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Having had enough of this sitting around, I get up and return to my father’s feast before someone realizes that I’ve left. I walk amongst jubilant courtiers, drunk-off-their-rockers lords, and their wandering-eye ladies. Everyone is having a grand old time, while I’m sadly perusing the grand hall, feeling sorry for myself. I stand in a corner and just watch the pairs dancing in tune with one another, staring into their partners’ eyes as if they were the only two people on earth. The makeshift dance floor oozes intimacy as well as seduction. Two things I’m a complete novice at and, by the looks of it, won’t be an expert in anytime soon.
It’s the gentle nudge on my shoulder that breaks through my pity party.
“You look awfully sad for such a grand occasion,” Levi says, with a drink in hand.
“I guess I’m not in the celebratory mood.”
“Hmm. Not like you. You always love these things.”
I furrow my brow and crane my neck back to look at him. Levi has always been the tallest of all of us, which is understandable since he’s also the oldest. But over these past few years, he’s kept growing, like a tree who is adamant in touching the sky with its branches. Thankfully, I’m wearing heels tonight, so I don’t have to strain my neck too far.
“Why would you say that?” I ask, intrigued with his observation of me.
“Because,” he shrugs, “you love any excuse to dance.”
A small smile starts to tug at the corners of my lips.
He’s right.
I do love to dance.
Usually, I can count on Atlas or Teo to swing me around the dance floor, but tonight they both seem to be off doing their own thing without me. It occurs to me that in all the feasts and balls my father has thrown over the years, I’ve never danced with Levi, though. Which has me wondering—why?
“How come you don’t dance?” I ask curiously.
“Because no one has ever asked me to.”
“That can’t be true.” I shake my head, my smile fully on my lips now.
Levi is the best man I know in all of Aikyam. At least, in my eyes he is. Not only is he wise beyond his years, but he also doesn’t make you feel less than for your lack of experience. Patient to a fault, with an enormous need to protect those who need it most. Never have I heard him say a mean word or cruel joke just because he could. Levi, to me, is what every man should aspire to be. And he’s only seen seventeen winters, which means the best of him is yet to come.
A girl would be a fool not to want to spend every waking second in his presence, much less refuse to dance with him.
“Aye, but it is.” He sheepishly grins, and in that one smile, my heart pitter-patters.
That’s another reason why Levi is so special.
He rarely smiles, but when he does, it’s like the sun has just broken through the cloudiest of days, shining its light on you.
It’s so breathtaking it takes me a minute to gather my thoughts.
“I… um… I…”
“Yes?” He cocks a confused brow at my sudden stammering.
I clear my throat and plant a smile, hoping he doesn’t realize how his smile always takes the wind out of me.
“What I was going to say, or ask, I should say, is why you never danced with me?”
I know what he’s going to say.
That he thinks of me as his little sister and that I should dance with boys closer to my age, but Levi surprises me when he bends down, his lips so close to my ear that I feel a small shiver run down my back.
“For the same reason,” he whispers. “You never asked me.”
It’s only when he pulls away that I’m able to breathe again.
“Well, that’s a silly reason,” I laugh off, praying to all the gods that he thinks my heated cheeks are due to the warm hall and not his nearness.
