The Heir's Bargain (Of Fire and Lies)

Chapter 18

Dani hadn”t shown.

Her parents, brothers, and sister-in-laws stood in the crowd, but Dani was nowhere to be seen.

Dani”s absence, however, did not prevent Lord Cunningway from stretching out a hand and saying, ”Prince Fynneares, if you will lead us into the night.”

I glanced at the doors, now closed. It didn”t matter how many times I looked at them. It wasn”t going to force her to walk through them. My gaze flicked to my mother standing beside Lord Cunningway, sadness filling her countenance.

I rolled my shoulders back before tipping my head at Lord Cunningway. ”It would be my pleasure.”

I strolled toward the center of the dance floor, and everyone”s heads turned, watching my every step with bated breath. I didn”t let my eyes wander the room, nor did I show an ounce of hesitancy or worry. I shoved it all down—the disappointment and the regret—and forced a steady smile to my lips.

As my gaze rounded the inner circle of the guests standing on the edge of the ballroom floor, Rosalina gave me a knowing look. When I slipped into her mind with little effort, her thoughts were a torrent of egotistical and power-hungry sentiments.

Did he truly think he could do better than me? The queen”s crown was always meant to sit on my head.

I gritted my teeth, my jaw popping.

I might not have loved these events. I might have often spent my time drinking too much wine or dancing with too many women. More often than not, these balls were a frivolous display of wealth and prosperity. However, they were also a visual representation of our kingdom”s unity, culture, and strength.

And today, I had a responsibility to my kingdom.

But what about the responsibility I have to myself?

I tried to push the thought aside, but it was persistent.

My gaze flicked to Terin, and a sad smile appeared on my brother”s lips.

This was not what I wanted.

My fingers shook as I held them tightly behind my back. My tie suddenly became too tight.

I peered at my mother again, but her attention was no longer on me.

The doors creaked open, ripping through the silence.

My heart plummetedas the doors opened, sending a shiver spiraling down my spine. I turned, and there she was.

Dani stepped inside the ballroom, drawing the attention of the entire ballroom. Golden sunlight streamed inside through the tall windows covering the walls, and Dani froze beneath it. Her eyes widened as she took in the room and the thousand faces staring up at her. Then, our gazes met, and a wide smile split across my face.

Perhaps I should have been furious that she was late. Or, at the least, disappointed and frustrated.

But I wasn”t.

Because she was here.

Hundreds of people stood in the room, but their faces blurred into the background when I locked eyes with Dani. The guests” thoughts were only a dull buzz in the back of my mind, yet I was nearly sober. Because when I was with Dani, no one else mattered. Her thoughts were the only ones I cared about, even if she kept them locked away.

And atop the stairs, Danisinia Ferrios was radiant.

The seamstress” assistant, Lorallye, had been right. The purple dress had been made for Dani. When she first tried it on, I was rendered speechless. The woman before me had no longer been the girl I grew up with. She was so much more.

When I requested the dress from the boutique, I had the seamstress alter the dress slightly. At the bottom of the dress, tiny crystals were now embroidered into the material. With each step Dani took down the steps, the dress sparkled, a trail of shimmering diamonds trailing behind her.

Her curls hung loose down her back. Her collarbone, shown off by the low-cut dress that dipped between her breasts, sparkled in the gleam of the golden light. Above the crook of her elbow, thin gold bands wrapped around her arms. Dani was the sun itself, brilliant, beautiful, and absolutely blinding.

The crowd split as she made her way forward.

From several yards away, I couldn”t make out the freckles on her nose, but I could see the fire burning in her eyes. Neither a nervous smile nor a late entrance could extinguish that.

At that moment, more than ever before, I wanted to know exactly what was happening inside Dani”s mind. However, with her walls locked shut, there was only one way I would find out.

I shook myself from my stupor and signaled the small orchestra set up to the right.

The conductor tipped his head and picked up his baton, calling attention to the group of musicians. The strings of the violin vibrated, ringing through the ballroom.

Then, like a magnetic force, I was pulled toward her. I didn”t know when things had changed between us—when I had stopped viewing her as a childhood friend. Perhaps I had been so blinded by the desire to find a soul bond that I had ignored the person who had always been there.

Because even if we only had each other for a blip of time, it would be worth it. No matter how long it was. All I wanted was to have Dani spinning in my arms.

I didn”t know what that desire meant. All I knew was that whatever I felt was anything but platonic.

Dani dipped her head and began falling into a curtsy as she said, ”Your?—”

I stepped forward, my fingertips brushing the soft skin of her chin. She froze, mid-curtsy. She lifted her gaze to meet mine, and I encouraged her to stand.

Slowly, she rose.

I slipped a hand behind my back and bowed, low. Small gasps skittered across the room beneath the sounds of the orchestra. I smirked.

When I straightened, I held out a hand. A question furrowed across her forehead as she placed her palm on mine. Ignoring her question, I placed my other hand on her waist and pulled her closer. Then we were dancing.

