Melaena finally reached me and pulled something from her hair. “Take this,” she whispered, handing me a knife shaped like a hairpin. “I have a feeling you’ll need it more than me tonight. May Mynastra’s luck be with you.”
Words of gratitude clustered in my throat, but none escaped. I gave her a tremulous smile and stabbed the knife into my gilded hair.
She smiled back. “Remember what I said before, Kiera. Find the joy, and you’ll find the power you seek.”
I tucked her words away in my mind as a light scratching sounded on the door.
“That’s our warning,” Melaena hissed. “Positions.”
Everyone slipped into line like we’d practiced dozens of times.
A loud voice boomed out an introduction, then the doors were swept open. The massive ballroom had been darkened. A few servants holding candelabras lit our path through a crowd of craning necks.
Out of sight, a low drum beat started. Like a heartbeat.
We lifted our arms, silks tied to gold bracelets, and floated into the room. Our bare feet tapped, and our bodies swayed forward with each beat.
The drum picked up tempo as we approached the center stage—a slightly raised platform with a large bronze brazier in the center. I caught a glimpse of a man lounging in an alcove draped with silks. Asher.
Focus.
We circled the brazier, undulating and spinning like restless flames.
I deftly freed my fiery silks from my wrists and whirled them around me. Somewhere in the back of my mind, Melaena’s voice counted the beats of the routine. But my body simply danced.
My muscles were fluid and warm from our rehearsal earlier. The idea that no one knew who I was left me utterlyfree. I wasn’t Emilia. I wasn’t Kiera. I wasn’t a princess or a spy or a guard.
I was one of Arduen’s flames begging to be unleashed.
We kicked our pointed feet high, twirling our skirts like golden clouds. Faster and faster, the drums pounding until?—
They cut off, and Melaena flicked her hand over the brazier. Two tiny fireseeds fell on the slumbering embers. The flames roared to life. Gasps and applause rumbled through the room, but we weren’t done.
Now that we had “awakened” Arduen—the god of fire, love, and the arts—we danced through an old story. The drums picked up again, joined by a flute and a fiddle.
Melaena played Arduen wearing a gold crown dripping with long strings of beads while I played his human lover. I mimed pleading with her for a fire of my own. She graced me with a beautiful flower—its petals colored to look like the real glowing fireflowers. I plucked the seed at its center and tossed it into the flames, which rose higher.
We twirled, trailing our silks like happy flames, as I held the flower aloft, silently praising Arduen for his gift.
Light blazed back into the room as servants uncovered the torches along the walls and lowered a magnificent candle chandelier through a hatch in the wooden ceiling. Shards of crystallized glass reflected rainbows of light over the similarly glittering crowd.
Cheers and another round of applause thundered through the air.
I smiled at the crowd. My heart felt raw with happiness after the thrill of performing. No wonder Melaena called this powerful. I felt like I could accomplish anything.
We gathered four each to Melaena’s side and bowed to Asher, who was on his feet, clapping hardest of all.
“Excellent!” he called. “Marvelous!” He was wearing a headdress similar to Melaena’s on his dark blond curls. His linen shirt and white pants were embellished with gold thread. Layers of gold chains rippled from his neck to his chest. A gold satin cloak completed his godly ensemble. “Come, come!” He waved us over.
We strolled hand in hand through the crowd until we reached his alcove. A few men and women were perched atop large pillows scattered around the floor. They smiled at us with stained lips and soft eyes. Small tables held gold plates of food and drink that made my stomach rumble.
Thankfully, Asher didn’t seem to hear it as he beamed at us. “Splendid performance, truly. When I first came to Melaena with my ideas, even I couldn’t have imagined such beauty.”
We smiled and curtsied, murmuring our pleasure.
Asher’s brown eyes fixed on me. “I believe we originally planned for seven dancers besides Melaena. You were quite the stunning addition, my dear.”
My heart stopped as my earlier confidence vanished. How could he possibly know I was the new one with our costumes, masks, and makeup?
