“Because the Venari King cares little of who I dance with. Jealousy does not live on his public features. He knows he will be the one in my bed later. Who should try and swoon or tempt me otherwise simply does so in foolishness.”
Hagen grinned. “And that’s exactly why I’ll be winning the bet and not the others.”
Hagen told her more of the Blackhand celebrations as they danced, comparing the dance they were having then to their own, promising her they were less formal and more of a grand family gathering.
“Perhaps you and your youngers could travel to our town for one,” he told her. “We’ll put you up in the Temple. Finest rooms at the tallest point in Dahrkenhill. It is most beautiful during the Deads. The stars go on for ages.”
“And when will the next celebration be?” she asked.
“Come in the spring. The fields of flowers are bountiful. The snows will be gone. It’s the perfect time and place.”
Aydra’s chest swelled at the thought of seeing it. “I’d like that.”
“Don’t worry, you can bring your forest lover as well,” Hagen said with a wink.
Aydra chuckled under her breath. “Thank you.”
Dorian came and took her from Hagen’s arms after another dance, insisting he go and ask Lex for a dance. Aydra laughed as Dorian spun her around over and over, attempting to dizzy her to the point that she could not see around her.
“You are glowing today, my sister,” Dorian said finally as he held her so she did not fall. “Tell me your secrets.”
Aydra’s chest filled, and she swallowed hard as she steadied herself. “One day, I hope you and your sister find the truth that was once written in these walls… how the first of our race was happy, fearless, and gracious to all the people of Haerland. Not what I was told was our truth, not what my Olders had been told was our truth… I have tried to protect you both for as long as I can remember. You deserve so much more than the past atrocities of this kingdom.”
His jaw tightened, eyes softening just so as he twirled her around again and then back into him. “You deserve everything, Drae. Love. Freedom. Happiness…”
A smile rose on her face and she did a double-take at Draven’s figure heading towards them. “Someone to walk this life equally with,” she added.
Dorian’s eyes squinted, and he turned her so that he could see exactly who it was she was staring at. She heard him laugh under his breath, and he shook his head knowingly. “Exactly.”
The smile on Draven’s face made her heart quiver, and it was as though she were seeing him for the first time—the swelling in her chest, jagged breath leaving her lungs…
Tunnel-vision surrounded her, and suddenly she was in the room with only him there with her.
Draven clapped Dorian on his shoulder. “Do you mind if I steal her?” he asked her younger.
Dorian let go of her waist and held out her hand to Draven. “By all means,” Dorian said, giving him a short bow.
Aydra hardly noticed her brother leaving as Draven pulled her hand to his lips, and he kissed her knuckles. The cold air brushed over her wet skin, causing her muscles to ache.
“My Queen,” he muttered against her flesh.
A deliberate warmth spread from his kiss up her arm, and then down her spine, and she felt her thighs squeeze as he stared through her core with dilated pupils.
“You really shouldn’t call me that when there are other people in the room,” she managed.
A quirk of a smile rose on his lips, and he slipped a hand around her waist, grasping her flesh just noticeably and sending heat directly to her stomach. “Why’s that?”
“Because I find myself dripping whenever you say it,” she breathed in his ear.
She felt the goosebumps rise on his arm, and he stared at her with a dark smolder that made her own hair raise. “If I can’t call you my queen in public—” he twirled her once and then pulled her back into him “—then you certainly can’t say things like that.”
She almost laughed. “We’ll call it even.”
She could feel the eyes of those around them staring, heads turning as they danced in circles, him occasionally spinning her out and then into him just as the men had done that danced with her previously in the night.
But her chest swelled every time he would smile at her, pull her flush against his torso. And more times than once, she felt her heartbeat quicken when he would touch the bare flesh on her back.
“I need to tell you something,” he said in a breath.
