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Yet, Dace’s hand, as I hesitantly took it, was firm and inviting. Completely and utterly real.
Confident, as he always was, he led me to the empty dance floor and pulled me up to his chest. The smile on his face never faltered, his attention never drifting from me to the crowd. Dace never needed validation in what he was doing, he just did it. Behind us, the attendant called the name of the next girl, who would be upset to find that the Nymph was somehow favored.
“What are you doing?” I whispered, letting him lead me in a simple step around the floor. All around us, Fae watched with displeasure. Though I caught one knowing smile. Jesseline held a bubbling glass up in salute as we made eye contact, her hair slicked back behind sparkling diamond earrings. She looked like a different person in the skin-tight green gown.
Dace leaned closer, his soft lips brushing against my ear. “I’m choosing my bride.”
“You still have time to change your mind,” I breathed. “I’ve only been favored.”
Dace straightened himself and watched me with furrowed brows. He licked his lips, looking around me for a moment before he said, “I’ve already made my choice.”
“You can’t marry a Nymph.”I wanted to laugh, I practically did as I spoke. This was a moment of insanity, that’s what this was. I was probably crazy too, for thinking this could really be an option.
“If I can’t marry you, then I won’t marry at all. And if my mother cannot accept that then she’ll have to find another way to keep the people on the streets from throwing her ass off the throne.”
His eyes fixed on his mother behind me as he spoke. The seriousness in his voice curled through me. The sound of his rich voice at my ear sent heat down to my sex.
“Did you not notice the way I’ve flirted with you? Is my game so far off that you never saw my attraction to you?”
“I, uh, I just thought that you were never serious. That youcouldn’tbeserious. You just wanted me to fawn over you, like every other girl.”
LaBelle had made her way down the stairs. I could feel her eyes zeroed in on my back, burning against my skin. The dress Dace had picked revealed my back completely, a self-conscious worry. Scars marred my skin. Divots of skin were missing and uneven from my beatings over the last five years.
Dace ran his hand over the planes of my back, pulling me closer to him until there was hardly any space between us at all. “I’ve wanted you for all my life, Ryker.”
Fear zapped through me, making me rigid. It was everything I’d just admitted that I wanted, and it was terrifying. Under the scrutiny of an entire court of people who didn’t want me here, it was overwhelming. I wanted to hide, I wanted to run to Daethian or Hattie and tell them everything just so they could tell me it was okay. That if this is what I wanted, then we would find a way to work it out—but my best friend and my sister were not here right now.
“What do we do next?” I ask as the song came to a close.
“You’ll come stand by me, while I sign a public decree accepting my rights to the crown back. Unfortunately, after that I will have to take dances with all the otheroptions,” he said the word with a hint of disgust, “but it doesn’t change anything.” He squeezed my hand, walking us up to his parents.
His father’s hand had lifted to rub at the shadow of a beard that was growing along his jaw as he watched us approach together. Queen Couley’s back was straight as a board, her hands resting against the arms of the throne. Her features were frozen, her skin an even porcelain. A beautiful statue.
“This is who you present to us as your favored bride?” she finally said slowly, enunciating every single word.
“It would seem that way, wouldn’t it, Mother?” Dace’s smile grew cocky as he lifted my hand in offering after brushing a soft kiss to my knuckles. My whole body felt as if it had been set on fire. The attention of the crowd, Dace’s affection, all of it made my head feel light.
Standing from her seat, the Queen's navy-blue gown danced with gems that tinkled against the ground like tiny bells. She flicked her wrist and a few Nymphs carried out a table and a chair. A scroll, pen, warmed wax, and a crown rested on the wood. The Nymphs looked up at me with genuine smiles as they set it down before us and scuttled back to wherever they had come from.
The crown was clear crystal, almost like it was carved out of ice. It didn’t melt against the table, which put my theory to rest. Dace let go of my hand and sat down at the table.
“It’s really been such a pleasure doing business with you. I’m so lucky to have parents just aslovingas you.” Every word was a pointed dagger aimed for his mother. The tension between them felt like a thick fog in the air.
No matter how much I wanted to believe that he meant it, I couldn’t help but believe that he’d change his mind. There was the rest of the evening for him to talk with other girls, for him to talk with LaBelle.
Here my mind became a terrible rebel to the way I tried to smother my hope. I watched Dace as he smiled, leaning over the documents. He brushed the hair away from his forehead with those long fingers. It made me wonder what it would be like if he touched me like that. A reckless, mindless caress. It wasn’t a fun game my thoughts made me play. He was a prince, the people's king. I was merely the face of rebellion. A Nymph who has bewitched her way into winning a prize so much bigger than her.
Iknew it was right of me to entertain these other women, at least enough to make my mother feel content, but it was far too difficult to keep my gaze from drifting in her direction. Everything about Ryker was as my vision deemed it, down to her hesitance in taking my hand. She looked more than the part of a dream come true; she looked like a fucking angel.
“…and in my spare time, I like to sew or occasionally tend to the gardens with my Nymphs. Father says I have the greenest thumbs,” the drone of LaBelle’s voice went in one ear and out the other. I managed to nod along.
“What do you do in your free time?” she continued.
With her dress fitted to the slightness of her body and a glass of sparkling brew made in the Twinity Court in her hand, Ryker stood on the edge of the crowd. A soft grin stretched her lips before she hid behind her hand to suppress a laugh. Jesseline watched her with drooping eyelids, her body tense and a fist clenched despite the twinkle of humor in an upturned brow. Ryker’s bright gaze slid to me.
Was she enjoying her time here? I hoped to the gods that she was.
“Dace?” LaBelle bit out, drawing me back into the conversation I was supposed to be having.
