Chapter 16
Aegir took off his shirt the moment we entered our room.
He has got to stop doing that!
I looked away while he riffled through his bag. He changed into a white embroidered tunic, then turned my way. “Let’s meet the others downstairs,” he said, smoothing his shirt with his palms. “I may want to warn you, they might go a little bit wild tonight.”
Aren’t they already wild? “I would like to use the bath again. You go, I’ll meet you downstairs shortly.”
He nodded. “I’ll see you downstairs, then.”
I submerged myself in Aegir’s bath and washed my hair for the second time today. I swore I had never felt as clean. Two baths in one day, that was the dream. I put on my white dress—it was Sunday, after all. Then I braided my hair into a coronet that spiralled thrice around my head.
I felt odd, like a fish out of water. The moment I closed the door behind me, I could feel the buildup of nerves crawling under my skin. And the nearer I got, the louder the music grew. My heart thrummed with its beat. Clattering and mumbling, too, came closer with every step.
I took in the crowd, slowing my descent, my left hand gliding down the metal handrail.
To my right stood a vibrant sandstone stage, and revelling on top of it were four men, each playing a different musical instrument.
From the way they moved their bodies, their mouths, and fingers, I could tell they were playing their hearts out.
The inn was packed now, mostly with men.
The few women I glimpsed seemed to either work there or needed something from the men whose laps they were sitting on.
The chaos intensified—people shouted, laughed, spilled drinks, and danced around.
Perhaps it was a bit too much for someone who had never been to an inn before, or anywhere else for that matter.
So I turned on my heel and made to climb the stairs, but someone touched my elbow. I looked back.
“Join us,” Aegir said.
I took in the crowd once more. “I—”
“You must. You have to eat and drink something. We’re in that corner over there; it’s not as crowded.”
I finally nodded. Aegir pushed people out of our way, often glancing behind him as if he was expecting me to disappear any minute now.
Eat and drink something indeed.
The white Fae from Silch occupied a high table at the very corner of the tavern, and in the middle of it was a food feast. A tray was piled with meat and vegetable kebabs, another brimmed with fried potatoes and cheesy bread.
To the side were bowls filled with a variety of dips.
And, of course, haphazardly surrounding the food mountain were pints and pints of ale.
“Eyy, there she is!” Joel yelled, lifting the hand he held his pint with and holding a meat kebab in the other.
“Here, lady, eat something,” Darius said, handing me a vegetable kebab.
“Oh, thank you.”
I nibbled on my food, noticing the people around me, their revelry echoing like a memory I couldn’t quite reach.
I spotted Georgious in the crowd, dancing with a carefree Sijari woman.
A Sijari female, I realised, when she lifted her long brown hair while moving her body, revealing tapered ears.
In contrast, Alarik, I noticed, was standing solo at the very corner of the tavern, sipping on his ale and smoking what smelled like hesh.
Aegir was listening to Torvin’s whispers, nodding his head, clearly with no real interest whatsoever.
“Have a drink with us,” Darius exclaimed, handing me a pint of ale, then clinking his own cup with mine. “Cheers, lady.”
“Cheers!…Oh, and you can call me Delia, by the way.” I took a sip from my ale and grimaced at its bitter taste.
Darius laughed. “Don’t tell me you’ve never tasted ale before, girl—I mean, Delia.”
“I have not,” I admitted. I found its aftertaste to be quite pleasing, though, so I dared another sip, then suppressed a shiver.
Joel chuckled and bellowed, “Then get her another pint!”
I hoped he was joking. He must have been. But the waitress who seemed to often pass by our table placed another pint in front of me and gathered the empty tankards.
Great.
I reached for a couple of fried potatoes.
Theodor grabbed Torvin around his shoulders and moved him towards the crowd, relieving Aegir.
I restrained my gaze and forced it to remain fixed on my pint, even though I knew he drew near.
From the corner of my eye, I glimpsed the waitress placing a hand on Aegir’s chest and her mouth close to his ear.
That’s when I lifted my head. If I’d read her lips correctly, she told him, “Just let me know if you need anything else and I’ll be at your service.
” The small voice in the back of my head whispered in a tone raspier than Torvin’s, But you are his servant.
I took one generous sip. Then dared another.
