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Chrysanthos seemed to remember himself. He put his hands in his sleeves and gave a slight bow. “Well, I was only a visitor in Cordium. I am certainly not qualified for an extended discussion of musical theory.”
“I believe the music speaks for itself. What shall I play now? Who would like to make the next request?”
Cassia spoke up. “Would you be so kind as to play us another dancing song?”
“Certainly, Lady Cassia.” Nodora exchanged a conspiratorial smile with her. “I know just the one. I understand it’s been beloved at the Tenebran court for generations and was quite popular during the most recent Equinox Summit.”
She commenced the familiar notes of the chaste but lively Tenebran dance Cassia and Lio had shared at Solorum. But Nodora pulled from her instrument a beautiful variation of the introduction that transformed the song from courtship to seduction. Cassia couldn’t wait a moment longer to see Lio move to this melody anew, to find this rhythm with him once more, to enjoy a dance here in Orthros to a friend’s music.
“This event is going rather well,” Cassia commented to Perita. “But I think we can do even better. Excuse me.”
She put Knight in a sit-stay by her friends and strode through the embassy toward the open dance floor. Lio stood at the front of the Hesperine crowd. He watched her across the divide, but did not step forward. This move was hers.
She was just about to cross the distance when Chrysanthos stepped in front of her.
She halted in her tracks and lifted her chin. Half a dozen responses raged through her mind, all of them dangerous to her image with the embassy. If she spoke, she would err, so she gave the mage nothing more than an inquiring glance.
The Dexion held out his hand. “You have yet to dance with me.”
The monster wanted to steal her dance with Lio.
“Honored Master, as a mage, you are beyond the order of rank. I did not think our duties required a dance.”
“You would regard a dance with me as nothing more than a duty? You wound me, my lady. I assure you, it would be a pleasure.”
Master Gorgos trundled over and imposed himself into their conversation. “I have to agree with Basilis.”
Cassia had never thought he would be her rescuer. “Oh, Master Gorgos, do please advise us on the proper course of action in this delicate situation. While I am exceedingly flattered by the Honored Master’s request, I cannot help but wonder if it is acceptable for a lady such as myself to join him in a dance while he serves in his capacity as a mage of Anthros.”
“A lady such as yourself must surely have few opportunities to enjoy a dance partner such as I,” the Dexion replied. “It would be a shame for you to have to miss it.”
“Indeed, I have never received an invitation from a man of your character, much less accepted it.”
“Your delicacy is to be commended.” Master Gorgos nodded and smiled. “Adhere always to the path of retiring virtue! Lift yourself up upon the wings of humble resignation! The gods smile upon the young lady who forgoes worldly pleasures…” Master Gorgos eyed the Dexion. “…and upon the man who embraces the rigors of self-discipline.”
“You’ve danced your feet off, my dear.” The Semna patted the bench beside her. “Come sit awhile with me.”
Nodora repeated the song’s introduction in yet another variation, and the energetic melody heightened to tension. Lio watched the confrontation from among the Hesperines, his face perfectly composed into what Cassia knew was a mask of diplomacy reinforced by a veil spell or eight.
She let her regret fill her heart, a silent message to him. Even if she escaped a dance with Chrysanthos, there was no way she could dance with Lio now. The only way out of dancing with the Dexion was to revert to wallflower.
Cassia already knew she could never return to being that silent, passive girl.
Whatever the Dexion was planning for this dance, she would find out and turn it back upon him. She would make him regret standing between her and Lio.
“Come now,” Chrysanthos cajoled. “Where in our vows does it say we may not dance?”
Master Gorgos frowned. “That surely falls under putting worldly pleasure to the scythe on the altar of Anthros.”
“Oh, Honored Master,” Cassia demurred, “I really couldn’t…”
Chrysanthos extended his hand again. “You already know my opinion on your piety. I am sure we both understand precisely what this dance does and does not mean. You must weary of provincial partners. Come dance with a true expert who has studied the steps in the finest courts.”
“Oh, dear. We are causing a scene.” Cassia cast an indicative glance at the watching crowd, then turned a gaze that pled for rescue at Master Gorgos, even as she put her hand in Chrysanthos’s. “Virtue demands discretion.”
Before the other mages had further opportunity to protest, the Dexion gripped her hand and led her onto the floor. He was holding her hand, which only weeks ago she had scarred rescuing the glyph stone from the shrine of Hespera he had destroyed. A hand that had left behind bloody prints on the ruins, the evidence that had alerted him the heretic he hunted was a woman.
The dance forced him to release her. Safe a moment longer. She resisted the urge to scrub her hand on her clothes. They prowled around each other in the opening steps. Clap. Clap. The rest of the dancers assembled around them. Clap. Clap. Clap. Clap. Nodora launched into the main melody, every stroke of her strings a challenge.
