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Fairies huddled together and scattered as guards approached. The room was a swirl of silk and perfume. As I reached another group they shifted out of the way and pulled closer together which made trying to find a single woman among them near impossible.
Lira didn’t stand anywhere near Lennox. Alcoves lined the back wall. A flicker of light around the edge of a curtain highlighted the wispy form of a baby blue feather tucked into an ivory head of hair. Beyond the woman, Lira frowned. I could only see her eyes, but they had doubled in size, and she leaned away from the person she spoke with and took an uneasy step back.
Fuck. There were so many people between us.
I weaved my way through, trying not to look like a man desperate to reach a goal. I was supposed to be a guard sweeping the grounds for… my team and me, I supposed. All I could focus on was Lira, though, wide-eyed and cornered.
Someone bumped into me, and I helped steady them before weaving around another. The crowd closed in, stiff wools brushing my arms as skirts whisked across the stone floor. I turned to the side to slide through a group and bobbed around another.
“Sir.” A woman grabbed my arm, and I stopped. “Forgive me for stalling you, but should we be worried?” Her pale cheeks gained color as she lifted her hand over a diamond necklace that rested between her collarbones. “I wore my grandmother’s jewels tonight.”
I wanted to groan. I needed to get to Lira, but the way this woman looked up at me, her lip trembling, stalled me. “The guards feel positive that the thieves came for the globe and are already fleeing. We’re just being vigilant. You’re safe.”
Her shoulders dropped with a sigh. “Thank you, kindly, sir.”
I nodded, and she offered me a serene smile. Goddess, if she knew who I really was she would never look at me like that. She’d scream, tremble, pull away from me. Others would hover around her to protect her from me. The Seelie were terrified of me. It was useful but also made me feel like the devil they’d dubbed me. “Have a good evening,” I said and turned back into the crowd before she could respond.
Whispers trailed through the crowd like a breeze.
Everyone spoke of the globe.
How did someone steal it while we all watched?
I licked my lips to stall a smile. For all the hatred and fear we caused, my team was talented. Beyond that, they were family to me. They didn’t see the dark prince or even my royal position. They just saw me as Sai. It helped, in a world full of hatred, to have a safe place among friends.
Another fairy jostled into me and then bowed, and I walked around them. I couldn’t delay any more. Something about Lira called to me like a wave washing flotsam forward. I was hopeless but to follow. The thought had niggled in my mind that perhaps she was my Atalla. That made no sense, though. For one thing, she wasn’t fairy-born. Could fairies have non-fairy Atallas? I’d always been skeptical of the entire concept, but I could see Mother smirking at me, her sharp eyes skimming over me. “Just because you don’t like an idea, doesn’t mean it isn’t real, Sai.”
“It’s fantastical. A magical other half.”
She’d sat on her jeweled throne, but her attention was fully on me. That’s how Mother was. She poured herself into her role, but if you had her focus, you had all of it. “A being that balances your magic and forces you to grow. Would you say your father and I are not Atallas?”
I scoffed. “You and Father have a perfect marriage, that’s hardly fair.”
“It’s not perfect. It’s something we’ve worked on for decades and we both grew through our relationship.”
“So, a being should just wait around until their Atalla shows up and forces them through a magical transformation?”
Mother offered a deprecating laugh. “One of these days, Sai, your Atalla will arrive, and you’ll have to swallow back your words. I hope you’ve seasoned them judiciously.”
I hissed at the pressing need to find Lira. This feeling consumed me, and if that’s what an Atalla was I’d been right to avoid the damn thing. I would meet my other half as she held me at knifepoint after she’d compelled me and tied me to a chair. That was the kind of twist fate loved to throw at me.
I gave my head a shake. No. Lira wasn’t my Atalla. My anxiety had me giving in to fanciful ideas. I just wanted to check on her to reassure myself that she was safe. Someone stumbled away from me, and my boots clacked against the floor. My mind was tumbling over my thoughts. I didn’t have time for love or finding an Atalla. I needed to keep my focus on the heart stones and serving my family. Damn it, I’d had plenty of trysts and rarely thought back to my partners. Lira, however, seemed to fuse into my body and flood my mind. I had to fucking find her. Regardless of what we were to each other, I needed to ensure she was okay. Even if she had no desire to see me.
Neia was right. I’d fucked up. I doubted Lira would ever forgive me, and I suspected I would always regret it.
That was something I’d have to deal with later. For now, I needed to reach Lira.
CHAPTERTHIRTY-FIVE
LIRA
Mother’s perfumesnaked through the air like a sweet poison, slowly filling my senses and making my head pound. She’d draped herself for the party in silver silk that made her skin glow. Beyond the curtains, the crowd had pressed back, and dozens of bodies stood between myself and freedom.
“How dare you,” Mother hissed, “think you can run away from me. And the company you got yourself tangled up with.” She curled her fists and her crystal eyes glimmered like Sai’s did when he called on his magic. I stepped back but there was nowhere to go. The window was murky, distorting the ebony blanket of night and the glowing smear of the moon. “Do you understand what kind of precarious position you put yourself in? To come here?”
“The King doesn’t know who I am.”
Mother gaped, her crimson lipstick glimmering. “What do you mean?”
