Chapter Twenty #3
He tilts his head back, narrows his eyes skeptically. “I think you are.”
“You think wrong.”
Davien leans in, places his lips on the shell of my ear. “I’ve spent months watching how your body moves.” His hand presses lower, gripping my flesh. “You have music in you, and the grace of a dancer.”
“I’m not—” I don’t get to object. He sweeps me off my feet, drawing forth a soft yelp of surprise. His toes crunch under my shoe. “I told you I’m not a good dancer.”
“Stop worrying so much. Just move, Katria. Move with me.”
His voice, that tone…as sumptuous and slow as a bow drawn across the lowest note on a fiddle.
The demand resonates within me like the tumbling of the feet in the square.
I press my hips against his. Every shift of his weight moves his thighs against mine.
I follow instinctively, not worrying about the fool I must look because when my eyes meet his, there’s only him.
My chest against his. His arm circling my waist. His tunic, cut low, reveals the firm plane of chest I saw in the moonlight back in the woods.
His crown is a shimmering reminder of just how forbidden he should be to my very human hands.
I’m breathless and not just from the dance.
I gasp, barely able to keep from begging for more—I want everything I’ve always denied myself.
I want to dare. I want to dance. I want to be someone I have never been even if it’s only for one night.
The music stops and cheers erupt. People clear the square as the musicians take a break. But Davien’s eyes are only on me, his breathing heavy.
“You need to come with me.”
“Anywhere.” I pant softly.
Everything is left behind as Davien pulls me into the main hall of Dreamsong.
There are a few people milling about. The celebration has spilled across the city, painting it with song and joy in the colors of autumn and winter grays.
He leads me upstairs and all the way to the door at the end of the hall.
It’s his room.
The four-poster bed is boxy, simple, not the ornate furniture I’d expect of a king.
It’s made of a dark wood, and the grain catches the moonlight like currents in a river.
Navy-blue velvet curtains reveal more pillows than I’d expect.
He has an armoire, a desk, and a sitting area that opens to a small balcony overlooking all of Dreamsong.
Davien guides me to the sofa positioned before the opening of the balcony. He sits next to me, our thighs touching. His hand still lingers on mine.
“Sing for me again,” he whispers.
“What do you want to hear?” I breathe. I couldn’t sing right now if I tried. My throat is too tense, my mind blank.
“Anything.” He lifts one hand, cups my face, and drags his thumb lazily along my lower lip. “As long as I can watch your lips.”
“I can’t think of a single song.” My cheeks are burning.
“This is why I never wanted you to look at me,” he says slowly, a smirk curling his mouth dangerously. He looks as if he intends to devour me. “Because I knew if you did, you’d be stunned into silence. And I never wanted to see you quiet.”
I laugh with more conviction. I’ve never had anyone tell me he wanted to hear me before. Feeling heard and seen is more intoxicating than too much faerie mead. “I thought it was because if I looked at you, you could never let me go.”
It’s his turn to chuckle. “You remember that.”
“I remember every single night we spent together in excruciating detail.” I shift; our thighs brush, press closer together.
“Do you?”
“Yes.”
“As do I.”
“Davien…” I search his eyes for an answer I know I can’t find without asking both him and myself. “What am I doing here? What are we doing right now?”
Davien puts a finger under my chin, directing my face upward. He leans a bit closer. “I don’t know…but I think I like it. Do you?”
“I—I don’t want to be hurt.” Anything more than a whisper would feel like a scream now. He’s so close. A breath away. A mere quiver and my lips would be on his. A shiver tickles my spine, tempting me to test the theory.
“I would never hurt you.”
Truth. My eyes prickle. How can something be both the truth and a lie at the same time? How is it possible for him to mean something completely when I know it’s untrue? “All of this will hurt me, though.”
“All of what?”
“All these feelings. I know how this ends.” It ends with a cold house and a one-sided marriage. It ends in emotional warfare with words sharper than any steel.
“Then let’s not worry about them,” he suggests casually.
That is everything I hoped for. “Can it really be so simple?”
“I told myself when I married you that I could never love a human.”
“There is no way I’d ever love you.” Or anyone else.
“Good, then we’re on the same page.” He keeps leaning forward and I keep leaning back. Soon I’ll be flat against the armrest and sofa. Soon he’ll be on top of me. Heat rushes through my body.
“No emotions?” My eyelids are heavy. Each blink is longer than the last. His lips curve like a scythe, and I am ready for harvest.
“No love.” It sounds like a promise. “Though, if you let me, I will make you feel.”
“Feel what?” My voice quivers.
“Everything.” The word hangs as he waits for my objection.
This is the point of no return I saw coming days ago.
Everything about him is forbidden, everything screams of heartache.
But I will not be my father’s daughter. I can indulge in these physical needs without falling in love and giving all that I am in the process.
Can’t I?
Before I have a chance to reexamine, his mouth crashes on mine.