Chapter 13 Jax
Chapter thirteen
Jax
As I stepped onto the herringbone planks of the dance floor, I felt a breeze at my side.
Sofie hadn’t followed me. But the crowd’s attention was still on her as they drifted into the ballroom, occasionally darting to me instead of the resplendent chandeliers and whirling dresses and tails.
Even Goldenbeard, taking his seat on his ridiculous golden throne with this year’s prospective seawife at his side, was not nearly as fascinating as my sorceress bride.
I held out my arm, beckoning Sofie with an impatient curl of my fingers.
Still, she did not budge.
Dragons blast it, Blackbeard was watching. And he wasn’t the only one. Despite the elegant couples already dancing beneath the crystal chandeliers, a fair number of eyes had noticed my reluctant bride. “What’s the matter with you?” I hissed.
“You don’t really expect me to dance,“ she replied, as if I’d asked her to sample a smorgasbord of salamanders.
“Of course I expect it. Everyone expects it. It’s a ball.”
“No.”
“What?”
“I said no. Even if I knew the steps, I’d still refuse.”
Slowly, I turned, the ground seeming to sway as if I were aboard the ships of Carabosse. “You don’t dance?”
Her lip curled. “Maybe I don’t dance with you. Or any men who kidnap me and hypnotize me into marriage.”
“You think I wanted to marry you, a strange sorceress, practically sight unseen? By the gods, what if you’d been boring?“ I hastily cast my eyes about the room, wondering who had heard. I’d allowed myself to get too loud thanks to my emotions.
I was sure Sofie would love nothing better than to humiliate me.
“This is part of the arrangement,” I said, extending my hand again.
Still, she did not take it. She looked at it as though it were covered in muck. “It most certainly isn’t part of the deal I made with you. Isn’t it bad enough you dragged me to this ridiculous affair?”
Her hand grasped her other arm as she looked away, the very picture of unease. Understanding dawned on me. And made me grin. “You don’t know how to dance.”
That got her attention. “I didn’t say that.”
“You didn’t have to.”
Her other arm crossed over, so that she appeared to be scolding me with folded arms. “I know how to dance. I’m just…”
“Terrible at it?”
Eyes widening, Sofie went as stiff as the walking dead that populate those northern isles of hers—draugr or some such. “I’ll have none of your ridicule,” she groused.
“Then you’d best follow me.”
Without pausing to take her arm, or even to be sure she followed, I shifted through the crowd gathered around the dance floor and made my way back to the foyer.
Glancing behind me, I spotted a flash of starlight and purple weaving through the crowd.
Satisfied Sofie would not lose sight of me, I started up one of the curving stairways.
Like everywhere else in the palazzo, it was crowded with revelers.
Only when we were halfway down the hall did the crowd begin to thin.
“Where are we going?” Sofie asked, whispering as though she thought we might be somewhere we shouldn’t be.
“This isn’t a library,” I answered, loudly.
“This is a pirate’s ball. Our host expects exploration and attempted looting.
Tradition dictates he has to hide something truly valuable as the grand prize for the night.
Whoever finds it gets to keep it. If they can get it out of the palazzo without getting caught. ”
“What does he hide?” she asked, still whispering.
“As far as I can tell? Nothing. Not here in the palazzo, anyway. That doesn’t stop the optimistic from searching.”
Our destination was at the end of the hall, through a pair of glass doors with the storm shutters folded back. The soft throb in my temple served as a reminder that tomorrow, this entire island would be shuttering their windows and doors.
I hoped to be long gone by then.
“Here we are.” I pulled open the door, standing back to allow Sofie to enter ahead of me. She sniffed at the gentlemanly gesture, then swept past me.
For a moment, as she stepped out into the moonlight, her skin seemed to shimmer like the silver thread in her dress, as if I could see the magic coiled beneath her frost white skin. I almost forgot what I was here for—what I was doing.
I got ahold of myself, but barely, as I joined her on the balcony, offering her my hand with a courtly bow.
“What’s this?” she asked, forehead creased as if expecting some trick.
