35. Rosalina
35
Rosalina
T his is the best night of my entire life, and it’s not just the fae wine talking. Okay, maybe it’s the fae wine talking, but I don’t even care. Everything here is amazing!
The food? Delicious. I’ve eaten two nuts and fruit plates, plus three baskets of bread, and more olives than I can count.
I have no clue how much I’ve drunk, but it’s because wine keeps getting delivered to our table. Dayton and I can barely hold a conversation because so many people keep coming over to talk to him, offering us food and drink.
Right now, he’s across the bar, telling some farfetched story to a group of enraptured patrons. I like observing him from afar. Tall and beautiful, he draws people to him like planets around the sun. And he’s so charming, giving everyone his full attention. Though a part of me yearns for him to return to the table.
I should focus on Operation Hook-Up, but I’m quite content where I am. There is no shortage of beautiful things to look at from the marble pillars, to the hanging golden lights with dangling colorful gems, to the painted murals. But the most beautiful thing of all are the fae.
I can barely take in their elegant faces, pointed ears, elaborately done hair, and flowing sheer outfits that leave little to the imagination.
“Looking for me?” Dayton falls back down to his seat.
“Checking out my options,” I tell him.
He raises a brow, then leans across the table to tuck a turquoise flower behind my ear. “Got you a present.”
Warmth blooms in my chest, and I reach for my wine.
“Slow down.” Dayton places his palm over the top of my glass. Shit, his hand is huge. How have I never noticed that before? I grab his hand, suddenly wanting to inspect the callouses on his palm.
I giggle and intertwine our fingers. “The wine is fantastic.”
“Alright, I-can-hold-my-liquor-Rosalina,” he laughs.
I stare at him just so I can take him in. He’s more handsome than all the fae here. His sun-kissed skin glows in the dim light.
“Why are you looking at me like I’m a new research book?”
“Your smile right now. It’s one of my favorites,” I say, my head feeling light and sparkly.
“You have a favorite smile of mine?”
I nod and push the hair away from his face. “You have lots of smiles. Cocky ones, flirty ones, sarcastic ones. Ones where you’re really sad, but you don’t want anyone to know.”
“Alright, alright.” He shakes his head, taking a long swig. “You are observant, aren’t you? What smile is your favorite?”
I lower my hand to his strong jaw. “I call it your secret smile. You have it when you think no one’s watching. I’ve only ever seen it when you look at Farron. But tonight, you looked at me and… And it’s special.”
The beautiful smile is gone from his face in an instant, and he stands, dragging me up with him. “You have a certain smile right now too, blossom.”
“I do?”
“Yes,” he growls. “A dopey, drunk smile. You’ve had too much wine.”
“I have had just enough.” I giggle. This is better than any human alcohol has ever made me feel. “What’s the deal with you and Farron, anyway?”
“Look, twenty-five years is a long time to be stuck with the same people, even for fae,” Dayton says. “You can’t blame me for having a little fun while I’m there.”
That’s what Farron had said too. Just fun. But I don’t think he meant it. Dayton drags me across the bar while I scowl at him. “I don’t think Farron thinks what you two have is a little fun. I think he’s in lo—”
“Enough.” Dayton swirls, and suddenly there’s a cool cup of water in my hands. “Drink.”
I do, begrudgingly. Damn, even the water here tastes good, hydrating and smooth down my throat. As I’m silently sipping away at my drink, a few more people come over to Dayton, slapping him on the shoulder, proclaiming how they miss him.
The group buys drinks, but this time Dayton doesn’t share with me. He chugs them down as if he wants them out of his sight.
People in the Summer Realm like him. No talks of rebellions here like the vizier warned Keldarion about. Probably because Dayton’s not an icy cretin of a frost world.
Suddenly, there’s a firm arm around my shoulders as Dayton pulls me close. “How are you feeling?”
“More normal.” With one cup of water, my head is clearer. “There’s a lot of fae here. Which has me thinking we should practice.”
“Practice?”
“Finding your mate!”
Dayton groans and tilts his head back. “Have I thwarted myself by sobering you up?”
“Come on, we’re in the Summer Realm. Maybe your mate is local.”
“Rosalina, my love, this is supposed to be a night for fun .”
I pull him deep into the throng of dancers, moving dreamily over the lily pond. The closer to all the other fae, the better. “Just try, please.”
“Okay, but then you have to do what I want.”
“Fine, fine.” Dayton twirls me around as we sway to the music. “W-what are you doing?”
“We’re dancing,” he says, then leans down, his mouth to my ear. “I’m not going to stand in the middle of the room and shout, ‘Hey-o! Looking for a mate!’ I’ll have a hundred fae on me before my next breath.”
“Fair.” The only reason I’m game for dancing is because I still have all that fae wine sloshing in my system. Everyone on the dance floor looks at us. And while I don’t know how many of them can tell I’m human, I’m sure they’re all wondering who this girl is dancing with the Summer Prince.
