Page 95 of The Duke’s Bloody Bargain

He offered me his gloved hand. “May I have the honour? I want to dance with you and also see if the weeks you spent teaching me how to dance have been wasted.”

“I’m sure you’ll surpass the teacher.”

He smiled when I took his hand. I spotted Cara standing in a corner and waved at her. Her Prussian-blue gown didn’t stand out for its brightness or elegance, but it was an improvement from her usual widow’s weeds. Graves stood next to her, rather dashing himself.

She returned the wave tentatively, and it might be my imagination, but I could swear she was smiling.

Alex led me with expertise across the ballroom in perfect rhythm with the beautiful music. The gentle pressure of his fingers on my waist held a hint of sensuality, enough to make me look forward to them stroking my naked skin. Gazing away from his spectacular silver-grey eyes wasn’t possible. They demanded my full attention. His thumb stroked my wrist with a feather touch that made me blush.

“You’re an excellent dancer,” I said as we glided over the marble floor.

“Thank you. It only took me six hours of training every day for six weeks straight to reach this expertise. If Darius hadn’t been busy with the shield and the fog, I would have asked him to use a spell to make me dance flawlessly.”

“But you’re doing fine without magic. You did it yourself.”

When the music ended, Darius joined us. His aura was a riot of sparkling colours and contagious happiness.

He raised his glass of champagne. “This is a new beginning.”

“It is.” I kissed Alex, gazing around at the full ballroom.

“I mean,” Darius said in a sober tone, “we haven’t found Odette. Bethlen is still at large and killing criminals at will. Lucy might become a feral vampire, but apart from that, everything is fine.”

Alex scowled. “You talk too much.”

In a shiny black suit, Knight walked over to us. The elegant jacket didn’t diminish his rough looks or make him less intimidating.

He cleared his throat. “Ravenhill. Miss Harlowe. How is Lucy?”

“Unchanged.” I opened and closed my fan, worried about her.

Concern filled his aura with sepia. “I think I’m going upstairs to see her.”

“Of course.” I nodded. “There’s no need for a footman to escort you, I suppose.”

He had come here to visit Lucy regularly. He knew that part of Raven Hall better than anyone.

“I’m glad you’re taking good care of her. It means a lot.” Knight spoke with too much solemnity, as if I’d saved his life.

When he was gone, Alex leant closer. “I’m curious to see if it’ll mean a lot for Graves too. He won’t be happy to know Knight took a shine to his sister.”

“There you are. The hosts.” Esmeralda was without a doubt the most stunning lady present.

Her golden gown glimmered like an actual star, and little golden butterflies fluttered around every time she moved. Her dark curls framed her high cheekbones, and the golden light made her emerald eyes look bigger.

“Wonderful evening.” She fanned herself with a butterfly-shaped fan.

“Thank you.” I gestured at Darius. “The success is mostly due to our extraordinary mage.”

I found it petty to get involved in the competition about who was the most powerful mage in the kingdom, but I felt protective of Darius.

He basked in the compliments. “I did my best and succeeded, as usual.”

“Well, almost.” Esmeralda gracefully nodded. “I was thinking about the rogue. What are you planning to do to catch him? And what about Lord Rothbart? For how long do you think you can keep him here?”

Some of my enthusiasm vanished. We’d spent the past two months searching, planning, and walking the streets without finding Bethlen. It’d been exhausting and disappointing. Not to mention that following Odette’s traces based on the scarce information Rothbart had given us was proving to be a challenge.

Tonight, I didn’t want to discuss plans and strategies or be reminded of Bethlen and Rothbart.