“How one of the dances begins. Mind you, I don’t really know which name goes with which, just the steps. I think you’ll find our dances a bit old fashioned. Pirates don’t spend much time in polite society. I believe this one would’ve been danced in our grandparents’ day.”
Still, she eyed me with suspicion.
“Come now, wife—”
And then she did a remarkable thing. She took my hand. And let me lead.
She was, as I expected, a perfectionist, demanding I stop and explain the steps she flubbed. Once, she even tripped, forcing me to catch her.
Forcing me to put my arms around her, and feel the pounding of her heart.
That wasn’t the worst of it. My heart’s speed mirrored her own—and not because of our dancing.
To hide it, I attempted a jest. “Not very nimble, are you? No wonder you chose magic over a shield-maiden’s life.”
She snorted. “As if I had a choice.”
My brows rose. “You were forced to study magic?”
For a moment, as she regained her balance, our eyes met. There I was, trying not to look earnest. There she was, gazing back at me, vaguely annoyed.
Whatever my foolish heart was getting at, it was doing it all on its own now, without any reciprocation. That alone should’ve been enough to quell any interest from me.
But a little nagging voice would not leave me alone. Admit it, it said. Were the circumstances different, you might think her the perfect woman for you.
I wanted to deny it. To suggest that her following my lead out here beneath the moonlight was playing tricks on me, causing me to picture a sweet, docile bride. To picture someone more like Amarylis.
But I liked Sofie’s ferocity, and that innate savagery of hers that I sometimes saw glimpses of. Her willingness to charge in first and ask questions later, while lately I spent my days questioning anything and everything.
“When you have a gift for chaos magic,” she said, smoothing her hair, “there is no choice but to hone it. Otherwise, terrible things can happen.”
“That’s the difference between you and me, then. I find terrible things terribly entertaining.”
“It’s not a joke,” she said, her cheeks flushing. “You don’t understand what chaos can do.”
But I did understand. I understood what it was doing to me right now.
The gods who had seen to it that her flight from Endergeist happened at the same time I was crossing that end of the Prevarian Sea, I prayed they’d spare this bride. I didn’t care if she wished to remain my wife when this was over.
I just wanted to be free from the curse. I just wanted this last bride to survive.
“One of these days,” I said, “I think I’d like to see some of your chaos.”
“Be careful what you wish for.” She held out her arms, as if expecting me to lift her. “We need to practice that last step again.”
I laughed, slicked back my hair and pretended I was unaffected her, by her rosy cheeks, her determination, her enchanted gown that made her look like a queen from a storybook. “Dancing with you is no fun at all,” I complained.
“Nor should it be. I would hate for you to enjoy any part of this.”
“Then we are at an impasse, for I’m enjoying it all too much.”
Brine and bracken! Had I just said that out loud?
I wanted to bite down on my tongue. I could feel heat rising into my neck, running beneath the freshly shaven lines of my beard and hurtling towards my cheeks. No. I would not be undone by this little sprite of a woman and her adorably bad attitude.
“I’ll bet you are,” she said coldly. “I’ll be sure to trod on your toes a lot more, so you can enjoy it a little less.”
“Much appreciated.”
I stepped forward, dutifully positioning her arms and beginning the sequence of steps again. After we had practiced this and a few more dances, I walked away from her, opening the balcony door so we could be seen on the dance floor well before the big event.
“Jax,” she said as she passed me, lingering by my shoulder. She was standing too close, the heat from our bodies mingling and making me sweat.
I tried to sound casual. Bored, even. “Yes, wife?”
“Just because I agreed to help you doesn’t mean I’d ever accept your suit. You must be used to women swooning over you. You’ve had plenty of wives before me. But I’m not here to be charmed by you. I’m only playing a part.”
“Ah,” I said, “you simply aren’t like other girls, is that it?”
Her nostrils flared. “Safe to say every sorceress is one of a kind. Especially those of us with chaos magic.” She reached up, patting my cheek. “Don’t be charmed by me, either. None of this is real.”
“Alas. You only desire me for my curse.” I placed a hand over my heart. “You wound me, madam.”
“If that’s what it takes,” she said matter of factly, then breezed by me into the palazzo’s hall.
I tried not to trail her too eagerly.