Chapter 19 Evening Light
Evening Light
ANNA
Ileft Meridian Hall with my mind lost in a myriad of emotions.
Part of me wanted to go and hug Caelan for supporting me in this crazy place.
Another part of me wanted to go and scream at Blake for vanishing again for so long I doubted everything he’d ever said.
Then another part of me just wanted to beg him to take me back to the Celestial Observances Tower and away from everything and everyone else and do more than just sleep.
Instead, I moved silently through the halls, heading to my dorm.
I didn’t make it far before I spotted Blake ahead of me at the top of the staircase.
I gave him a peculiar look. “How did you get here before me?”
A mischievous gleam entered his eyes. “I have my ways.”
The air pressurized between us.
Blake’s presence always did this. It was as if everything within me was being drawn to him in an irresistible pull, stealing the breath from my lungs. His clothes were dark and smoothly pressed like they’d been sewn from the night sky. But his eyes; it was like looking into a storm in the distance.
Beware the raven.
The note’s clear warning sent a chill up my spine. But who was the raven? Or what was the raven?
Blake’s silhouette shifted. He moved slowly, like a predator not wishing to startle its prey.
“I saw you earlier,” he said, his voice low and his meaning clear.
“I saw you too,” I said as he moved around me.
“Then your escort to the ball has been secured?” he asked, now behind me.
I nodded.
“Where have you been?” I whispered.
A moment of sadness crossed his features. “I had something I needed to tend to.”
My shoulders slumped and I knew he was telling the truth, but it didn’t make me feel any better.
I licked my lips as he neared me, my throat running dry as he surveyed me.
“Did you return home?” I asked.
He nodded. “I am sorry. I came tonight to ask you.”
A pang of regret shot through me. He paused behind me.
“Have you ever seen the ballroom?” he asked, his voice soothing as he set my nerves aflame.
I turned slowly, dragging a strained breath into my lungs.
“No,” I muttered.
He was near, but with a measurable distance between us. I lifted my chin so I could see him, and my body tingled with waves of energy that I only felt near him.
What was this? I fought to stay in control, the restlessness fatiguing my muscles.
I almost ran. But I didn’t. No. I wasn’t a coward.
And this wasn’t normal, and neither was Nightfall.
Wasn’t that the entire reason I was here?
To figure out what was going on in this crazy place?
To figure out what happened to my mom here?
Because whatever happened that night felt wild and unbelievable, too, like this did, and while different, I could certainly draw a comparison.
“Relax,” Blake said, as he took in every detail of my demeanor, from the uneven breathing to the slight tremor in my hands. “Breathe.”
I did as he said and closed my eyes. Taking a deep breath, I tried to force calm into my body. As I did, his fingertips touched mine. It was electric. I flinched, but I did not pull my hand away. Letting him connect the tips of our fingers, he tugged gently, taking my hand.
I let my eyes slip open, following him down the staircase.
One step at a time, Anna. Keep walking.
Blake moved through the castle like a shadow, taking corridors and narrow passageways I’d never been in. He slowed when he arrived at two large, ornately styled doors. He opened one and stepped aside, waiting for me to enter.
Awe silenced my questions as I entered the vast ballroom.
It was bathed in the glowing light emitted by a few candles.
The marble floor shimmered in flecks of light and dancing shadows, like ghostly forms moving to a melody only they could hear.
I was entering into a world that many had entered before me.
One that swept over me as if their presence still lingered.
Blake touched the small of my back as he guided me within the darkened room.
A grand staircase swept up to an upper balcony with gleaming gilded railing.
Towering windows covered in shadowy gossamer curtains did little to light the room at such a late hour.
The feel of his hand made me gasp as he took control of my chin until my gaze locked on his.
I swallowed hard, my cheeks warming.
“What do you think?” he asked.
I stared at his lips, the curve of his cheeks.
“It’s beautiful,” I whispered.
“Do you dance?” he asked.
He guided my arm to rest on his shoulder, his hand gently touching my hip. His other took hold of my hand.
“No,” I said, unable to look away from him.
He tilted his head and smiled. “Then it is a good thing we came tonight.”
I gasped as he moved me backward, his hand on my hip guiding me where he wanted, his hand pulling me as he turned.
I had no idea what I was doing but it didn’t matter—he was leading me where I needed to go, leaving no room for a mistake.
As he guided us across the ballroom floor, I began to understand the movements, feeling the gentle rhythm in each step and anticipating his next move by the way he held me.
It was as if we were speaking to one another without words.
Without anything but the sensation of his pull and the shifting of my body with his.
When he slowed, I was near enough to him to hear his heart beating in a smooth and steady thud. Neither of us spoke as we stood firmly rooted in place, his hand still on my hip, and our hands secured together.
“I wish I were going with you to the ball,” I whispered, the words vanishing into the vast open space of the ballroom.
A silence stretched between us for so long that I thought he might not answer. My heart burned as I feared I had misread the situation when his voice finally reverberated through the air.
“My apologies,” he said, his voice soft and low, “for missing the chance.”
The poignant moment held us there, not close enough to feel him, but close enough to know that this feeling—with him—was something I’d never felt before, and I didn’t want to let it go.