Chapter 27 #3
“I heard you were at Meela’s little party,” he says. When he looks up to meet my gaze I realize he looks kind of hopeless, kind of lost. Did I do this to him? “But then I did a quick scan, and you were nowhere to be found.”
“Yeah… I left.”
“Can we talk?” he asks quietly, looking at me with pleading eyes. “I feel like you’ve been avoiding me for some reason.”
“Now isn’t a good time…”
The moment his eyes shift from soft to burning rage as he looks behind me feels like an eternity. It’s like a fire orb being lit from within.
“Are you serious?” He looks at me, and I see the hurt mixed with the rage.
“No. It’s not—” I stop myself. I don’t know what it’s not. Or what it is. Because if I’m honest with myself, I am feeling a lot of things for the person behind me that I shouldn’t.
He shakes his head at me, waiting for more, and when I don’t give it, he storms off down the hallway.
I don’t follow him. I shut my door gently, then I stand facing it with my back to Daegan for a moment, stalling. Unsure what to say.
When I finally turn around, Daegan is only a few steps in front of me. He studies me, unmoving.
“Sorry about that. He’s…” I shrug. “I don’t know.”
And then Daegan shocks me with his bluntness. “Is there something between you and him?”
I take a deep breath, then release it. “I don’t think so,” I answer honestly, avoiding his eyes.
“Well, I was about to leave before we were rudely interrupted…” Daegan says dryly.
I smirk and let out a small laugh, finally meeting his eyes again.
Big mistake. My heart skips, and I’m frozen in place.
“I’ll see you in the morning,” he says. Then he walks around me.
I spin around, speechless, and watch him go. The door shuts behind him and I stare at it for a long time.
Then I realize it’s not even that late yet, so I yank my door open and head back down to Meela’s. I’m not going to sit in my room all night feeling… whatever this is.
There’s no trace of him in the halls.
When I walk through her front door, the music is still playing softly in the background, but there’s a lot more raucous noise, chatter, and a few lively drinking games going on too.
I don’t know why she agreed to host this. I’d want them all out by now, but some will probably linger all night. At least she propped her bedroom door wide open and told everyone she has a no fucking in her room policy.
I head for the drinks, grab a glass of pink wine, and drink half of it in a few big gulps. Then I set the rest down. That should help calm whatever is going on in my head.
I turn to go find Meela, not seeing her in the main room.
I find her in her bedroom with Raef and two other male elves. Ryndon and Farlon. They’re playing some game with several mugs being flipped and passed around. They’re laughing and yelling, cheering each other on.
“Elle!” Meela yells with excitement when she sees me.
“Hi,” I shoot back, not even attempting to match her enthusiasm.
“Sand!” Raef yells, beckoning me over.
I laugh again at the ridiculous nickname.
“I didn’t expect you to come back,” Meela tells me more quietly, looking at me curiously.
I shrug and look away.
“Where’s my guy?” Raef asks rather loudly.
I shrug again. “Probably back at your room. I don’t know.”
“Something wrong?” Meela asks.
“No…” I smile at her suddenly, petting her hair softly. “Why would you think that?”
“Oh fuck me. You drank the pink wine again.”
I nod my head with a huge, closed-mouth grin. “Your hair is so silky-smooth. Did you know that?”
Raef side-eyes us.
“Raef, did you know how soft her hair is?” I ask him, still petting it.
She shakes me off, pushing my hand away.
“Stop it. Go over to my closet and pet my dresses, okay? There are plenty of silky ones in there.”
“Oooh, okay!”
Raef laughs and they turn and get back to their silly drinking game.
“I like your laugh, Raef,” I say as I walk toward the closet.
“Thank you!” he yells back, barely ripping his attention from the game.
She has almost no purple in here. I think I’ll talk to her handmaid about adding more. There is a shiny blue one that catches my eye, and I slowly run my hands down it. It’s the same shade of blue I wore when Daegan commented on my switch up.
My stomach flutters at the memory.
I wore green tonight just in case I saw him. I wanted to see if he’d comment on the change again. He didn’t. I even asked Sybil to come by and help do my hair and makeup extra nice, which she did graciously. I paid her excessively because she made me feel confident and pretty.
I don’t know how long I stand in the darkness of the closet, petting dresses, lost in my thoughts. It feels nice. Peaceful.
I think I’ll go dance though. It seems Meela and Raef have forgotten me, too absorbed in their exciting game. I hope they win.
I twirl through the doorway and look around for a familiar face to dance with, but no one is dancing. Maybe I’ll go dance through the large, magical hallways instead. Like I used to when I was small and it felt so magical.
When I exit her room, it’s quiet. I suddenly don’t feel like dancing. Instead, I walk very slowly along the wall with my hand trailing against the cool, frosty windows. I can barely see anything except some distant, blurry torches out there, but they’re entrancing me.
I’m so enchanted that I nearly walk straight into a large male in black who has suddenly appeared in front of me. He stops me, holding my shoulders, his voice smooth like silk.
“What are you doing?”
My heart flutters as I look into those eyes that remind me of a painting of the swirling sea from before. “Daegan,” I purr with a smile.
“Again… what are you doing out here? Alone…?” He looks upset, perplexed even.
“Petting the cool, frosty windows. It looks magical out there, doesn’t it?” I look out again, hoping he’ll see what I mean.
He looks even more angry now. “Where are Meela and Raef?”
“Playing on her bed.”
Daegan rubs a large, strong hand over his face. I grab the other one, holding it with both of my hands that seem so small in comparison. “Your hands are so rough,” I mutter, running my thumbs along the hardened patches on his palm.
His chest expands with a slow, deep breath as he watches me.
“I wore green tonight,” I tell him.
“I know.”
“Why didn’t you point it out? You don’t like it as much as the blue?”
“It doesn’t matter what color you wear,” he says, still letting me run by fingers along his palm. His expression is… blank.
“Why not?” I ask. I think under normal circumstances, the emotion I’d feel would be sad.
“Doesn’t matter,” he mumbles.
I look up at him and his beautiful eyes—but then I’m distracted by his wild, wavy hair. I need to touch that too. So I do. I reach up and run my hand gently through it. It’s soft.
I shift my gaze to his and find him watching me. His eyes have darkened. He grabs my hand that’s in his hair, stopping me. He lowers it and then lets go.
“Come on,” he growls. “I need to go find Raef, and then I’m taking you both home.”
“Okay. We can all walk together. That’ll be fun.”
He pulls me along with my hand in his. All the way back to Meela’s room.