Chapter 21
I t seems that Kallan’s idea of celebration is much more subdued than that of his people.
While they drink and dance and converse within the gorge and in the nearby halls, Kallan remains calm, talking in even tones with those who were already on the dais and some others who make their way up to engage their king and his advisers.
Helmet firmly in place, he forgoes wine and other drink completely.
And dancing? I haven’t noticed even a tapping foot.
Meanwhile, Katiya was one of the first to break into dance, moving with enviable grace and ease in rhythm to the song, drawing the attention of many to her movements until she descended from the platform to dance with others amid the crowd.
Most seem to prefer to dance, and it’s easy to understand why.
The music begs me to move to it. Though I’m loath to leave the safety of Kallan’s side, where I’ve stood since I arrived, the urge to drift into the throng of dancers is so palpable I have to focus on not moving to the beat.
Even so, I feel my body swaying to the rhythm and my toes wiggling in my shoes, unable to hold still.
“Do you wish to dance, Aimee?” Kallan asks during a break in conversation.
I’d missed most of what they discussed, something about water, I think, and their hopes that my presence might aid it.
While many of the fae have been in a rush to be near me or speak to the king about me, very few have spoken to me, which is…
weird. Maybe they’re as nervous as I am.
“I’m not sure,” I answer honestly.
“Oh?” I can almost picture his brows rising behind his helm.
“I love the music. My body wants to dance. But maybe not in front of so many.” I gesture to the crowd.
“Hmm,” he muses. “And if there was no crowd, would you dance?”
I take the smallest sip of wine, letting the bitter notes play across my tongue. It’s a strange flavor, not like any I’ve had at home, and strong. The few tastes I’ve had already have a pleasant buzz humming under my skin, which certainly isn’t helping with the not dancing.
Would I dance alone? Definitely. I’m not sure I could keep myself still.
“Yes, I think I would,” I say.
“Then come with me.” He holds a hand out to me again. The fae he had been talking to already took their hints and drifted off, leaving us alone.
“Where?” I ask, but still, I take his hand before waiting for an answer.
The hint of a smile flashes behind the slit in his mask. “I’ll show you.”
All at once, the world warps and bends around us.
The air constricts. The scene around us falls away in a rush.
But before I can even think to panic, solid ground is under my feet once more, and we’re standing somewhere new.
Music still teases my ears here, but it’s dimmer, farther away, as is the riotous conversation and whoops of laughter.
“Where are we?” I drop his hand and turn in a circle, taking in the oval space.
One length of the space is open, a high balustrade all that separates us from the gorge, allowing in sound and dancing flickers of light from below.
The view alone tells me we’re up a few levels.
The other side of the room is sparsely populated with a few small seating areas.
Two low lamps placed between swaths of purple fabric bearing the Unseelie crest decorate the wall and provide a little more light, but much of the place is dim and shadowy and completely empty save for us.
“A meeting area of sorts.” It’s so much easier to hear him now, and that deep, smooth voice feels strangely intimate alone like this. “Not that we use it often,” he adds, as if to himself. “I expected it might be empty tonight, what with most people at the celebration.”
He wanders toward the balustrade, and I follow.
As I near, it confirms my suspicion that we’re higher up, likely the top level, by the nearness of the gorge rim on the other side.
Off to the right, I can see the platform where we were moments ago, though no one seems to be searching for us or bothered by the sudden disappearance.
“They don’t mind that we left like that?” I ask, brows pinching. Such a thing would definitely cause a commotion in the human world, even without the magical means of travel.
Kallan pulls off his helm and gives his head a shake, his pale hair drifting around him.
“If one of us left alone, perhaps, but together…” He shrugs, ears twitching, as he looks back out at the night.
“Together because—” I start, but then my brain fills in the gaps I was missing.
They won’t worry if we’re together because they probably assume we’re doing something that might increase their king’s power. Something with more vigor than dancing and far fewer clothes.
“Never mind,” I say quickly, whipping away from the railing and moving back into the room, arms hugged around myself.
My thoughts spiral inward. Do they all expect their king is trying to mark me right this minute? To increase his power, to help heal their land? Of course it’s what they want, isn’t it? Didn’t several of them mention as much a few minutes ago?
“You’re panicking again,” Kallan says from some distance behind me.
I huff a humorless laugh as I glare over my shoulder at him. “You can tell?”
He grips the balustrade with one hand, the other arm tucking his fearsome helm to his side. “You’re easy to read.”
“Right now, they probably think that we’re—” I gesture between us, unable to put it into words. My cheeks already burn as it is. “They’re going to expect you to mark me.”
Because nothing is so powerful to a fae as a human bearing their mark. I would multiply Kallan’s power, maybe that of the land as a whole.
“They want that extra boost of power. The need me to…” My words trail off, my mind racing in too many directions to voice them all.
“You already give me power by being near me.” Kallan all but drops his helm with a heavy thunk before striding across the space and clasping me by the upper arm.
