AllFreeNovel
Share Us
A fiery spark lit his eyes. “There are a few other moves I’m dying to show you, though we’ll wait until we don’t have an audience for that.”
My heart pulsed. “No audience? You don’t seem like the shy type.”
“Oh, I am not shy,” he said in a low murmur as he tightened his grip on my waist, “but I can’t stand the thought of any other man in this room seeing the beauty of your curves.”
“Mmm. So, I shouldn’t dance with someone else then?”
“Not unless you want to see me wildly jealous.”
“Might be kind of entertaining.”
His hand left mine, and he rubbed his thumb against my jaw. “As entertaining as me carrying you back to my bed after this ball, so that I can show you just how many ways I can make you moan?”
“That does sound fairly entertaining,” I whispered.
His lips grazed mine. I wound my arms around his neck and kissed him with fion burning through my veins, giving me an extra dose of nerve. Everyone was watching us. They’d likely gossip about this later—the fae king and his mortal lover. But his lips and the heat of the wine banished those thoughts. We kissed there on the dance floor, our arms wrapped around each other, until I could barely breathe.
When we finally broke apart, the music changed. An upbeat tune cut through the strained silence of the Great Hall, and a group of nearby fae sprang into action. Cheeks flaming, I glanced around and spotted my mother with a group of humans, shaking her head with her hand on her chest. It was the first time I’d seen her since her visit to my room. She’d been avoiding me.
“I’m not sure my mother will ever get over watching me kiss the Mist King.”
Kalen dropped another kiss on my lips. “She’ll have to get used to it.”
I smiled as several rowdy fae lurched past us with arms and legs swinging to the beat. Kalen laughed and led me off the floor, back to where Tess and Nellie were feasting on pastries. Little flecks dotted their clothes, and by the widening of their pupils, they were at least another glass of fion into the celebration.
“Toryn is calling me over.” He winked as he backed away. “Save another dance for me.”
“Only if you swear to do what you mentioned earlier. After the ball.”
A wide grin spread across his face. “With pleasure.”
He took several more steps back with his eyes locked on me, almost as if he didn’t want to turn away. I’d never seen him so relaxed before, so joyful in the way he moved. Gone was the tension that tightened his shoulders. Gone was the heaviness of his steps. And, as I turned to my sister and my dearest friend, I realized all that was gone from me as well.
“Enjoy your dance?” Val asked, gifting me with a sly smile.
“Don’t you start.” I held out a hand. “Give me one of those pastries. I’m starving.”
But before she could pass me some food, the air behind me shifted.
“Tessa Baran. I’ve heard a lot about you.” The dark-haired fae edged up beside me and leaned against the table with a lazy grin. He was the one who had been watching me dance with Kalen. Like the other fae, he wore fine, tailored attire and had placed a metal pin on his lapel that matched Kalen’s mask-crown symbol. It was impossible to tell his age—he could be anywhere from thirty to two hundred. The keen glint in his eyes suggested it was the latter.
“Thank you. I guess.”
He narrowed his gaze and stepped closer. That was when I noticed the small dagger hidden just behind his decorative coat. “It wasn’t a compliment. The last place our king should be is here, watching over a group of pitiful humans. You’re distracting him from what really matters. And that isn’t an insect like you.”
I blinked and stepped back. A few men from Teine wandered closer, clearly having heard the fae’s words.
“There’s no need to be rude,” Val said with a frown.
He snapped his head her way. “Do not speak unless you’re spoken to,mortal.”
“And here I thought shadow fae were better than light fae,” I hissed at him, angling my body between him and Val. “Dismissing humans just because of what they are. That’s what Oberon does.”
“Well, perhaps Oberon had it right.” He grabbed my wrist and gripped it tight. “Because we’d all be better off if you were dead. Did you think we wouldn’t hear that you tried to kill our king?”
He whisked out a dagger and pointed the sharp tip at my throat. The edge pierced my skin. Several of the Teine men shouted and started to move toward me, but that only made the fae clutch me tighter.
“Come any closer, any of you, and I will kill her right here in front of everyone,” the fae growled.
