I sighed to myself, only noticing I’d set my mug down on an unbalanced angle once it hit the floor.
“Shit!” I hissed, leaping away from the spilled liquid.
“No worry. Take mine. I’ll get a new one.”
I watched the black cape round the table as he moved to head for the main bar. He murmured something like “Oh, Lyra” before turning his back entirely.
The accident gave me a welcome moment of respite. I didn’t think Dommik would press it again, but I did need to consider his question.
Did I want Rhazien to try and repair things with me?
Knowing what Rhazien had done tainted every feeling I had about him. But should one indiscretion erase so much good?
As a mortal, my time is fleeting. But my future with Rhazien could last decades, centuries, eons. Would this sour, moldy feeling soften with time? Or would it always be there, festering within me?
Out of my list of current problems, this one was avoidable for at least the next hour or so. The ale numbed me from the inside out and a delicious buzz spread through my limbs.
“I was sent to save you.” A man who perfectly met my height, with dark hair and kind eyes, approached the table.
“Me?” My head swiveled.
“Yes! Lyra? I was sent by the sun.”
Chapter 29
A Dozen Things
It was a clumsy game of follow the leader, dancing around patrons, spinning further away from sight into the mess of bodies dancing to the lively fiddle and drums.
“Is something the matter?” Alba asked as I reached her.
I pulled her close and whispered into her golden hair, “Dommik is here.”
Her eyes were wide when we parted. “We should go.”
“Go?” Shaw yelled over the drums. “No, no, no. Not yet, my sweet.”
Alba’s suitor placed a hard, claiming kiss on her rosy cheeks. She was flushed from ale and dancing and I was still in awe of her natural beauty.
Shaw continued boasting, “And look! What a rare sighting. The moon is here too! We are witnessing an eclipse this evening!”
He was clever. Annoying and likely on the edge of being over served, but clever.
“Brother! Dance with the moon!” Shaw roared to my escort as he swept Alba up into an athletic jig. Spinning dancers converged on the floor.
“Would—would you—?” Colt was the perfect name for the young man and I looked at him with fresh eyes. While he shared the same almond-shaped eyes and disarming smile as his older brother, he didn’t carry the same confidence. Nervous and inexperienced as he seemed, he wasn’t a threat. So I agreed.
“Yes!” I took his hands in mine and we joined the frenzy of dancers.
That last ale was a mistake. Even though I’d stopped spinning, the room hadn’t. I’d lost track of Alba in the mixture of movement and needed to steady myself on a nearby beam. Colt panted next to me through shared laughter at our failure from the most recent dance.
I was on the brink of feeling sick but this was everything Alba promised it would be. This was fun.
My eyes tried to focus but kept shifting like one of my visions stuck in a loop. I stood, pushing my sweaty hair and sighing to the ceiling.
“Wow,” I said as the rush of excitement intertwined with the ale.
“Wow is right.” My eyes found Colt’s as he spoke. His expression was one of awe and hope. “I think…I might love you.”
