“Poof.” Derrick blinked. “Are…are you sure?”
A smile stretched across my face. “I cannot lie, Midnight.”
He laughed, bright and exuberant, and suddenly I was in the air. His hands were around my waist. We were spinning.
Suddenly, my right shoulder and arm ached. My breath was gone. Somehow, I was on the floor.
Derrick was on the floor too, but he was still laughing. He got up and straddled me, bracketing his arms around my face. How did I get on my back?
Sweat glistened on his brow. “Why is it so hot? I am burning up!”
I tugged at his Hyton Blue cape. “Then take your clothes off, silly!”
Then he kissed me, gentle as a whisper. I closed my eyes and savored the feel of his cape brushing against my lace sleeves, his silken curls against my fingers, my stockings across his belt as my legs hooked around his hips…
I wanted him. I hadalwayswanted him.
“Lord Hyton?”
Candlelight and shrieking laughter broke through the pink clouds. I gripped his doublet and shut my eyes. My dream was collapsing.
“Lord Hyton, I am sorry to interrupt, but—”
A growl rumbled through Derrick’s chest. “What?”
“Um…your performance, my Lord.” The voice was small—must have been a mouse.
Derrick groaned. He slowly pushed up and helped me onto my feet. He lifted his coronet from his head and placed it on mine. The warmth of the gold surrounded me like a halo.
Derrick winked. “Hold onto this for me, darling.”
He slowly walked through the crowd toward the other musicians as his Hyton Blue cape slipped off his shoulders.
No, I could not let him leave me. Derrick was the beginning and the end. I was his dream. He was my star.
It was always supposed to be us, damn it!
The air dragged against my face like honey as I pushed through the crowd, following the gold on Derrick’s clothes.
Gold. Gold. Gold.
I found gold. A man wore a crown of gold around his silver hair. His goblet was gold. His eyes were the deep blue of the sea.
I gripped his sleeve. “It was supposed to be us.”
The man furrowed his brows. “Serafina, what the hell are you doing?”
My lashes were wet. “He was supposed to be my forever. He waited for me…he waited for me.”
The man gripped my face so hard my teeth scraped my cheeks. He leaned closer, his eyes searching mine for an answer I did not know the question to.
He bared his teeth like a lion. “Who dusted you?” He turned his head. “Someone get Adalia!”
“Attention, people of Lycaster!” Derrick shouted.
The man turned his head again and his eyes became big as saucers. Derrick stood in the center of the dance floor, his violin in his hands and his shirt missing.
“Oh,fuck.” The man tore away from me. My hands stayed flexed, open where his puffed sleeve had just been. My eyes followed the man wearing deep blue as he dragged Derrick off the dance floor, then my feet followed him.
