Chapter 13
Thirteen
The light was dim, as though I were walking under the light of a starry night, and the musty scent of damp moss and old mold came.
A footpath hovered a few inches over the water, yet I hesitated, for there were no guardrails, nothing to keep me from losing my footing and falling into that slippery wet darkness.
It appeared I’d taken a wrong turn this time, yet it occurred to me that each time I followed the path into the Hollow Kingdom, I arrived at a different place.
Was it because it was ever-shifting or because my memory was warped and magic changed everything?
Then I saw him, and my pulse kicked. He was on the far bank, shirtless, and bent over something, his arms moving as he worked. Whether it was wood or stone or something else entirely, I couldn’t tell. I stepped forward. I’d come this far; why turn back?
Pushing aside my doubts, I tiptoed across the bridge, almost holding my breath.
When I stepped onto the soft earth, he was standing upright, waiting for me.
Despite my desire to be prudent, my gaze caught on his bare skin.
He didn’t look gaunt at all, nor hollowed out.
Not the way he had the first night in the candlelit chamber.
Something in him had filled out, revived.
His body was all lean muscle that his billowing clothes had hidden.
He looked strong, powerful, a quiet strength moving under his skin.
I wasn’t sure if I imagined it, but something long and dark slithered away from him, disappearing into the shadows.
“Gazelle. I wasn’t sure if I’d see you again.”
I felt the bite of his words as I approached him. “No. I wasn’t sure I’d be free. They assigned me a Warden to follow my every move.”
His gaze raked over me, pausing on the edges of my torn skirt. “I thought you were a prisoner.”
I watched his expression carefully. “No. There’s been another death, and there will be another, if we don’t stop this.”
“We?”
“You agreed to help me.”
“Yes, if you help me,” he rejoined.
My frustration rose, along with a reminder of the uncomfortable sensation that had arisen the last time I’d been in his presence. “And I’ve agreed to learn the dance.”
“So you have. But agreeing to learn it and actually dancing during the next full moon are two different things. I’m aware of the trap of wards.
Don’t you think I don’t know the temperament of humans?
They lie. They cheat. I know better than to believe every beautiful word I hear. Especially from someone like you.”
I stepped back. “What do you mean?” I demanded. “Someone like me? I’m here, aren’t I? I danced for you last time, didn’t I?”
He raised an eyebrow, his expression dark. “A beautiful dancer who waltzed into my kingdom with false promises on her lips.”
I crossed my arms, swallowing down the rage that was beginning to build at the corner of my eyes. “You insult me.”
“I ask for truth. That’s all.” His voice stayed even, without a sneer in it. “Deny it then. It was in your mind, wasn’t it? Sign his bargain, dance his dance, and quietly never mean a word. When the next full moon comes, seal him in his doom.”
“Would you rather I left?” My voice was loud in my ears.
“Dance nothing at all? They’ll know if I change the steps.
They already know I erred. That’s why you’re here, isn’t it?
Because the rift isn’t sealed. No one knows it for certain, but they suspect, and the night I dance something new, they’ll loose the archers and slay me on the stones. ”
“Now we get to the heart of it.” He spoke softly.
“This is about your life. The one you’ll gladly spend for your people—but not for me.
Not for mine. You know the dance will kill you.
You feel it already, and I’m aware how often I remind you of it, how it must grate.
And still, you turn your face from the warning.
” A breath. “Don’t you understand? Your death is the last thing in any world I want. ”
He moved nearer with every word, those green eyes almost glowing.
I should have backed toward the water, the bridge, the way out.
Instead, I stood rooted, spellbound, his presence closing over me like deep water.
He came so close I had to tip my head back to hold his gaze, but he did not stop.
He reached out, and for the first time, pulled me fully against him.
Sliding his arms around my waist and leaving them there, as though we were two lovers about to dance.
One moment I was all fury, the next I’d forgotten how to breathe. Was this what magic was? The power to turn a heart so fast it left the body behind? Or was it only him? One moment we’d been arguing, and the next my body wanted to fold into him.
“I ask you for nothing but truth,” he murmured into the shell of my ear. “I don’t lie. Can’t lie. But you, you are free of every restraint, every bond. I am asking you to take a chance on life, not death. That’s all. I will protect you. I will save you. But I cannot do it from down here.”
I wanted to give in, to lean forward and surrender to the intoxicating lure.
It rolled through me, slow and warm, as though I were being pulled.
Every part of me wanted to say yes, but deep down inside, I knew there was more.
A warning in my soul that kept me from going further.
