Fiora gave him a stunned look that seemed to hold a silent warning. I desperately wanted to refuse, to remain within the king’s protection, but we didn’t know what the consequences would be if I refused a high lord—besides, what were the odds something else would happen?
“It’s fine,” I said, squeezing his hand in reassurance before I released myself from his ironclad grip.
He went to object, but before he could I offered Fiora as much of a smile as I could muster, and said, “Would you mind taking me to him?”
As we approached, the stranger turned to me, and my heart stopped. He was, without a doubt, the most stunning man I’d ever gazed upon—human or fae. He took me in, and something about his gaze stripped me bare.
“I’ll leave you to it,” Fiora said with a wink and left my side.
“Hi,” I said, my flittering nerves trying to jump into my voice.
“Hello, Nyleeria.” His sensuous, full-bodied voice caressed me out of the daze I’d fallen into. I was wide awake and fully in this moment, with him.
When the song ended, he held out his hand, and said, “May I have this dance?”
Wordlessly, I slid my hand into his. He smiled down at me and threaded his fingers through mine before leading us forward.
This dance floor, where so much had happened, felt like it held a lifetime of events—but as we entered, that history eddied from my mind.
I wasn’t sure if it was tradition for us to perform the dance alone, but even with all eyes on me once more, it didn’t seem to matter with him beside me.
The music was intimate and slower than before. We swayed as one, parting only briefly, always finding our way back to one other. My dress, and perhaps even I, flourished with every movement as the silken steps slid us across the full expanse of the marbled tile. This was, by far, my favorite dance of the evening.
“Have we met before?” His voice enveloped me with the warm comfort that soothed away every last fear while igniting something deep within.
I swallowed. “No. I would’ve remembered.”
He stared down at me, smiling—not assessing me but taking mein. Similar to how I’d caught the king looking at me from time to time, but still different in a way.Stars, he was beautiful.
“What did you say?” he asked.
“Nothing.”
A puzzled look crossed his face before his features settled back into a soft smile.
Dancing with him was markedly different than the others. His silent commands weren’t demanding. In fact, I couldn’t even discern if he was giving me cues—my body just moved with his, like autumn leaves yielding to gravity.
“I didn’t expect this,” he said.
Still holding his gaze, which I could get lost in for all time, I asked, “What didn’t you expect?”
“You.”
That one word, spoken from his lips, shifted the world’s axis and gravity seemed to pull harder on us.
In the following silence that filled the space between us, I unabashedly took him in.
I’m not sure what expression stared up at him, but he asked, “What is it you see, Nyleeria?”
“It’s more of what I don’t see.”
He raised a brow, more intrigued than questioning.
“Well”—I took a breath, not sure how to explain—“with the high lords, the fae, it’s clear what court they are from. Caius, Myron, and…” I choked on the unspoken word.
“Amos,” he supplied, darkness filling his eyes.
“Yes. They are literal personifications of their courts. But you, you look nothing like how I’d characterize autumn.”
