Mine. Mine. Mine.
“Besides, I should be allowed to dance with my…friend.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever heard you use that word before. The ‘f’ word.”
He ignores my statement, his gilded eyes drinking me in from the crown of my head to the lace trim of my violet gown. “You look beautiful. But then again, you always do.”
“I’m not sure friends are supposed to say that.”
“I’m past the point of caring.” Going off my surprised expression, he asks, “What?”
“Your compliments are usually more backhanded.”
“I may not say it often—or ever—” He glances at the floor. “But every time I look at you, I find something else to fall in love with.”
“And what is it this time?”
“I could never choose just one.”
My stomach flutters.
“It’s everything. Your spirit. Your touch. Your voice.” His hands press against my back, holding me a little tighter. “I think you’re the best and worst thing to ever happen to me.”
“I’m not sure that’s a compliment.”
“Not a compliment.” I blink up at him. “Fact,” he reminds me, earning him a laugh.
“But for posterity’s sake, just this once, with no one able to hear—” He leans down, brushing his whisper over my ear. “I will tell you how unfairly beautiful you are. How I wish this entire world were the color of your eyes. How this tiny freckle has become the center of my universe, and it’s no bigger than a pin prick.” He reaches out to tap the tiny beauty mark below my lip.
My mouth opens, but he shakes his head.
“Don’t say anything. I just want to enjoy this.”
“Jace—”
“Without your yapping ruining the moment,” he teases, lifting me above his head and making my stomach dip. “Just until the end of the dance—don’t say anything. Let’s just pretend this isn’t ending.”
“I don’t know if I can do that.” My voice is a flimsy leaf trembling in the wind.
“Like I said,” he murmurs. “Pretend.”
So I try. I let our eyes do the talking. I let my body succumb to him, moving to his lead as the music swallows the silence between us.
This moment is ours. Just him and me. Our first dance. And our last.
I spin out, and time moves slower. At the last moment, he finds my hand and reels me in, catching me over his knee mere inches from the ground. And for that one second, he lets me read in his face all he’s never said.
All he will never say.
I lose my breath as he sets me on my feet. But his mask is already back on. The hard-shelled mask I’ve come to know so well. He doesn’t spare me another glance as he walks away, ignoring my parted mouth and the words that just died on my tongue.
* Cue:another womanby Coral Moons
72
JACE
11 DAYS
