“The fruits here aresomuch sweeter, if we need to, you know—” I jerked my head behind me in a general “skedaddle” gesture. “I want to enjoy this as much as I can first.”
“Good idea,” Audrey said, snagging a few grapes off my plate and biting into them.
A moment later, Fergus came back to us, smiling and greeting his guests as he did so. He clapped his hands on the backs of Audrey and Liam, positioning himself between the two as he lowered his head and murmured for only us to hear.
“This just got a lot more interesting.”
“You can’t get rid of him?” Liam asked, full volume. Clearly not giving a shit if Drustan heard him.
“Now, Liam…” Fergus lifted a dark brow with his words. “You know as well as I do that it would be in poor taste to publicly refuse the siren prince’s presence at a peaceful celebration of my birth.”
“We just won’t talk to him.” Audrey lifted a shoulder and plopped another grape in her mouth. “I doubt he really wants to talk to us, anyway. We do, however, need to speak with you in private, Ferg.”
Fergus looked intrigued at her words. Then a tap on my shoulder made me jump. My friends halted their conversation as we all turned to see who was tapping me.
A young nereid man smiled down at me. Nerves coated his features as he cleared his throat; pink blossomed on his cheeksfrom all our direct attention to him. Standing tall, he placed both of his hands behind his back and addressed me.
“Would you be interested in a dance—when you’re finished, that is?” He nodded toward the fruits on my plate.
I grinned as I replied, “Sure,” and finished my bites. The young nereid man beamed as he patiently waited for me to clean my fingers off with a napkin before holding his hand out for me to take.
Fergus winked at me as the nereid man pulled me into the crowd of couples dancing.
It only took about three seconds for me to realize, based on the hungry gaze the young nereid man kept giving me as he led us through the steps, that this may have been a bad idea. My gut was reminding me that nothing about his demeanor felt predatory, but the way his eyes kept dropping to my lips made me picture hearts in his eyes.
I didn’t want to lead anyone on. I wasn’t looking for a life partner or mate in this realm. I was just here to dance, eat delicious food, and become musically inspired by a melody that kept humming in the back of my mind. I went out of my way to keep a couple inches of space between our bodies at all times.
After dancing with the nereid, a fae man approached, tapping me on the shoulder, asking if he could have a dance, too.
I hesitantly obliged, feeling more eyes on me as I realized the men at this party seemed to be taking a direct interest in me. Perhaps it was because I was the only full human in attendance. Perhaps it was because they genuinely found me attractive. But I knew I wasn’t mistaking the attention itself. Everywhere I looked, eager eyes watched.
A third man approached, tapping me on the shoulder, politely asking for a dance, and I accepted.
This would be the last time I accepted an invitation to dance, though. My feet were getting tired, and it was becomingincreasingly difficult to keep track of where Audrey, Liam, and Fergus were in the large ballroom. Last I saw, they were standing close together in between some drapes near an open window, haloed by the sunset. Their conversation seemed hushed and intense, but then the man I was dancing with pulled me out for a spin, and when I looked back, they weren’t there anymore.
I knew Audrey wouldn’t abandon me, but Fergus’s party was a full one. For the first time in my adult life, I was experiencing just how difficult it was to find people when everyone else was either the same height or a head taller than me.
Instead of another tap on my shoulder, a throat cleared behind us. I held back a sigh of annoyance.
The nereid I was dancing with, who was in the middle of asking me about my interests, almost stumbled when he saw who approached. Thankfully, he caught himself, but I didn’t miss the way he gripped my hand and waist a little tighter.
Our steps slowed so that I could turn to see who startled him.
There he was.
Drustan stood about a foot taller than me. I had to crane my neck to look up and meet his golden gaze. He stood so closely that I was able to inhale a deep breath of his spicy, masculine scent through my nose. His musk was delicious, but I couldn’t tell if it was a cologne or just what he naturally smelled like.
His tunic was opened low, low enough for me to admire his defined pectorals and abdomen. Lower than it was when he first entered the party. My mind immediately went to a cheese-grater joke, but I kept the thought to myself. When he lifted his arm to hold his palm face-up for me to take, I noted how snug the fabric bunched on his biceps.
This man was the definition of big and tall.
Drustan dipped his chin once at us, his lips in a line. No smile. No grin. Just a straight face as he lifted his eyes to address the nereid holding me tight.
“May I cut in?”
Chapter 9
God, his voice was good. Hearing him speak this closely filled my chest with warmth. His voice was unbelievably smooth. The four simple words that slipped past his lips felt like a physical caress on my ears. Muscles I didn’t know existed in my ears and head relaxed at the sound. If sound had a feeling, his voice would be slowly stepping into a warm pool of sweet honey, savoring the sensation of being coated with it, inch by inch.
