Thoughts of Zev and Cassiel and everything knotted around her mind loosened. The music lulled her into swaying with the rhythm, fading all her pressing worries. But a warning coursed through her mind, snapping her back to clarity. She shook her head, getting a hold of herself. There must be something in the air. A notion told her if she danced here, she wouldn’t be able to stop.
Dyna stumbled away from the crowd to search for a face she knew and bumped into someone with a yelp. He grunted in surprise and turned, holding out his arms away from his beautiful jacket layered in silver leaves. Which was now drenched with golden faerie wine. It dripped from his hem and splattered his fine boots. She gasped in horror, but an apology caught in her throat when she saw his face.
He had tan skin smoothed over high cheekbones painted with silver swirls, ears rising to delicate points. His long hair was deep evergreen, like the color of summer trees. He kept it tied with a gold pin at the base of his neck, leaving the tail end to fall like a sleek stream. His slender face had the delicate beauty of the fae, like a gilded rose, too unnatural in a way that made her stare.
“God of Urn, please forgive me.” Dyna grabbed one end of her skirt and dabbed over the front of his jacket. Instead of the stiff, dry surface of leaves, his jacket was as soft as velvet beneath her palms—and thin enough to feel every ridge of his chest. A blush heated her face, and she quickly stepped back.
The fae’s glower switched to a sly smile. “No, please,continue.”
Taking her hand, he pressed it over the pulse of his heart and covered it with his palm. It was cool, the long slender fingers bedecked in rings. The twinkling lights overhead caught on his strange golden irises, ringed in black.
Dyna’s cheeks flushed as hot as two coals in the night chill. “I’m terribly sorry for your jacket.”
“And how will you repay me?”
Anything you wishhad almost left her lips by some compulsive urge, but she quickly closed her mouth. Such words were a dangerous thing to offer here. The fae were tricksy folk. And she knew exactly what he intended with that question when his smile widened, as if he had been caught.Careful with your words in this place.
“I will wash your jacket and return it to you as clean as possible within my capability,” she offered, slipping her hand free.
He clicked his tongue, giving her a playful pout. “Clever mortal. It’s rarely one should wander into the Phantasmic Moors, even rarer that they should have a good head on their shoulders.”
Dyna swallowed, a part of her doubting she would have been smart enough to be careful with her words if not for what happened in Landcaster. Von had used a truth spell on her to steal secrets from her mouth against her will, but the lesson remained.
“And who do I have the pleasure of acquainting with?”
She took the edges of her stained hem and dipped in a curtsey. “I am Dyna … of Azure,” she added awkwardly.
A vague answer, but no less accurate.
“Charmed.” He elegantly crossed an arm over his chest and bowed. “It’s a pleasure beyond telling to meet you, Dynalya Astron.”
Her reply stalled for a moment at the use of her full name. He must have been present at her introduction to the king and queen. If so, why ask? Unless it was to be polite. The fae were nothing if not proper.
“Azulo told me your name,” he said before she could ask how he guessed.
Who?
Dyna yelped as something soft brushed against her ankles. A small blue fox with a diamond patch on its forehead looked up at her with vibrant, aqua blue eyes. It was the one she had met in the forest days ago. It twirled around her feet, then leaped into the fae’s arms and nibbled on one of the acorn buttons of his jacket.
“Azulo told me the tale of a girl who freed him from a thorn bush,” he said, scratching the fox’s long ears.
Dyna smiled at the adorable creature. “Hello, sweet one.”
The fox yipped.
“He is indebted to you.”
“You understand him?”
“Of course. He’s my familiar.”
“Oh.” She blinked, surprised to hear fae had familiars. “And may I know your name?”
He chuckled, turning to the table beside them. It was piled with custards and pies, with bowls full of colorful berries, and platters of slivered meat. After giving Azulo a piece of ham, the fox jumped down and darted under the table with its treat. Three fluffy tails poked out from beneath the tablecloth, wagging back and forth.
From one of the several decanters, the fae male poured more wine in a goblet. “I thought you were astute. You should know better than to ask a faerie his name.”
“I didn’t mean to ask for your true name,” she said, fearing she had offended him again. That sort of information was more guarded than wealth.
