Dey and Sin sniped at each other.
The Silver King made more than one rude comment about my questionable human heritage
Harpyn sulked the whole time, save for the occasional lewd comment thrown in my direction.
And Cam returned halfway through the meal but spent the entire time pushing food around his plate.
In the end, the only pleasant one was Kinyx, and I had to act like I couldn’t understand him.
As the evening progressed, people began abandoning their tables to make their way through the double doors into the attached ballroom. The orchestra had since moved over as well, and a lively melody trickled out from within.
“Care to dance, Princess Raynella?” Sin asked formally.
“I would love to, Cennux Dreisin,” I replied equally as formal, and allowed him to help me out of my seat.
He escorted me into the ballroom, which was little more than a copy of the Grand Hall save for the twelve extravagant floor to ceiling stained glass windows framed with burgundy velvet drapes secured by silver cords. Each window depicted crashing waves and a thick fog highlighted in red, orange, and purple along with the two suns dipping below the horizon.
I stared at the Rivellans who swept gracefully across the floor, intrigued to see a wide variety of dance styles present. I expected everything to be like some medieval ball out of the movies where everyone magically knew the same dance. Instead, I could see three distinctive types of movement around the room.
The couples that swayed seductively around the outskirts with their hips glued together were likely from the Silver Court, while the Gold Court couples engaged in sweeping motions that mimicked their partner who stood almost a foot away. Which left the Diamond Court dancers twirling their partners across the floor elegantly in a style akin to the waltz.
I would definitely make an ass of myself if I even tried to emulate that dance.
“Don’t look so nervous,” Sin whispered in my ear. “Just hold on tight.”
The rest of the ballroom faded away, and Sin swept me into his arms to glide across the ballroom floor. One by one, the other dancers disappeared as Sin spun an illusion aaround us. The ceiling vanished next, exposing the clear night sky, followed by the walls dropping away until there was nothing left but Sin and I, dancing along a dock with waves crashing against the shore. I inhaled deeply, Sin’s scent only adding to the realness of the illusion.
“Can everyone else see this?” I asked breathlessly.
“No,” he said, pulling my gaze to his. “Illusions are created in the mind, and your mind is the only one I’m concerned about. It’s just you and me, Fea Remia. I don’t want to share this moment with anyone else.”
No longer feeling self-conscious, I surrendered myself to him, letting him spin me around underneath the twinkling stars. I laughed as he dipped me, completely forgetting that I wasn’t supposed to be smiling at him like a twitter pated schoolgirl. I could no more hide my feelings than I could pluck the stars from the sky.
Sin was the other half of my soul, and when he held me, the rest of the world dropped away. Nothing mattered save for me and him and this connection between us.
I would sacrifice everything I had ever known if it meant I could spend an eternity in his arms.
Warm.
Safe.
Loved.
Loved.
So that’s what that feeling was. The ache in my heart. The inability to stop thinking about him. The intense pull to seek him out. The feeling that I might die if I couldn’t hold him again. The knowledge that in no uncertain terms would I ever feel whole without him.
I loved Sin.
He gazed at me as if I hung the moon, and I wanted to tell him that I felt the same, but the words wouldn’t come out. I couldn’t bring myself to hand over the ability to completely destroy me because I knew he would in the end.
Not on purpose, of course, but sooner or later this would all come crashing down around my head, and my chances of recovering from it, from him, were slim to none.
Chapter forty-eight
When the song ended, Sin floated me over to the edges and pulled me tight against him. Adopting the Silver Court dance style, we swayed with the sounds of the music, and I relaxed into him, far more comfortable having abandoned the complicated dance steps.
“When can we leave?” I asked, keeping my voice low.
