For just a second, I thought I saw something flare in them. A flash of green I’d only seen occasionally from orc players when they were gripped by an intense emotion.
Surely he can’t smell me from down there.
Could he?
I had a sudden, vivid recollection of standing in my living room, his hands at my waist, and the way he’d gone very still just before he’d almost… before we’d nearly…
Oh no.
Before I could decide whether to wave like a normal person or simply melt directly through the bleacher, something happened on the ice behind him—a collision, a shout, the clatter of sticks—and his attention snapped back to the play.
He went back to it.
Except.
Except.
It seemed to me, perched in my shadows with my unread notebook pressed against my sternum, that he was wilder now than he’d been before. More aggressive. Morepresent. As if something had been turned up a notch, some dial I hadn’t known existed.
He was moreKardok.
I sank back against the seat and watched him tear down the ice, and tried very hard not to think about what that meant.
I failed, rather completely.
Kardok
I can’t believeI’d agreed to this.
Agree? Fuck, this was your idea!
Damn.
I hated when my subconscious was right.
I tugged at the stupid tie and kept pacing. I was in the lobby of the opera house, dressed in my most uncomfortable outfit—and I still wasn’t as nicely dressed as the human males who were giving me a wide berth—praying no one would recognize me.
Agreeing to a figure skating exhibition was already fucking up my reputation…going to a ballet would be even worse.
Except…
Except it had seemed like a good idea at the time, and ithadbeen my idea.
Two days ago, in the middle of our afternoon scrimmage, I’d just…knownLila was there. I don’t know how, and since myKteerwas distracted by the violence around me, I couldn’t even blame it.
I justknew. I looked up, and there she was, light in the darkness, watching me.
The knowledge that she was there had me playing better than I’d played in a long time, as if she granted me confidence. And later, during our practice, I still felt that buzz.
She’d been trying to explain something about—I dunno, something to do withemotionsduring the session, like I could understand that shit. Apparently there was a difference between just doing the moves…andfeelingthem?
She’d been frustrated and led me over to the bench to pull out her phone and showed me a clip from a professional ballet company. And look, I’m the last male to understand anything to do with ballet, but in that moment, watching them prance around the stage…I think Ialmostgot it, you know?
“They’re good,” I’d grunted because Lila had been looking at me expectantly.
She’d smiled, and frankly, I would’ve even tried ballet if it made her smile like that. “They’re my favorite company. I have tickets to see them soon.”
And without thinking, I said, “I’ll go with you.”
