Chapter Seventeen
My heart leaped as a flash of green caught my eye from across the grand ballroom.
I stood from the long plush settee to see if it was her, realizing I was boxed in on one side by Brenda, the other by Cleggs, Yoi, and Dion.
Objectively, it had been an enjoyable evening.
The hall was lavish, with a broad dance floor in front of a raised stage where several bands alternated styles of music, including an all vocal quartet of inus.
The ceiling, three stories up, was supported by marble columns bedecked with colorful magic glow lamps and chandeliers that spun in time to the music.
We’d chatted, drank, snacked on platters of figs or cheeses or cubes of fresh bread, danced when a song was right. Truly a magical setting.
Yet I couldn’t enjoy the winter ball without the company of a certain person, a person whose arrival I’d awaited all evening. I waved to catch her attention.
Sephi glided through the crowd, her ankle-length sleeveless dress shimmering iridescent green with every long stride. She smiled at me before addressing Brenda. “I do not wish to trouble you, but I would appreciate the seat next to Mister Thistlewood.”
“You let our boy Theo wait half the night for you.” Brenda remained seated, her tone terse, though not antagonistic.
I hoped they would see eye to eye one day, but I couldn’t force it. And both were protective of me in their own way.
“I regret that I did.” Sephi clasped hands clad in skin-tight, green silken gloves atop each other over her waist. “But it was necessary for me to attend Halfar’s university ball on a perfunctory basis.
Our families have an agreement to cooperate on certain things.
I would also not give the public impression that I am retreating from the Greanderal’s aggressive tactics. ”
We’d found out little more about the alleged agent.
Records were lost as the clipper sank, with over a hundred passengers as potential suspects.
We weren’t in a position to beat the identity out of Aldyr, and he appeared more frightened of whoever it was than of us.
We’d taken the precaution of putting the journal in a safe deposit box, and made a copy as well, but Sephi believed the best insurance was convincing House Greanderal it was in their best interests not to try anything further. And I trusted her judgment.
“Theo’s been a gentleman to you,” said Brenda.
“He has.”
“I don’t know if I like you going to that other ball. I don’t know if I like you.”
“She had my full support.” I glanced at the settee, where I remained awkwardly boxed in on both sides. “It’s elven politics, that’s all.” I was about to ask Yoi and the others to let me out the other side when I caught a subtle head shake from Sephi.
“I also had a very private message for Halfar Greanderal, a message that I wished to deliver to him at the ball.”
I sighed. Politics. I’d have to get used to it.
“I suppose it’s some posh high-society secret?” said Brenda.
“I would be quite pleased to tell you word for word, if you wished.”
Brenda pursed her lips and nodded.
“Well then. It was in the middle of a waltz,” Sephi spoke in a soft, yet dispassionate tone, as if describing which style of porridge she preferred for breakfast. “I leaned close to him.”
I should have reacted jealously. But if she could trust me with her life, I could trust her with a few dances.
“And I said in a soft and pleasant voice, ‘Mister Greanderal, you probably know that I discovered your family’s antics. I chose not to respond this one time as a courtesy. However, should any such threats to my consort, Mister Thistlewood, or myself, occur in the future, I will slice off your head, I will slice off your nethers, and I will affix both to the unicorn statue in front of your family’s manor in a most scandalous fashion. ’ ”
A smile spread ear to ear. That’s my Sephi.
She winked at me and continued. “And if I happened to be especially cross, I shan’t do it in that order.”
Brenda chewed her lip. “I changed my mind. I do like her. Welcome to the gang.” She slid out.
Sephi slid next to me, immediately draping an arm around my shoulders. Not a possessive gesture, nor for show, just a simple, spontaneous show of affection.
“Consort, huh?” I said.
She sighed. “I could have used boyfriend or lover, but as traditional as House Greanderal is, I thought consort would be more effective.”
A warm blush breezed over me. It was the first time she’d used any such term for me.
The music changed.
“This, I believe, is an excellent song for the Ashryn Waltz. Would you care to dance, Mister Thistlewood?”
“I would, Lady Arazniros.” I preferred calling her Sephi, but was proud of the fact that I could now correctly pronounce her family name.
As we both stood, she glanced me up and down. “You have obtained dance shoes.”
“I have. Which have a bit of lift compared to my normal shoes. I thought it would be more convenient for you if we were closer to the same height.”
“Magnanimous, as always, Mister Thistlewood.”
We stepped into a gap in the crowd and fell into sync with each other.
One-two-three, four-five-six.
“You do not need to count,” she whispered.
“It was in my head.”
“Your lips moved.”
We’d only ever danced together in private. The crowd made me nervous.
“Trust me to lead and trust yourself to follow,” she whispered.
I focused on her, on the music, and with each step we twirled and slid with new confidence.
I was with an elven lady. A gorgeous and charming one. Who’d announced me as her consort.
And also saved my life.
We glided across the dance floor, moving as one. The others were looking at us, or they weren’t. It didn’t matter. While the music played, it was only Sephi and me.
As the song reached a crescendo, she pulled me into a spinning figure we’d only practiced once prior. She spun. I spun. The song stopped. She didn’t, instead letting our motion bring us together in an embrace, nose to nose.
“I don’t recall that figure ending quite this way,” I whispered.
She lifted an eyebrow. “I may have improvised a step or two.”
It was at this point I noticed how far up the slits of her dress went.
I glided my hand around her waist, meeting at the small of her back. “I do not object.”
Sephi was close enough to reveal every detail of those piercing green eyes between slow, beguiling bats of her eyelids. Close enough to pick up the scent of peppermint and pine. Close enough to—
She slid her face along mine, brushing her nose against mine, her cheek along mine, her every warm breath gliding across my cheek and over my ear. “Your new dance shoes put you at rather a convenient height for kissing.”
I also noticed just how thin the material of said dress was, feeling the warmth of her hips and thighs pressed against me.
“What are the social mores of Drach-Principalis vis-a-vis public displays of affection?”
“My view on the matter can be summed up as follows.”
“I await—” The remainder of the sentence came out as something of a ‘mummf’ due to a luscious pair of lips engulfing…
Oooh, that feels wonderful.
She parted and closed her lips with slow, deliberate firmness. Our first kiss had been a subtle glimpse; this was wide-open passion.
As our bodies pressed against each other, nothing held back, her every curve was a paradise.
Space around us closed in, but in the most comforting, intimate way, as the hall disappeared, then the people around us, until my entire perception was just us.
Sephi’s arms drew my body against hers, her fingers caressing, clasping, kneading into muscles of my shoulder, as her other hand glided down my spine to cup the small of my back.
Her hips pressed against mine, swaying slowly.
And those lips, parting, closing, parting again, until the tip of her tongue pressed against mine, firm, yet…
it was as if she were politely asking for a dance.
I uttered an embarrassing low whine as I slid a hand between her shoulder blades and pulled myself into her, my chest melting into her breasts, tongue lightly dancing with hers.
She pulled her mouth back with a most unladylike sound and traced the tip of her tongue across her upper lip. “Have I made my views clear?”
“You have.” I leaned in to press a quick kiss to her lips.
Gods, she has nice lips.
We stepped to the side of the dance floor as a new song started.
“You look lovely in that dress.”
“Thank you,” she said. “However, I do recall you saying something similar about my leather pants.”
I nodded. She filled out the academy uniform quite nicely as well.
She draped her arms over my shoulders, pulling me so that our noses touched. “There is, however, one additional outfit that I would welcome your opinion on later this evening.”
I kissed her again, eyes closing lazily as I did. “And that is?”
“Nothing at all.”