“Please, princess. Allow me to have your first dance,” he gritted out.
“We’ll continue this later,” I smiled at the concubine, and the blood slowly drained from her face. Grandfather watched me closely.
“Do not disrupt my evening,” he warned me, waving a hand at Pischiel, who led me onto the dance floor.
“What. Was. That?”
I stayed silent. Truthfully, I didn’t know. All I knew was that bracelet did not belong on Hera’s scrawny wrist.
“I’m sorry. I don’t know what came over me. Something weird is going on...” I glanced at grandfather, who was watching us intently. I took a deep breath. Time for a change of subject.
“He wants us to date,” I murmured.
Pischiel shook his head. “He wants more than that.”
I peered up at him and blushed at the thought, my earlier fury draining away, until I could no longer understand just why I’d been so upset about Hera’s bracelet.
Pischiel looked slightly sick. “Don’t look at me that way.”
“What way?”
“Like I’m a good man.” He expertly turned me, navigating us around another couple who’d come close, their gazes fastened on us.
“Youarea good man.”
The song ended, and Pischiel bowed. “I need a drink.”
I watched him leave, pretending he didn’t just ditch me on the dance floor. Several female courtiers approached, begging me to sit with them, and I nodded. I recognized many of them by face, if not by name, and I followed them to a grouping of chairs. There, I studied Pischiel as he leaned against the black wall, raising his glass to his mouth as if it were a lifeline.
Demons laughed and danced and flirted. I watched, present but removed, as the women around me twittered, gossiping about people I didn’t know. They seemed content to be seen sitting next to me, and I tuned them out as I surveyed both Pischiel and my grandfather.
My grandfather was, quite simply, beautiful. High, sharp cheekbones gave him an almost feral look, and his eyes—so like mine—seemed to glitter like jewels. But they were usually cold, like the gaze of a reptile, as he sat on his throne and moved his chess pieces around.
The bone bracelet around my wrist began to itch and throb, and I glanced down at it.
A face swam through my mind. Old and sly, with laughter in her eyes.
Her face disappeared and was immediately followed by an incredibly beautiful black woman who made me think of warmth and comfort, food and knowledge.
A woman with curly blonde hair and blue-green eyes was next, and seeing her made me feel like I was dying.
There was another woman too, smiling at me from behind a bar, working harder than any of the courtiers gossiping next to me could even contemplate.
I was going insane.
“Your royal highness?”
I jolted in my seat, and the woman next to me widened her eyes. Her wing brushed my arm as I turned, and I had a sudden vision of wings spread out on cool sheets, my hand stroking each feather.
Some mistake of genetics had ensured I’d never have my own wings. Perhaps that was why I was so obsessed with them.
I cleared my throat. “Yes?”
“What do you think?”
I had no idea what they’d been talking about, and I couldn’t care less. “I think I need to go talk to Pischiel. Excuse me.”
They got to their feet as I did, bowing their heads. I strode toward the demon, who was still leaning against the wall. He didn’t spot me until I was within touching distance, his gaze fastened to the liquid in his glass as if it held all the secrets of the underworld.
