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He clasped my hand tighter, and I felt his Grace flow into me, projecting the longing, the lust, and the care he felt for me. “Well, it seems my sentries are terrible at following orders, and superb at finding loopholes.”
I blushed.
“I—”
He shook his head, “I would be lying if I said I hadn’t wanted to break my own rules. I don’t blame them,” he spun me around again, pulling me back, so we were hip to hip, arms crossed over each other. “So, Liana, the answer is yes.”
My heart surged into a gallop, my blood rushing in my ears.Yes?I beheld him with something between wonder and terror. The ball fell away until all I could see and feel was him. Alaric.MyAlaric.
“But I have one condition,” he added after a moment, and another turn about the floor—me on suddenly sloppy feet.
I snapped my head up in time with the crescendo of the song, my eyes blazing into his, and his into mine, “Iwill be the first to have you.”
My legs buckled and his hand on my waist tightened to steady me, further intensifying the quake reverberating out from my core. Beyond the capacity for speech, I agreed to his condition with one terse nod of my head as the song slowed, and then stopped.
Chapter Thirty-One
Though I wouldn’t be expected to produce an heir any time in the immediate future, it would have been an insult not to accept dances from the available bachelors at court. Time wore on as suiter after suiterafter suiterimplored me to dance with them. They remarked on my beauty, on the cut of my dress—one even remarked on my eye color and how it seemed to change before I remembered to keep my head down. But I didn’t care.
They were courting my crown, not me. I knewmymales had no ulterior motives. They would never accept a queen’s sentry as King Consort. Kade, Finn, and Alaric would have no power. But still, they wanted me, cared for me, and would protect me at all costs. They were twice the males any of the pompous nobles were.
I had been looking forward to a break from dancing when the song ended, and turned to get myself a drink, finding Tiernan.
The Day Court emissary looked dapper in a deep blue jacket and deep grey trousers. The dark colors stressed his light hair, which he had left loose to hang about his chiseled jawline and seemed to brighten his eyes. He smiled widely, encouraging me to accept his offer to dance.
My jaw clenched. And as one, the room collectively held its breath anticipating what I’d do. There hadn’t been a member of the Day Court here for an age, and I had invited one against the wishes of the council. Did I dare dance with him?
“Tiernan, I—”
He lowered his hand, “It’s alright, Liana,” he whispered so no one else would hear, “Someday, when there’s less animosity between our courts, Iwilldance with you. I had to try,” he finished with a wink, and turned to leave.
Steeling myself, I stopped Tiernan before he could walk away. The Song of Night had begun, with the sounds of drums and deep cello.
I bowed to my partner.
He registered shock for an instant before he bowed back and brought his hand up to shadow mine. Eye to eye, we moved, circling each other as a fell-cat does its prey. The dance of night was the most passionate of all dances, full of alternatingly quick and then slow movements—of pushing away and then pulling close with each beat of the drums.
The other dancers vacated the floor two by two, and the gathering of nobles stopped to watch us in raptured silence. My heart fluttered against my ribcage—a primal creature trapped in a bony cage.
Tiernan knew the dance well and lead me expertly across the floor. His hands electrified the places where they met mine and rested on my lower waist. I gasped as he lifted me into the air, spun and set me back down. I almost slipped, but he was quick to catch me, making it look as though the slip of my foot was part of the dance.
“You’re an incredible dancer,” I whispered to him when he pulled me near.
He put his lips next to my ear and whispered back, “I know,” before he spun me out again. I shivered at the feel of his breath on my neck.
The effectsof the wine were dulling my senses, and I knew I needed to stop, but after what Alaric told me, and after that dance with Tiernan, there wasn’t anyway I would make it through the evening without a little liquid assistance.
Lucky for me, there was no taster required. Everyone at the ball drank of the fountain, and no one showed any sign of having been poisoned. But just in case, either Finn or Kade held my glass for me, and always took the first sip.
“Having fun?” Finn asked me as I filled another, leaning against the wall to survey the room.
“I am,” I answered him, but the truth was I was eager to have this part of the evening over with. As the queen, the nobles would expect me to remain in attendance until at least midnight, since the ball would go on until dawn. The promise of what would come afterwards was enough to make me want to flee right that moment—take Alaric by the hand and just go. I wanted him. I had wanted him almost from the first moment I saw him. And now I could have him, but I’d have to wait.
Patience was never my forte.
I filled a second glass for Finn and handed it to him, “I know I’ve already apologized,” I began, biting my bottom lip, “But I hope you know how sorry I am for making you do something you didn’t want to do. I—well—”
Finn pasted on a tight-lipped smile, “You are the queen, Liana. You don’t need to apologize.”
