especially Ayla and me. We never could have hoped to dance together in public there. But in the Verdana Isles? In Blath? It didn’t matter at all. We were free to be Kai and Ayla, enjoying the moment, laughing our heads off, and dancing like goobers.
What if I wanted us to stay Kai and Ayla?
Could I have the same casualness, the same ease with my darling mate as King Nikolai and his queen? Did Ayla even want to be queen? Although she’d made great strides in her socialization since she’d first been forced into close quarters with Darla and me, there was a grand difference between that and being a symbol for a whole kingdom.
I tried not to linger on those thoughts too often, but my mind returned to them more often than I would like. At least with every new song, I was able to banish them from my mind for a little while. When the moment was never guaranteed, it was best to enjoy the good times while they were happening, rather than mourn missed opportunities later.
But eventually, the mead, the wine, and whatever else Ayla was drinking, along with all the spinning, seemed to get to her, and she woozily leaned against me. “’m tired,” she mumbled, looking up at me so sweetly that I wanted to just sweep her off her feet on the spot. But I managed to contain myself, only because I wasn’t sure her stomach would appreciate the sudden swoop.
“Should I take you home, then?” I said, leaning down to press a kiss to her forehead. I wanted nothing more than to capture her lips, but I figured she wasn’t quite as coherent as I would like her to be before I expressed affection so publicly. There was a difference between what we did together in the privacy of our stolen moments, and what we did in front of a crowd of what definitely felt like hundreds.
But to my great surprise, she let out a happy little coo, then pushed up on her tiptoes to kiss one of my cheeks and then the other. It wasn’t salacious by any stretch of the word, but it was an echo of the same thing I did whenever we got the rare opportunity to cuddle together. Kisses on opposite cheeks wouldn’t be exciting to many people, but to me, it was just so saccharinely sweet in the best way possible, glimpsing a future that was more possible for us than ever before.
“Yes, please,” she said, her voice thicker and raspier than I was used to. “Please take me home.”
She didn’t need to ask twice. I said a quick goodbye to our friends, with Darla only half-heartedly calling me a party pooper for clearing out, and gave a brotherly warning not to stay out too late to Seraphina before walking Ayla home.
The night sky was beautiful above us, and the wind off the ocean was deliciously cool while giving the air that perfect, salty scent. I could get used to the leisure that seemed so entrenched in every bit of Verdanian culture. It was vastly different from other island nations I’d visited, but I guessed that was because of their strict adherence to their cultural customs and a limit on how many mainlanders could emigrate to their islands each year.
They were also one of the few island nations that’d never been conquered by any other kingdom. That was a boast in and of itself.
The night air was doing wonders for Ayla, too. When I gently scented her, I could already tell the alcohol was starting leave her system, although her arms were still swinging, and she would occasionally just stop to look up at the sky.
“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” she asked me dreamily one of the times she paused. But I didn’t need to lift my head to see something absolutely breathtaking. I was lucky enough she was right beside me.