Aegir propped himself on one of the stools and leaned over the table, gulping down his ale like it was sugar water. Then he helped himself to some bread and meat.
Darius cracked us up with a joke about a man who walked into a bar and somehow ended up dying. He received a howled laugh and a slap on the back from Joel, and a chuckle from Aegir and me.
I had to admit that my knot of nerves was slowly loosening, and the music—it felt as if it called to me and I was unknowingly answering. For some reason, I couldn’t help but tap my feet and bob my head with the beat of the drums.
I was surprised to see that I had almost finished my first pint. But before I could take the last swig, Joel locked his elbow with mine and, with a wide grin, said, “Now we dance, lady.”
“I don’t know how to—” Dance, I wanted to say, but he didn’t let me finish.
He hauled me up like the wind does a kite and without a warning, snatched me away.
Joel spun me around, taking a quick hold of my other hand before pulling me towards him.
The ring of my own laughter caught me by surprise.
And as the tavern whirled around us, I may have glimpsed Aegir trailing the soft ripples of my giggles, as if he, too, was surprised by the strange sound.
Darius appeared to my left and hooked his arm with mine, stealing me from Joel’s grip.
The music swelled, alive and unrelenting. It dizzied me—the good kind of dizzy.
I had never danced before, and the people I had seen dancing at the castle of Ramel moved differently, systematically. What we were doing here was nothing of the sort—it was chaotic, like everything else around us…well, except for Alarik, who remained unfazed, back glued to the wall.
Torvin appeared out of nowhere and bellowed, “My turn,” before placing one arm on my back and snatching my hand with the other. I swore he didn’t know how to dance just as much as I didn’t.
The music almost came to a stall, and that’s when I slipped out of Torvin’s grip and made my way back to my pint. But then the music picked up the pace in a slower rhythm, and I found myself moving my body to its beckoning call.
I turned and flinched, finding Aegir standing right behind me.
“You have to stop doing that,” I all but shouted.
“Stop doing what?”
“You know, sneaking up on me from behind.”
“I wouldn’t have the need to sneak up on you if you didn’t move away every time I came close.”
“I do not do that!” I countered.
“Oh, really?” he said, raising a brow. “So you wouldn’t mind if I do this?” He took one full step towards me, closing the little distance between us. I had to tilt my head up to keep his stare.
“Mm-mm.” The sound came from my throat, and I shook my head as if I didn’t mind our proximity at all.
“Will you dance with me, then?” he asked, opening the palm of his hand towards me. My heart pounded at that question. My eyes left his hand to meet his gaze.
I pretended that he had never hurt me and slowly placed my palm on top of his. I almost didn’t notice—which was very surprising to me—that his skin was not at all calloused, but was rather soft and silky. Thinking of the twin axes he often carried strapped at his back, I was expecting otherwise.
I followed him.
Also to my surprise, I noticed that he moved us away from the crowd and not towards it.
Then he turned my way and lifted our joined hands to shoulder height.
He moved close and slid his hand around my waist, settling it at my lower back.
I could not properly describe what I felt in my stomach at that moment, but it was as if someone had lit a candle inside of it.
I had just danced with three males, two of whom were jaw-dropping gorgeous. Joel and Darius had also grabbed me at my waist and held me by my back, and it did absolutely nothing. Yet now, having his arm wrapped around me, his hand at the small of my back…I—I burned at his touch.
The soft music melted around me as he moved us in time with the slow rhythm. I took that moment as an opportunity to touch his muscled arms, slowly tracing my free hand along his shoulder, then resting it just above his elbow. My eyes found his.
He let go of my back only to spin me around once, then pull me close, his hand finding the exact same spot.
Mine went to his front, close to where that waitress had earlier placed hers.
I found his heart thundering beneath my palm, and I resisted the urge to press my ear against his chest, if only to make sure that it was truly beating as fast as mine was.
My hand left his chest as he spun me around again, then pulled me in before I could complete my second turn.
He wrapped his arm around my belly, my back finding a comforting wall.
I couldn’t help but lean against him, secretly dissolving in him.
Another half spin brought us back to touching chests, and we silently danced like that for a while.
For how long, I couldn’t tell—for too long, not long enough.
And when the music came to a stop, Aegir kept our slow dance going for a while longer. I stayed there—cradled in the moment’s spell.