Was it as obvious to her as it was to everyone? That this woman was magic. Singular.
He took a step toward the stairs and the woman reached out and took his arm. “Your Highness, that is no one. She’s… That woman is…”
“You will take your hands off of me, Lady Tremaine,” he said, knowing full well his glare had the power to turn even the bravest man’s blood to ice. “And you will not speak ill about her.”
He began to walk toward the stairs, hearing a ripple in the room as he did.
And then her eyes met his.
She stopped, and he kept moving toward her.
He went up two steps to meet her. “You’re here,” he said.
She nodded, not speaking, her eyes darting behind him for a moment. He could see worry on her face, in her gaze.
Maybe this had haunted her as it had haunted him.
And he extended his hand. “My lady,” he said. “Will you dance with me?”
She nodded slowly, and he took her hand, the instant, electric need that shot through him unlike anything he’d ever experienced before.
Except that night. Except when she had touched his face. And everything had changed. He pulled her close to him, and he smelled her. Lilacs.
And then, he swirled her out onto the dance floor, in front of everyone. She was here. She had come.
She smiled up at him, and he felt like the world had shifted somehow. Like everything was different.
All of it changing in a moment.
He never felt like this. He hadn’t been sure that he was capable of it. When he had thought about it at all. His own feelings had never mattered. Not until her.
There was a squeezing guilt that went along with that. It’d taken the death of someone else for him to ever experience something like magic.
But he pushed that aside, because there was no reason to think about it now. She was here. In his arms. It didn’t matter what her name was. It didn’t matter who she was. Nothing mattered but how much he wanted her.
But they were dancing in a room full of people, and he had to keep his desire on a leash. He couldn’t betray that he already knew her. The cost was far too high. Andrei was right. There was a way to play this, one that would honor the crown, honor Circe’s memory.
He couldn’t take her. Not tonight. And certainly not in front of everyone. Except…
Just for a moment. He could steal her away just for a moment. The guests already had eyes on them. He had already made a spectacle. Perhaps everyone could feel this thing that was arcing between them.
“Will you step outside with me?”
She nodded, but didn’t say a word. He hungered for her voice. The husky whisper from that night.
With her hand in his, he led her out the back doors of the ballroom. There were many people out on the terrace, and they slipped through the knot of the crowd easily, heading down the stairs and toward the garden.
“I need…” He grabbed her, tugged her behind a hedge, like he was a green boy, and pulled her into his arms. He kissed her like he was starving, because he was. Because there had never been anything before her like this, and he feared that there would be nothing after. Because she was singular, and his need for her was something like he had never imagined possible.
She wrapped her arms around his neck, her body arching forward. He cupped the back of her head, and kissed her. Deep and long. “You came,” he said.
“Of course,” she whispered. “I had to… I had to see you.”
There would be time for talking later. He needed to know her. Everything about her. All of his good intentions, the idea of taking this slow.I’m not claiming her tonight…All of his thoughts melted away. Because he needed her. He moved his hand down to cup her breast. It felt fuller than when they had been together last. Or maybe it was just that she was better than any dream he’d ever had.
Maybe it was just that it had been so good his own imagination had blunted it, because not even he could believe it. Even having experienced it. He moved his hand down to her waist, and then around to her stomach.
Her rounded stomach.