”You came,” I said.

Dani”s throat bobbed. ”I almost didn”t,” she whispered.

”Oh?”

The right corner of her mouth twitched, but she only nodded.

My eyes bounced across her face. Something was wrong, but as much as a part of me wished to break through her mental shields, it felt. . .wrong.

Dani swept her hazel gaze across the crowd behind me, worry wrinkling her brows.

”Hey.” I squeezed her waist, and her attention returned to me. ”It”s just you and me, Dani.”

She didn”t say anything, but she didn”t look away from me either as I guided her across the floor. The music swept through the air, the entire orchestra having joined in now. The light fabric of Dani”s dress floated in the air as I led her through the steps.

Soon, the world around us melted away.

I leaned forward and whispered, ”You”re no longer fighting to lead, I see.” When we were children and forced to take dancing lessons, Dani often fought the three of us boys to lead when she had to dance with us. ”Madam Karina would be proud.”

A grin cracked through Dani’s focused countenance. ”Oh, what I would do to snap Madam Karina”s ruler in two. Do you know how often she tapped me with that stick while forcing us to dance?”

”If you would have just listened?—”

Dani scoffed. ”Like you were so innocent? If I recall correctly, you almost made her quit teaching lessons numerous times.”

I chuckled.

”For the record, I would be more than happy to lead right now,” Dani added.

”I would rather you lead than have danced with Rosalina.” My face twisted, and Dani cocked a brow. ”Right before you had shown up, Rosalina was one a step away from following me onto the dance floor, etiquette be damned.”

”Oh, I”m sure Rosalina would have loved that.”

I scoffed. ”She”s not too happy since she no longer gets to. She”s pretty upset about it, actually. She”s been shaking with anger ever since you arrived.”

”Has she now?” Dani asked, eyes lit with amusement.

”Mhm.”

”She must be upset that she can”t show off her dress, huh?”

I laughed, my head throwing back as my hands gripped Dani”s waist tighter, keeping me steady. ”Have you adopted a second ability all of a sudden?”

Dani snorted. ”Fynn, no one needs an ability to read Rosalina”s mind. She may be pretty, but she”s not very subtle.”

”My mother said the same thing,” I murmured, the laugh lines flattening.

Dani continued, ”I still can”t believe your mother would want you to be with her. I mean, after what she and your father had?”

I spun Dani, twirling her away as I straightened my countenance. ”She only wants me to be happy.”

Dani offered me a sad, knowing smile.

While the memories with my father were few and far between, the relationship he and my mother had was one that was hard to forget. Seeing them in the mornings at the breakfast table, my father pouring my mother her tea, giving her light kisses on her cheek. The way my mother would squeeze his shoulder as he worked in his office, hunched over towering stacks of formal requests from across the kingdom. How they would hold each other”s hands as they walked through the park with us children in tow. Most parents hid any soft touch from their children, but my parents never did. Their love for each other was on full display for the entire kingdom to witness.

Perhaps that was what made my father”s loss even harder to bear than it already was. As soul bonds, they were two halves of a whole, but one not less than the other. Two complete people who, once together, enhanced the other”s gifts, the other”s soul, the other”s life.

That”s what I wanted.

A partner for life.

The inexplicable joy that came with finding the person one”s heart sang for. The person that, no matter how dark the clouds were or how long the storm was, could make the sun appear with just one glance.

I might not have had a soul bond, but looking down at Dani, I was still one of the lucky ones.

A forest burned bright within Dani”s gaze. The yellow flecks in her irises were flames against the surrounding green. Her fingers danced atop my shoulders, and she cleared her throat, the fire in her eyes simmering. ”Well, are you going to lead, or do I have to do all the work here?”

I smiled—the first true, genuine smile of the night. Even though thoughts of my father were now swirling in my mind, Dani had a way of easing the pain.

”And miss out on my one chance to lead one of the famous Ferrioses? The future of our military? I don”t think so.”

Dani’s dress swept across the floor as my feet followed the steps, without more than a passing thought. These steps were engraved into my very soul ages ago.

It should have been awkward to dance with Dani, but I knew her like I knew my own mind. She was unpredictable at times. But if you watched her closely, you could see the change in emotion flick across her eyes. You could see her mind at work as she took in the scene before her.

Even now, as hundreds of people watched us, she had a way of carrying herself that was addictive. It made you want to be inside of her mind, to know what she was thinking.

And there was one thing I couldn”t go another minute without knowing the answer to.

”Did you arrive with your mother and father?”

I could almost taste the lie on the tip of her tongue as she dropped her gaze.

I hummed. ”So, you weren”t late.”

Dani worked her lip, her teeth scraping across it. ”I?—”

My fingers flexed on her back. ”Dani, if you”re going to keep your shields up, at least do me the decency of not lying to my face.”

Her shoulders sagged, the muscles in her back loosening with the movement. ”I didn”t know if I wanted to come,” she finally admitted.