But it’s more intimate than dancing. Dayton presses me close to his chest while we sway back and forth. Cold water splashes on my ankles as we move over the lily pond.
“All right, blossom,” Dayton says lowly, “tell me how this works.”
“You need to start by being relaxed and open.”
“The wine has already done that. Next?”
“You’ll want to close your eyes and feel for something unlike anything you’ve felt before. Like a sparkle. A match being lit inside.”
“Where exactly?”
“Most people feel it here.” I place my hand over his heart, fingers slipping between the open laces of his shirt. His skin is warm as sunlight.
He stops dancing, and we’re still over the water. The other couples sway around us. He closes his eyes and tilts his head back, the muscles in his neck tensing. “Describe what I’m supposed to feel.”
“Warmth, like sun-baked sand.” I keep my fingers over his heart, feeling it beat faster. “Perhaps an electric shock or the constricting of your heart.”
A rumble sounds in his chest, and he groans lowly. “I think I feel something.”
My heart sinks and I tremble. “Okay, good. Good. Try to pinpoint where the feeling is coming from.” I try to sift through all the information I learned in my research. “Once the feeling begins, some fae describe it like a string tugging them toward their mate.”
“Hmm.” Dayton scrunches up his brow. “I don’t feel it in my chest though.”
Could we really have gotten so lucky as to find Dayton’s mate here in this bar? “Where do you feel it?”
He shakes his head back and forth, a golden braid falling loose from behind his ear. “Lower.”
I move my hand down his chest. “Here?”
“No, lower.”
My fingers cascade down his stomach. I suppose there’s something to be said about gut feelings. “Here?”
“Lower.” His voice is deep and raspy.
I scan the bar. All the beautiful fae here. Which one calls to him? My hand automatically drifts lower, until I realize my fingers are stroking the outline of his steel-hard cock.
“Right there,” he says, groaning pleasurably.
“Dayton!” I remove my hand to slap him, but he catches my wrist, then twirls me in front of him before playfully pulling me against his chest.
“Sorry, love.” He laughs. “I couldn’t help myself. And besides, why shouldn’t I feel it there? Shouldn’t I want to fuck my mate beyond all sense?”
I scowl. “So, you didn’t feel anything?”
“No flowering feelings here. I just really want to fuck someone.”
I huff out a breath as we continue dancing. “No wonder. There are so many beautiful people here.” And I already know Dayton doesn’t discriminate between them. To him, everyone is a potential partner. “And they’re hardly wearing any clothes.”
“If that interests you, let me take you to another room, one where clothes are optional.” He pulls back with a devious gaze. “But we already know you’re fond of watching.”
I gasp and try to pull away from him. It flashes again in my mind: he and Farron together. “I didn’t mean to.”
“I know.” He grips my jaw with his hand. “Next time, don’t leave so quickly. You missed me licking the cum from his chest.”
My knees tremble and I think I might faint. I probably couldn’t even stand if he weren’t holding me.
“And round two, which was even rougher.” Dayton’s wet mouth moves to my ear. “Between you and me, I think you watching turned him on. I know I liked it.”
I flutter my eyes closed. “Round two?”
“You’ve never had fae cock before, little blossom.” His mouth moves to my neck, his sharp teeth nipping at the sensitive skin. “There’s no limit to the number of times I could make you come.”
A sultry fantasy rushes through my veins, the impulse to shed my garments and let him ravage my body on this dance floor. I inhale sharply as I imagine what could be, a whimper escaping from my quivering lips.
Dayton pushes me away, and I open my eyes to see him laughing, gazing down at me with a distant, cocky grin. “Or one of these lucky bastards. And while I doubt any of them are skilled like me, all fae dick’s pretty good. Trust me, I’ve tried a lot.”
I feel dizzy, rejected and frustrated. Why does he feel the need to tease me? It’s clear he doesn’t want me. Why do I keep falling for it?
“Right,” I say. “Though I doubt any of them would want me.”
“You truly must be unobservant,” Dayton says. “People have been looking over here all night.”
“At you.” I gesture to him.
He shakes his head. “At you! I don’t know if I want to kiss Astrid for what she did to you or ban her from being in your presence ever again. What’s with that grumpy face?”
“Can you not talk about kissing Astrid?”
He gives me a rueful smirk. “Deal, but I think it’s the time of night that we go our separate ways. Find a fae and get him to take you to a private room. Do not leave this bar. Meet me by this fountain in two hours. Deal?”
“So, you’re also…”
“Love, we’ve done the drinking, the dancing, and there’s no mate to be found. It’s time for the fucking.” He gives me a push on the back. “Spread your petals and bloom, little flower.”
I take a glass of wine for good measure and step into the crowd. Sure, no fae males are as gorgeous as Dayton, but that doesn’t mean it wouldn’t be fun to try something with one of them. And maybe he wasn’t lying. Maybe some of them might want me.
“Deal, Dayton,” I say. “But let’s make it three hours. I think I can outlast you.”
He lifts his cup to me as I disappear into the crowd.