“Try not to worry about what others may or may not be thinking. I believe most are just happy for something to celebrate, anything to give them hope and joy.” He smooths his palms up and down my arms. “My people know how to be patient. We hope. We are anxious for change. But we know how to wait for what we want. I would never force you, Aimee.” His voice softens into a breathy plea.
“Nor any fae or human. I would never want or expect that from anyone who was not willing.”
Hesitantly, I glance up at him from under my lashes. “But that’s what you want?”
It’s the elephant in the room. The unspoken topic that’s always simmering. It’s what any fae male, particularly a royal one, needs—a willing human partner to enhance their power and that of their people.
A troubled expression crosses his face. He drops my arms, stepping back. My gaze dips to the way his fist tightens at his side. “I want to help my people,” he says. “To give them a better life.”
I nod in understanding of his words, not the unexpected feeling of hurt blooming within me. I know he wants to help his people. It’s in everything he does, every breath he breathes. But maybe, for a minute there, I thought maybe he wanted me for more than that.
It’s fine. It’s easier this way. He’ll use my proximity for his power, and I’ll use him to help my brother. A transaction. A fair exchange.
Tense silence lingers as his hand flexes and unflexes. Kallan lets loose something like a sigh. “Right now though, I’d like you to dance with me. If you’re still willing, that is.”
“Dance with you?” I echo, thrown by the sudden change.
He nods. “Unless you’d prefer to dance alone. I just—” He stops, glancing away. “I want you to be able to enjoy the music as you’d like to.”
Something about the shyness of his glance smooths out the wrinkles our earlier conversation created. “It is beautiful music,” I say. “Powerful.”
“They are playing with a lot of emotion tonight.” His gaze turns wistful as he looks toward the gorge. “Music has been a constant through many trials, something we always turn to, whether to mourn, celebrate, or simply to honor our history.”
“Said like someone who loves music.”
“I do. I always have,” he confides. “It’s part of my earliest happy memories. I am sure humans and Seelie have their own melodies, but I would find it hard to believe that they contain as much depth and feeling as ours.”
“I have to agree. I do not know Seelie music, and I’ve always liked music at home. But rarely is it so all-consuming.” As he said, there is a depth to it, a soul, that even the best melodies and lyrics sometimes lack. I can almost feel the history, the magic, in it.
The tune has slowed from the lively beat earlier, but it’s only heightened the intensity of sound. Now that my panic has ebbed, I can sense it wrapping around me, pulling me into its embrace, whispering sounds and secrets into my ears.
I want to dance. The music wants me to dance. But… “I don’t know the steps to these songs.”
“You don’t have to,” Kallan says, voice calm and quiet. “Let the music guide you. It will, if you let it.”
As he’s done so many times to me, I extend my hand to him in invitation. “Will you show me?”
The slow smile that lights up his face is its own kind of magic. And I realize then that it may be the first one of pure happiness that I’ve seen on him. He even stands a little straighter, ears twitching as his mouth parts softly.
He blinks, and his smile broadens even more. “It would be my honor.”
This time, when we touch, a thrill runs up my arm to join with the comforting sensation spreading outward across my chest.
To my surprise, Kallan is a glorious dancer, even in armor.
I suppose it shouldn’t be such a shock after seeing his sister move the way she did, yet it is.
His touch is light, palms and fingertips, a gentle hand on my hip.
Between his lead and the music, it’s easy.
All I had to do was give in and let them guide me.
“You know, for someone who loves music and is such a good dancer, you were very still when we were down there,” I say as the music and our steps slow.
“One of the downsides of being king.” Our palms press together, the only part of us touching as we walk in a circle, faces turned toward one another.
“I do love music though. It’s one thing that can strip away all my cares and worries.
It can make me think I am someone else, somewhere else, if even for a short time.
” He grabs my hand, spinning me around in a circle before we resume our previous position. “But, that’s not always beneficial.”
“You’re worried about letting your guard down, even in front of your own people.”
He gives a soft, wry laugh. “You have a way of exposing brutal truths. Put plainly, yes, you are correct. I must always be careful.”
“Even here?” I glance out at the night, listening to the sound of joyful celebration below.
“Yes.” He spreads his fingers. I do the same until our fingers knit together. “Even here.” The sorrow filled in that admission lingers long after his words.
I squeeze his hand as a show of comfort. “But you’re dancing now. With me.”
The tempo changes, and Kallan spins me again. But this time when we stop, my back is pressed up against his front, and his palm is splayed across my stomach, holding me to him.
“With you,” he says, his breath tickling my ear, “I find myself doing all sorts of things I did not plan. Some things quite risky.”
His metal armor is hard against my back, but the intimacy of the position still has my mind wandering in dangerous directions.
My dress is not that thick. In fact, I might as well not be wearing anything for the way I can feel the detail of his gauntlets.
If he was hoping to seduce me, it’s working.
There’s honestly something pretty hot about the thought of a dark knight stealing me off to ravish me.
“Like what?” The question comes out as a breathy whisper.