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“No. ” He swept his hand outward and directed my attention across the ballroom. When my gaze came to a rest, it was on a beautiful couple, and my breath caught.
Kellen was wearing a gown the color of early twilight—deep purple blue—and her hair hung in long brown waves down her back. She was smiling up at a handsome blond man who was looking at her like a precious gem. His hand was tucked possessively at the small of her back, and they spun across the floor with more grace than I would have imagined a human girl could dance with.
After my experience in the bedroom, though, it didn’t matter how pretty the window-dressing was, I wasn’t buying it. Kellen had been here long enough, brought against her will. She had definitely been drinking the Kool-Aid.
“So you see, your friend is quite happy. ”
“I can see my friend is alive. I don’t believe she’ll be happy until she’s back where she belongs. ”
The crowd merged back around Kellen and the fairy who’d kidnapped her, leaving me to focuse on the king once again.
“You don’t take anything at face value, do you?”
“Of course not. Care to explain what that bullshit in our room was?” I stayed next to Holden, not wanting to get too close to the fairies. They’d begun to mill about, pretending not to watch us but doing a poor job of hiding it.
“What happens in my guestrooms is not something I try to make my business. Why…? Were there issues?”
The woman who had collected us chose that moment to wander off. “I think you know perfectly well what happened. ”
“Not a clue. Of course if I did, you would have been well forewarned that everything you do here would be under scrutiny. ”
“I didn’t think that meant you would attempt to force things to happen. ”
The crowd stopped talking, and everyone stared at me and the king. I had no shame about my outburst, considering the guy had tried to make me do…things.
“Secret, walk with me, will you?”
“I’d rather not. ”
“I’m sorry, you interpreted that as a request, which may have been due to a politeness of my tone. What I meant to say was, Secret, you will walk with me. ”
Holden began to argue, but I grudgingly said, “Fine. ”
“Alone,” Aubrey added.
“Naturally. ”
The king o
ffered me his arm. After a moment’s hesitation where I wondered if taking it would count as accepting a gift, I placed my hand lightly on his forearm and let him guide me to the center of the dance floor.
“I think a dance is in order,” Aubrey suggested.
“Would it matter if I didn’t agree?”
“You’d look awfully silly with me dragging you around the floor. I think it better if you went along with it. ”
I blew my bangs out of my eyes, and when he placed a hand on my waist and another on my shoulder, I fell naturally into a waltz position.
“You know how to dance,” he said with an impressed flourish.
“I’m a queen, you know. ”
“Indeed. ”
The music picked up, drowning out the eerie silence that had filled the room. I let Aubrey take the lead as he swirled me across the floor, but I kept pace with him, never allowing him to show me up.
“Tell me something,” he began. “Why is it you seem to dislike me so?”
