I shift slightly, pulling them behind me. “I thought I’d show the other girls what a true faerie revel is like.”
Bram claps his hands together. “Capital idea!”
“They are your guests, are they not?”
“I suppose.”
I climb the steps to the dais and plop down in his lap.
From across the ballroom, my eyes meet Emmett’s. He’s leaning against the far wall, a goblet in one hand, girls surrounding him like flowers tilting toward the sun. Emmett’s hazel eyes are glazed over, his full mouth half-open, his chest rising and falling like he’s out of breath. One of the girls, the same dark-haired one from last night, trails her finger down his neck, into the hollow of his throat, which is exposed by his half-open doublet.
I mirror the gesture on Bram, trailing my pinkie down the line of his neck, keeping my eyes locked on Emmett while the partyspins in a blur around us.
The girl presses her lips against Emmett’s collarbone, the one that healed all wrong when he broke it jumping horses as a child, and the force of my jealousy is dizzying.
I do the same to Bram, savoring the awful way he shudders against me, then trail my mouth back up.
“Can’t we be done with this dungeon business?” I whisper into the hollow space right behind his ear. Bram hesitates. The faerie music thrums down my spine and it’s as if I can feel this place making me someone else. I close my teeth around his earlobe and pull down slightly. Bram arches slightly against me. His breath hitches. “Please?” I purr. “It’s beneath you.”
Across the ballroom, Emmett’s eyes drop closed, and he’s too far from me to hear but I know what he sounds like when he moans, how it starts low in the back of his throat.
Bram sighs against his throne. “But you did not win. That was not our deal.”
I rake my nails over his thigh, right above his knee. “Don’t you want to make me happy?”
The corners of his mouth turn down. “Not particularly.”
I resist the urge to roll my eyes. “Don’t you want me to be grateful to you? Only you can give this to me.”
This time it works. His face relaxes. “Fine. Go, be merry!” Then he gestures lazily to a footman and mutters something about having extra guest rooms made up.
I bound down from the dais and shoulder my way past the other girls, ignoring Faith asking “What the hell was that?” and Marion’s disgusted laughter.
By the time I look up again, Emmett is gone.
Chapter Fourteen
I push through the revel until I emerge on the moonlit terrace, gasping for air. The air is crisp and clear, but it doesn’t stop my head from spinning.
It’s too cold for anyone else to be out here, and I take a moment to savor the peace, even though I can still hear the muffled sounds of the party from inside. A bit of golden light spills from the windows of the castle, but out here, it’s just me and the expansive, dark blue sky. The strange stars and double moons of the Otherworld sparkle above me.
A door creaks open behind me and I turn. Emmett walks out onto the terrace. His hair hangs down across his forehead and he’s got an unreadable look on his face. His footfalls are silent as he strides across the mosaic tile and joins me along the stone railing.
His hands are near enough to mine that I can feel the heat of them, but he’s not touching me, as if on principle. We’re standing side by side, both gazing into the garden like we can see anything but inky darkness.
“Who was that?” I ask.
“Who?” He sounds genuinely confused.
“The girl you were kissing.”
“We weren’t kissing.”
“We’re going to argue semantics?” I can still feel the heat of Bram all over me.
A muscle in his jaw jumps. “She was no one.”
“Is that what I was, too? No one?” My voice is thick with venom.
