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We made our way to the main hall in silence. As we walked into the ornately decorated hall, I automatically scanned the room, looking for Cass. I found him across the room, already surrounded by guests. He was everything Nik was not in that moment, but in the best way possible. Nik did, in fact, look like Prince Charming, except perhaps for his hair that was a little too long and untamed.
But where everything about Nik screamed tradition, Cass’s look responded withfucktradition. He was wearing a black tux, but that was where the similarities between the two men ended.
Cass wasn’t even wearing a bow tie or any kind of tie. His white button down was completely unbuttoned to display the scars and tattoos that covered his chest. His wings were out, and he seemed simply too large to allow. He flaunted his otherness for all to see, and it was intoxicating. And not just for me. I could see how others around him flocked to his side, hungry to stand in the presence of such raw power. I wanted to run my hands down his chest and then his abs and then…
A woman delicately wrapped her hand around as much of Cass’s biceps as she could under the auspices of getting his attention. I recognized her as Lady Alyssa Grady, Cass’s date for the evening. The realization that it would be her and not me who would be touching Cass’s arm all night extinguished the fire that had threatened to consume me moments before.
“Come on, princess. Let’s get you a drink,” Nik offered, pulling me in the opposite direction of Cass.
Even if I couldn’t be by his side, I was proud of Cass. At the High Court, he always seemed uncomfortable and out of place. But at the Golden Court, he looked at ease and that really allowed his beautiful personality to shine through. He had not made his way to my side yet, and I had resisted my urge to go over and cling to him. But it was clear he was flourishing in fulfilling his hosting duties.
It was time for Nik, as honoree, and me, as his date, to open the dance floor. The entire room stilled, all chattering going quiet. Nik took my wineglass, which was nearly empty already, and set it on a nearby table. And then he reached for me. I offered him my left hand, and he gracefully took it, pulling me into the alcove of his body, his left hand resting on my lower back.
I’d been in any number of close situations with Nik during our training sessions together, but his body pressed to mine took on a completely different feel and meaning now. I stared into his dark emerald eyes, and his normal glint of amusement was replaced with an intensity that took my breath away.
We just stood there, in the middle of the room, with all eyes on us, with the front of our bodies pressed together. I ran my tongue along my lower lip, then dragged my lip between my teeth. He stared at my lips like we didn’t have hundreds of people waiting on us to take three simple steps so they could join us on the dance floor.
Thankfully, the Prince took the first step, and I followed. On our third step, he welcomed others to the dance floor by guiding me into a dip. He pressed the front of his body so close to mine and applied pressure to my lower back. It felt like I was doing a backbend with him glued to the front of me. And then Cass, as the host, and his date, Alyssa, joined the floor, shortly followed by others.
True to his word, Nik did not leave my side the entire night. If I wanted to dance, we danced. If I wanted a drink, he got me a drink. The Prince attended to me so well the entire night that I hardly had time to dwell on the fact that I was not with Cass.
Toward the end of the night, I was actually a little thankful that I was not Cass’s date for the evening. When I was ready to turn in for the night, I looked around to find Cass preoccupied with his hosting duties, glad-handing with every guest as they departed. I could just imagine how exhausted he would be by the end of the night.
“Ready to go, princess?” Nik asked, his hand taking up almost the entirety of my lower back.
Nik had been so pleasant to be around the entire night that I didn’t even bristle at him calling me princess. At that moment, I imagined that even if I were a real princess, my night would have been no better. I had spent the entire night on the arm of a handsome Prince who had said and done everything right. I was downright suspicious of Nik and his sudden change of character, but I was thankful for it. I had expected a night of Nik taunting Cass and making Cass’s first large, hosted event difficult for him. But Nik did no such thing.
“I think you’ve put in enough steps in those heels. Let’s take a shortcut,” he said, offering me his hand.
And I took it without hesitation. We disappeared from the middle of the main hall without having to say goodbye to a single soul. The emerald on my neck glowed with the same intensity as Nik’s emerald eyes in the shadows of his darkness for the moments we were in between here and there. And then we were on the balcony outside of my room.
There was the cocky Nik I knew, I thought. He couldn’t just drop me at the door. Of course, he had to invite himself in.
“Just wanted to make sure you made it in safely,” he said, like he had read my mind.
“Oh, yeah,” I said, remembering his family heirloom that was still around my neck. I’m sure he wanted to make sure it was safe.
“Let me—” I said, reaching around the back of my neck to delicately remove the emerald necklace.
But then Nik was behind me.
“Let me,” he offered, his hands already reaching for the clasp.
I dropped my hands and pushed my hair to the side and out of the way. I could feel his body behind mine. He didn’t struggle with the clasp at all, instead bringing the ends of the necklace around each side of my face. He grasped the emerald in the palm of his hand so it wouldn’t fall, then let his fist rest against my chest. I looked down at his hand on my sternum, but he grabbed my chin between his thumb and finger and forced me to stare up at him over my shoulder.
I didn’t know what was happening. Or what to think. Surely, he could feel my heart pounding in my chest. He looked down at me with eyes as deep and green as the emerald enclosed in his hand, and I thought he might kiss me. I nervously ran my tongue along my bottom lip. That was a mistake. Now he was focused on my lips.
He moved his face closer to mine, and I finally broke out of my emerald-tinged trance. I was about to stop him. I was about to tell him to back off. I was with Cass, and even if I was Nik’s date for the night, that didn’t mean he could just go around kissing other people’s girlfriends. But at the last second, Nik changed his course. His lips just barely brushed the side of my cheek.
“Sweet dreams, princess,” he whispered in my ear. And then he disappeared into one of his inky shadows.
I ran my hand across my chest, trying to dissipate the coolness that immediately replaced the warmth of his hand.
29
Alarie
Cass was leaning against the railing of the veranda, overlooking the morning sun shining over the Golden Court below. His back was corded in muscle, and his biceps were so big they looked like they would pop. I wanted to run my hands down his bare back, over the tattoo of wings that resided there in the absence of his real wings. I wanted to get on my knees right then and there and—
