Awe silenced my questions as I entered the vast ballroom. It was bathed in the glowing light emitted by a few candles. The marble floor shimmered in flecks of light and dancing shadows, like ghostly forms moving to a melody only they could hear. I was entering into a world that many had entered before me. One that swept over me as if their presence still lingered.
Blake touched the small of my back as he guided me within the darkened room. A grand staircase swept up to an upper balcony with gleaming gilded railing. Towering windows covered in shadowy gossamer curtains did little to light the room at such a late hour. The feel of his hand made me gasp as he took control of my chin until my gaze locked on his.
I swallowed hard, my cheeks warming.
“What do you think?” he asked.
I stared at his lips, the curve of his cheeks.
“It’s beautiful,” I whispered.
“Do you dance?” he asked.
He guided my arm to rest on his shoulder, his hand gently touching my hip. His other took hold of my hand.
“No,” I said, unable to look away from him.
He tilted his head and smiled. “Then it is a good thing we came tonight.”
I gasped as he moved me backward, his hand on my hip guiding me where he wanted, his hand pulling me as he turned. I had no idea what I was doing but it didn’t matter—he was leading me where I needed to go, leaving no room for a mistake. As he guided us across the ballroom floor, I began to understand the movements, feeling the gentle rhythm in each step and anticipating his next move by the way he held me. It was as if we were speaking to one another without words. Without anything but the sensation of his pull and the shifting of my body with his.
When he slowed, I was near enough to him to hear his heart beating in a smooth and steady thud. Neither of us spoke as we stood firmly rooted in place, his hand still on my hip, and our hands secured together.
“I wish I were going with you to the ball,” I whispered, the words vanishing into the vast open space of the ballroom.
A silence stretched between us for so long that I thought he might not answer. My heart burned as I feared I had misread the situation when his voice finally reverberated through the air.
“My apologies,” he said, his voice soft and low, “for missing the chance.”
The poignant moment held us there, not close enough to feel him, but close enough to know that this feeling—with him—was something I’d never felt before, and I didn’t want to let it go.
Chapter 20
Every Sharp Blade Cuts
ANNA
Iwas in the dorm commons, studying for a big Valyrian test we had the next day, when Isabella said something that made me look up.
“It feels like an eternity ago, doesn’t it?” she asked. “That the nine of us in our group made that jump.”
A shiver ran down my spine as I stared at her. Her attention snapped to mine as if she sensed my alarm. She’d said nine. None of the other Initiates remembered that Cody and Skylar had been with us at the waterfall, not ever gave any indication that they’d had any idea they’d ever existed.
Was she hiding that she knew the truth? Or was her subconscious memory starting to recall them?
“I don’t know what I was thinking,” she said, her smile faltering. “I guess it feels like more of us should’ve made it.”
“You know, don’t you?” I asked, quietly. “You remember them.”
I dropped my book, stood and jerked on her arm, pulling her into my dorm and slamming the door.
“How long have you remembered?” I whispered fiercely.
Isabella frowned. “Not long. He told me not to tell anyone that I knew.”
“Who did?”
“Devon, he’s the guard I’ve been dating,” she said.
