Instead of ice-cold fear racing down my arms and spine, a heat ignited in my core that I hadn’t experienced in a very long time. Maybe ever. It was enticing. His voice was calling to me; it made me want to lean toward him.
Absolutely not.
I studied the nereid I was dancing with, whose complexion had gone pale. Perhaps his grip on me wasn’t a protective one, but a fearful reaction.
While it was obvious that Drustan was asking to dance with me, I was serious about not accepting another offer, so without thinking too much about the consequences, I turned back to the siren prince and gave him a bright smile.
“Oh, of course.” I squeezed the nereid’s hand to get him to let go of me, but when he did, I quickly guided his hand into Drustan’s palm. “He’s all yours.”
And then I turned on my heel and made my way toward a dessert table, all too aware of the siren prince’s piercing gaze on my retreating form.
Off to the side, a woman laughed. Following the sound, I caught sight of Drustan’s date smiling into her beverage before taking a sip. She had just witnessed her prince casually getting rejected by me. When I looked around, several guests had their phones out, and a human woman rejecting a dance with the siren prince was now probably recorded at several different angles.
Whoops.
I helped myself to a cookie, biting into it. This cookie had a fruity flavor, and I hummed in appreciation as I turned around to see if I could find my friends.
I stood up on my tiptoes, looking, listening. But I couldn’t find them. All these tall Hyvenmerians were blocking my view of wherever they were.
I did, however, lock eyes with the siren prince.
Like a good sport, Drustan was now dancing with the terrified nereid man. But his eyes weren’t on his dance partner; they were on me. Their hands clasped together for a few steps, and the visual of his large hands grasping the nereid’s made my blood simmer. Perhaps it was the way the siren prince kept his eyes on me, no matter how they turned and danced together. Perhaps it was watching the way he moved, sensual and confident, as he shared a dance with someone that he originally had no intention of dancing with.
It was easy to picture myself in the nereid’s place. Studying Drustan’s hands, his body, how careful and assured the siren was with his steps, made warmth pool in my belly. I knew deepin my soul that the feel of Drustan’s touch on me would be rousing. That I could easily be seduced by an attractive, large, dangerous man like him after sharing one dance. I pictured him pulling me flush against his hard, chiseled body. Even though he kept a couple of inches of space between him and the nereid that I practically pushed into his arms.
Every time he turned and was able to meet my eyes again, my pulse spiked with a surge of awareness. My cheeks were getting more heated the longer he and I held eye contact. The cookie in my hand was forgotten.
Murmurs from male voices caught my attention, pulling me out of Drustan’s spell. There was a group of men discussing something amongst themselves on the opposite side of the food table, looking back and forth between the siren prince and me.
One of them specifically appeared like he was working himself up to approach me, while his friends were holding his arm and encouraging him not to.
Oh, for fuck’s sake.
Acknowledging my lack of strength and power compared to all these creatures, whose general interest in me only seemed to be growing, I set the cookie down on the dessert table. As I did, I spotted a clean, unused knife that was intended for cutting slices of cake. As slyly as I could, I slid it off the table and into my hand, gripping the handle close to my many layers of sheer skirts, attempting to conceal the weapon. Feeling better about having a way to defend myself from unsolicited advances, I sped away from the table and curious male eyes.
I kept scanning the party.
Still no Audrey or Liam. No Fergus.
Where the hell are they?
Walking the perimeter of the room allowed me to brush past the luxurious linens and silks that lined the walls, framing portraits and works of art I admired as quickly as I could inpassing. Once I arrived at a side door with no guards stationed at it, I took it as an opportunity to slip out and get some fresh air.
The noise of the party quieted as I gently shut the door behind me. I grabbed my knife and slipped the blade into the waistband of my skirts, with the handle sticking out against my hip, in case I needed to grab it.
I was probably being dramatic.
But I still stood by my impulsive decision to bring it with me.
I padded down a smaller hallway, toward where I suspected the ocean to be, quietly admiring the pottery that occasionally stood proud against the walls. I reminded myself that Audrey, Liam, and even Fergus all had super-Hyvenmerian hearing. I figured that they knew how to find me whenever they decided it was time to leave.
The farther I got from the ballroom and the musicians playing in it, the more I focused on the melody humming in my mind. Why did I only hear it here? Why didn’t I hear it back home? But here at Fergus’s ball, it seemed much clearer now. The specific notes were easy for me to identify. I quietly hummed along with the mental melody as I traced my finger over the texture of a vase that stood almost as tall as me, admiring all the beautiful carvings and colors the artist used on it.
I moved on, approaching a stained-glass window that overlooked the ocean.Ha, I was right. The colors of the sunset shining through the warm reds and oranges of the glass were breathtaking, but what caught my eye was the creamy material of the drapes that framed it. I pinched the fabric between my fingers, holding it closer to my eyes as I noticed how it shimmered against the sunlight.
Every detail in this world was breathtaking.
Suddenly, a large presence appeared behind me, and I stiffened in alarm. A throat cleared, and I gasped at the same time I straightened, clutching the handle of my cake knife.
