The muscles in her back tensed as Kinlear stood.
They were arguing, Arawn realized.
Again.
And suddenly Kinlear pushed past her, stumbling away with his cane...practically running from the room. Soraya called after him, but her voice was lost in the music, the screaming of the strings, and Arawn watched as her smile fell.
And her eyes filled with the familiar tears he knew all too well.
They set his magic to roiling within, because Soraya didn’t cry over small things.
She cried oversoulthings, the kind that ached her to her very core. And as Kinlear left the room – Arawn couldn’t stop himself.
He stepped up in his brother’s place.
“Soraya?”
She turned. Her makeup was already ruined beneath her mask, running in dark streaks that looked like shadows, but it didn’t take away from how lovely she was. Not one bit.
“Don’t you dare, Arawn.”
He paused as she pointed a finger at him. He looked down at it, surprised to see that she’d even painted her nails. She hadneverpainted her nails for Absolutions before this.
“Don’t you dare utter a singleword.”
He lifted a pale brow. “And what sort of word would I utter?”
She crossed her arms and glowered up at him through her tears. “You’re going to say I look ridiculous. That...that I shouldn’t have come, because of course, Kinlear is too drunk again to dance with me,and I should know better than to hope for anything else from him. You’re going to say I look like a fool in this godsdamned dress. I hate it.”
He frowned.
And then he smiled at her.
“You’re wrong.”
She looked like she’d been slapped. “I swear to you, Arawn Laroux, if you?—”
“What I was going to say,” he cut her off as he held out a hand, and he led her to the dance floor, speaking as they went, “is that you look lovely tonight. Despite what you think of the dress.”
She opened and closed her mouth, surprised at the compliment. He wondered if he’d ever given her one before...or if he’d always been too scared of what she would think.
Words were terrifying things, capable of healing hearts and breaking them, too...and he wasn’t sure, tonight, if he wanted to wield them for her.
But if not now...then when?
It’s Absolution,he told himself.Speak freely, or you’ll always regret it!
So, he swallowed his pride, and said, “And...I was going to ask if would you do me the honor,please,of dancing with me...so the vicious blonde monster that has been hunting me all night will go and find herself another bit of prey.”
Soraya glanced past his shoulder, where he knew, almost certainly, she would find Zey.
Staring.
Glaring.
As Zey so often did.
“Please,” Arawn said. “Save me?”