”Because of the dress? I told you if you didn”t like it, we could have?—”

Dani shook her head and interrupted, ”That”s not it, Fynn. This”—her eyes danced across the room, surveying the spectators—”this isn”t my scene. You know that. . .”

My brows drew together. ”You”ve been to plenty of balls before.”

”But this one is different.”

”How?”

Hazel eyes met brown. ”I”m normally not the one dancing in the center of the room, for starters,” she mumbled.

”Dani, you”re doing fine.”

When I pulled her close, she pulled back, and a prickle spiked across my neck. Dani”s gaze flicked somewhere behind me.

Her caramel hair brushed across my jaw.

”Forget about them.”

”Easier said than done,” she mumbled.

Her fingers lightly gripping my hand, she spun, her dress swishing across the floor, spinning around her ankles and into the air. As the purple fabric danced in the air, I could feel Dani pulling away. But I wouldn”t let her. Not now.

Dani ran toward every fight, yet for some reason, she wanted to run away from this one, and I couldn”t stand by and watch any longer.

I pulled her back in, twirling her toward me. The fabric fell and cascaded onto the floor, diamonds glittering beneath the crystal chandelier. My hand skated down her bare back, her skin warm beneath my palm.

”Dani, whatever reason you are telling yourself—whatever thought is flying through your mind telling you that you shouldn”t be here—silence it.”

Dani blinked up at me, a deep crease forming across her forehead. The freckles across her nose shifted. ”Why? This is not real. What does any of this matter if they do not believe it?”

I swallowed the truth I wished to say and opted for another. ”You have never once questioned who you were or if you deserved your spot among the leaders before they promoted Quint. You haven”t lost, Dani. We can still show them who you are. We can still prove they made a mistake when they didn”t choose you.”

”How?” She stared at me, blinking, worry drawing her brows closer together.

”Kiss me.”

”What?”

Her surprise mimicked my own, for the two words had escaped before I could call them back.

Friends didn”t kiss friends.

But I wouldn”t take them back now that they were in the world.

I twirled her away, not stopping the momentum of the dance. The song was ending soon, and we were running out of time.

I pulled her body tight to mine, my nose brushing against the side of her face. The sweet and acidic notes of cinnamon and orange consumed me.

”You heard me. Kiss me, Dani.”

”Why would I do that?”

”It”s just one kiss,” I whispered.

We had already kissed once. While it hadn”t changed anything per se, there were some nights when Dani consumed my dreams. When my subconscious dreamed up scenarios that friends should never consider between one another.

That kiss at the tavern was only supposed to convince her friends, but instead, it left me confused and wanting.

In truth, one kiss might have ruined everything for me.

I needed to know if it was a fluke—if it was the ale or the lie.

Or if it was something else entirely.

Dani peered beyond my shoulder, toward the crowd behind me. I sensed her debating—analyzing the situation and figuring out the best solution.

”Dani, I need an answer. The song is about to end, and I won”t do it unless?—”

”Fine,” she spat, cutting me off. ”But just?—”

I spun her away, the light fabric flowing up and into the air around her feet, and then I tugged, pulling her back toward me before dipping her low. Her loose curls flew into the air, surrounding me. Her cheeks tinted pink, and large hazel eyes stared up at me.

I gripped her thigh, pulling it up my leg with a devilish smirk.

Then, I kissed her.

With no hesitation.

I kissed her as if this wasn”t a fake courtship. As if this wasn”t a part of the deal we had made together to get our mothers off our backs.

I kissed her like I meant it.

I kissed her as if she was the only one in the room.

Because, unlike the first time outside the tavern, I hadn”t heard anyone in the ballroom question whether Dani and I were together as we were dancing. Because who could have questioned us?

Dani might have thought I was a good actor, but I couldn’t even fake how the blood in my veins sparked every time we touched. I couldn”t fake how much my cheeks heated every time she smirked up at me with that glance that suggested that she and I knew something the rest of the world didn”t.

I kissed her long and hard because, unlike the first time, I wasn”t pretending anymore. And I couldn”t stop myself from taking as much of her as I could—before she would inevitably pull away, before the song would end and the next would begin.

I kissed her with the wish that I wanted this to be real, even if she didn”t. Even if she was pretending when she kissed me back.

The violin strings dissipated into the air, and clapping echoed in the hall. Yet, my mind was completely silent for once as I peeled myself away from Dani and stared into the forest aflame in her eyes. There were no wayward thoughts, no foreign voices within my mind that weren”t my own.

Because when I looked at Dani, with her cheeks flushed and wide eyes, all I saw was her. All I heard was the beating of my own heart—a song filling my veins that I never wanted to stop.

Dani cleared her throat, and I forced myself to right her. Her thigh slid down my leg, my hand sweeping over the silk fabric of her dress, over the curves of her leg.

Then Dani curtsied.

And that small movement alone—a gesture meant to show respect—felt like a slap in the face when she whispered, ”Do you think they believed it?”

I cleared my throat, bowing in return. ”I think so.”

Because how could they not? I had believed it, too.