Page 25 of The Endless Dance

I pause, catching my breath and turning to look over my shoulder. If I walked back behind that tree, would I immediately come back to the hallway and my rooms? I wasn’t ready to find out.

The alcohol has somewhat calmed in my system, leaving just a gentle, buzzing reminder. I turn back the way I was heading and continue, this time at a walk. I go slowly, letting my eyes rove over my surroundings and appreciating the beauty. The sky above is dark and dotted with stars, and yet I could see as clear as day within the fauna.

Brushing my fingers upon a soft and almost wool-like shrub, I round the large bush and come to a stop with a gasp.

It is a small clearing with a rock wall emerging from nowhere and a trickling waterfall dancing down its rocky grooves before meeting the pool beneath. It’s not a large pond, and I get the feeling I could stand even at its deepest point. The water moves gently on a non-existent current.

I watch it for a moment longer before I decide to hell with it. I shuck off my pyjama bottoms with ease, then struggle with the many buttons on the top before giving up halfway and throwing that over my shoulders, then step gingerly into the water.

I moan at the natural warmth of the pool and quickly wade my way in further until I am shoulder deep. I dip my head back until just my face remains above water and find my eyes closing instinctively.

I don’t know how long I float there, eyes closed, fingers trailing aimlessly. The temperature of the pool is comforting yet invigorating, lulling me into a completely relaxed state whilst remaining fully awake.

After a while, I notice my skin prickling.

Someone was watching me. My eyes snap open, and I flail as I right myself.

Lord Draekoh watches me intently with thin eyes from the shoreline. My eyes almost bug out of my head when I lower them and find the High Lord was practically naked. I mean, it’s nothing I haven’t seen before, but Gods Damn it was a beautiful sight. Until I remember who it belongs to.

The High Lord stands shirtless, folding his arms in front of him, which accentuates every bulging muscle and pulsing vein. Lower still, I follow each pronounced groove of his smooth, hairless stomach. I follow it down to the defined V at his hips, to where his satin boxer shorts sit low on his hips. They aren’t particularly tight pyjama shorts, but there is no hiding the delectable bulge beneath. My mouth waters, and I blink, forcing myself to look away. Only now do I find his thick thighs, and my head tilts. Fae really were hairless. I had always been attracted to the coarse hairs that lined a man’s legs, but Draekoh’s skin was velvet-smooth, except for a large scar on the side of his left thigh. The scar almost resembled a star, and the puckered skin only enhanced the illusion.

“Does it repulse you?”

I blink. Of everything he could have said and everything I intended to demand, like why the fuck he was spying on me while I bathed completely naked, this was not what I had expected.

“What?” I ask, stupidly. I’d like to blame it entirely on my foggy, drunken mind, but unfortunately knew it just wasn’t the case. My usual sassy and quick tongue failed me when it came to Lord Draekoh, reducing me to a blubbering fool. “I mean,” I say quickly, “No. It doesn’t.”

I wonder, briefly, if perhaps he meant his hairless legs, but knew it wasn’t the case. The High Lord of Light was self-conscious about his scar. Or, perhaps, it was my opinion of it that unsettled him. If he knew me at all, which he didn’t, he would know I wasn’t so vain.

Draekoh blinks, and the slight rise of his eyebrows tells me he is shocked by my answer. He quickly smooths them.

“What happened?” I ask, before I can stop myself. “I’m sorry,” I say. “I have no filter.” I raise my fingers to my mouth and mimic zipping my lips closed and throwing away the key.

I don’t know if he understands the human reference, but his lips curl, and his eyes sparkle.

“My father tried to murder me.”

I gape openly. Rita hadn’t told me this. Was this not common knowledge?

“That’s why my mother stole away with me and took me to Spring. My father, the previous High Lord of Light, was obsessive when it came to his throne. He had a seer in his permanent employ. Made them follow him everywhere in case they ever had a vision. Unfortunately, on my sixteenth birthday, the seer fell into a deep dream-state. They dreamed of my father’s death and how it would come about. That the killing blow would come from my hand.

“My mother was with him at the time. She was much smarter than he and realised what the seer’s words meant before my father could have them translated. We barely made it out alive. My father’s most respected and favoured guard was the only one who managed to draw blood. And what a mighty stroke it was. A five-headed javelin thrown from hundreds of yards away. I like to think he missed, though. There was no way he was going for my thigh when my father had ordered me dead.”

Draekoh smirks, rubbing the scar unconsciously.

“You didn’t mention that you were behind your father’s demise when you told me about the whole seashell tradition.” I nod to his empty brow, where his crown had sat back at the clearing.

“You didn’t need to know.”

“And I do now?” Draekoh doesn’t respond. After a moment, I speak up again. “My father tried to kill me, too.”

Draekoh straightens immediately, and his features turn to stone.

I roll my eyes. “He sold me to the Government.” Draekoh’s frown tightens in confusion. I sigh. “Do you even know how the women are chosen to come through the portal?” His silence is answer enough. “They run a lottery. Every girl and woman of age has their name in it. We have no choice in the matter. But I found out the hard way that there are ways to bypass this system. Ways to earn money. My father sold me.”

Draekoh turns his face away from me, but the lines of his body are taut with undisclosed fury.

He is silent for so long that I give up on expecting an answer. I begin to lower my ears back into the water when his voice breaks the silence.