He’s standing beside Tamsin, a drink in one hand, shadows in his eyes. He’s trying to play it cool, but I know him too well. I know that quiet intensity, the way his shoulders hunch when he’s trying not to feel something too hard.
I feel it, too.
Auron shifts closer. “You dance well.”
I glance up. “You sound surprised.”
“I’m not.” His gaze dips to my lips. “I’m rarely surprised when it comes to you.”
I force a breath. Force a smile.
From the outside, we probably look like a fairytale. But inside? I feel like I’m performing someone else’s part.
“Thank you for the dance,” I say as the music slows. I step back before he can draw me closer again. “It was…elegant.”
He arches a brow, the corner of his mouth twitching. “Just elegant?”
“Don’t push your luck.”
He chuckles. “One day, you’ll let me show you what else we could be.”
I don’t answer.
Because I’m already turning, walking toward the edge of the dance floor. Toward the boy who never demands anything. Who danced like I was fragile and important and real. And has never treated me like I was less than him.
He doesn’t say anything when I reach him. Doesn’t ask if I’m okay. He just hands me his drink. I take it without thinking.
And suddenly, I can breathe again.
“Please tell me he at least stepped on your toes,” Tamsin says, and I laugh, releasing more of the tension.
“No, he didn't.” I glance at Auron, and he tilts his head as if he knows he's the topic of conversation between me and my friends. Probably not in the way he'd hope for though. “He was a perfect gentleman actually.”
She rolls her eyes. “Pretty lies, I'm sure. Too bad you didn't curse him. Turn him into a frog or something.”
A snort from Nolan surprises me, and I glance at him. “You'd enjoy that, huh?”
“I’m not jealous.” Nolan flushes, immediately realizing how that sounded. “I mean—not jealous-jealous. Just…maybe a little bitter that the frog plan wasn’t put into action.”
I take a slow sip from the drink he handed me. “Right. Just bitter. Not at all imagining him in a terrarium somewhere with a tiny crown on his slimy head.”
Tamsin hums. “Can frogs even pull off royal accessories?”
“Oh, Auron would find a way,” I say, grinning. “He’d demand the enchanted version. Polished lily pad throne and all.”
Nolan bites back a smile, but it slips through anyway. “Would he still flirt while ribbiting?”
“He’d find a way,” I say again, mock-serious. “His ego would transcend species.”
That earns a laugh from both of them, warm and unfiltered, and I lean into it—into them. Into this moment that doesn’t demand anything but my presence.
Which, of course, means it doesn’t last.
“Mind if I claim that dance now?” comes a voice from behind me—low, velvet-smooth, and unmistakably Raiden.
I turn, finding him standing with a playful smile and a hand extended like we’re on the edge of some ancient fae ball instead of a student revel. His amber eyes glint under the fae-light.
“Depends,” I say. “You planning to spin me around until I’m dizzy or sweep me off my feet entirely?”