Closing my eyes, I reached for the last of my willpower. “Will you give me more time to decide?”
His arms tightened around me. “No. You’ve had two weeks, and you’ve fled each time, for longer and longer. So, no. I won’t give you more time. I’ve decided to keep you until you comply.”
“You’d force me.”
“Not force. You’ll learn the dance. I’ll show you my kingdom and help you with this story of murder and death.
A bargain is a bargain, and fair is fair—though there’s nothing fair in any of this.
It’s desperation. For too long, humans have held all the power.
” His mouth brushed my hair. “Now you’ll help me take some of it back.
And I would rather have you willing than any other way. ”
He held me fast, so near that surrender felt like the easiest thing in the world. And then, traitor that it was, my body answered the way it always did. My hips swayed against him, listening to a music with no source, falling into a beat, a tempo, the steps of a dance he alone had played for me.
He went still. His breath went sharp, and I understood, with a hot bolt of shame, that the intoxication, the lure, ran both ways.
He, too, was fighting the same battle of wills as I.
That tug between reason and wanting, between giving into madness and regret or staying whole, sober, untarnished.
Was it possible? And I’d all but ground myself against him, making him realize how close I was to giving in.
I made myself speak, to drag us both out of it. “I went to Rift Mother’s chamber.”
He gave me a beat of space. Nothing more.
“It had been torn apart,” I continued. “Destroyed. But whoever hunted there missed one thing. A hidden compartment, with a scroll inside it. I brought it here, hoping you could help me understand it.”
I expected him to release me. Instead, he spun me around, so my back pressed against his bare chest. I prayed he couldn’t feel the slam of my pulse.
I’d never stood so close to a man. Never been kissed.
Until him, never been touched. I was a virgin dancer, who’d given my body to the dance.
Never to a man. I hadn’t even entertained leaving the Sacred Palace for a wealthy husband, for children.
So why, now, did I burn with thoughts of carnal pleasure?
How much living had I denied myself in the name of noble sacrifice?
“Was it written in another language?” His voice had changed at my ear, sharper, clearer, cutting through the haze.
“No. It’s a family tree. I think—I think it’s the names of all the Lead Dancers.”
“Oh, Gazelle.”
He released me suddenly as though I’d wounded him.
“Did you bring it?”
Keeping my back to him, I reached into my dress and produced the scroll. Then I faced him. The blankness of his face stopped me cold.
He unrolled it, scanning the names, a frown growing. “So it is true,” he murmured.
“What’s true?”
“It’s your bloodline. Your blood.”
“I’d guessed that much. But what does it matter?”
“Do you have other family?” He pressed. “Any relatives at all? Anyone who might dance, who might bear children?”
I shook my head. “Not that I’m aware of. I believe my family was the last. It was me, my sister, my brother. Why? What are you saying?”
Airen began to pace, muttering under his breath. “The double-crossing. I never guessed this. It will look like us. All the more reason to reinforce it.”
“What is it?” I cried.
At last he stopped, facing the water, his back to me. I watched the way his hair curled around the nape of his neck, the slope of his powerful shoulders, the movement of his back as he breathed, then went still. His voice was cold when he spoke. Distant.
“Whoever is behind this is trying to wound not only you, but me too. They know the truth, but they also know that you’re the last Lead Dancer, the last of a powerful bloodline.
Once you stop dancing, things will change.
The magic will shift. It will need another strong and ancient bloodline to cling to, but it will take time.
There will be a power struggle. So our enemy moves first, frames you, cages you, keeps you afraid, and frames me in the same stroke.
Who else would know to name the Hollow Ones as the enemy?
” He turned his head, just enough. “You told me your family was killed long ago. What if it wasn’t chance?
What if it was done on purpose? A move made for this very moment by an enemy patient enough to begin years in advance. ”
A half-laugh, half-sob burst from my lips. “It’s too far-fetched and impossible to believe.”
“Never underestimate the patience of the powerful.” He came back to me, gentler now. “However it happened, the truth doesn’t change. You are the last Lead Dancer, and the strongest. You can break the spell that holds me, and my people, in the dark.” He held my eyes. “Will you dance?”
I knew what he was doing, keeping me trapped with him in the dark until I understood, until I agreed.
And it was too much to believe. I wanted to go back, and I no longer knew what I was going back to.
I wanted to end this. I wanted an ally at my side.
But I also wanted to feel the way I felt when he put his arms around me, swaying to a song no one else could hear.
It wasn’t wrong. I hadn’t even let myself believe him yet.
And still the truth slipped out of me, soft as a sigh, before my mind could call it back. “Yes.”