Chapter 14
Fourteen
We danced.
Not there in the lagoon, but back on the stage with the fading roses falling around us.
This time the piano sat untouched, yet now and again I caught faint strains of music—strings plucked and vibrating in the air as though instruments long abandoned were remembering their sound. But mostly there was only him.
Airen guided me through the steps with endless patience, as though he had all the time in the world, and we didn’t have just two weeks before the end.
Two weeks until I sealed the doom of us all.
I could see no way to keep my people whole.
Either let the demons loose or let the Hollow Ones loose.
Either way, I’d lose something important to me.
So the dance became more than steps. It became a final rite, a sacrifice, a blending of song and motion, intricate, fast footwork giving way to long slow lines.
And as we moved through it together, I understood it was a dance meant for two.
He lifted me and set me down. Spun me out and reeled me back.
We moved in sync, and then he broke away to circle alone.
With each turn, each joining, I felt a little bit more of myself give.
My reserve came undone. I danced as I’d never danced before, and though my legs ached and my arms were heavy, there was none of the old pain.
My chest didn’t seize. My throat didn’t close.
No blood rose in me. I never once had to cough.
It was only the two of us on that floor, turning through something so intimate I felt it deeply, that strange pull I’d felt the first time I found him standing in velvet shadows.
I still couldn’t name it, the odd connection to him.
Both familiar and frightening, as though arriving home after decades of being gone.
The music faded, and we came to rest. My hands drifted to my sides, my arms burning from the exertion.
My chest rose and fell; my breath came in ragged pulls.
It was unlike anything I had done before, my whole body aglow, vibrating with energy.
I was exhausted yet strangely alive, as though I could take a deep breath and begin the dance all over again.
Underneath the exhaustion was a new emotion, something that made me turn my back on him to give myself a moment to reconcile my feelings.
As though he had undressed me, and I was hunting for my modesty.
Speaking was the only way to break the spell, yet he seemed to bask in it, enjoying what ran between us.
“What was that?” I asked, slowly shifting back, facing him.
He tilted his head, watching me carefully. “What do you mean? It was a dance. A new spell. A sealing. A way to keep the rift closed and the demons out, as you wish, while breaking the bonds that hold my people.”
I shook my head, hands moving as I searched for words.
“No, it was more than that. I feel—awake. Alive. Renewed, as though something poured back into me. Dancing has never felt like this. I’ve gotten close to this feeling, this sensation, but when it ends, there’s nothing left but pain and weariness. ”
“Is there?” He drew closer, lifted a hand toward me, then thought better of it and let it fall.
“It’s as I told you. The dance they gave you above is a lie.
It drains you, tearing pieces of your soul away.
That’s why you feel so horrible when it ends.
This dance is life, renewal, healing. It’s the magic you’re drawing upon, a deep source, a well that will not bleed dry.
Your body may be tired, but your soul burns bright. ”
I blinked. Unable to withstand his gaze, I moved away, pressing a hand to my mouth and staring at the dried flowers strewn across the stage.
“I believe you,” I admitted. “It makes no sense. I don’t know you.
You could be playing me for a fool, a demon in beautiful skin, and I, willful and blind.
I wish I didn’t believe you. But I believe every word.
Either you’re a very good liar, or I’m a very easy mark. ”
“Or I’m telling the truth,” he prodded.
“Yet I have no one to confirm it.”
“That’s the point of faith. You have to believe and hold to that truth. Let no one sway you.”
“You ask something very hard of me. To turn my back on everything I was taught.”
“Gazelle.”
He had come up behind me so quietly I missed it.
His voice was a gentle hush in my ear. His hand slid around the back of my neck and cupped my jaw, turning me gently to face him, the pressure light, inescapable.
He held me there until I met his heated gaze.
“I want you to live. I will not keep you here. You are not my prisoner and may come and go as you please. But come again tomorrow night, and the next, and the next. You must practice. You must be ready.”
His thumb moved once along the line of my jaw, slow, and my breath caught. His gaze dropped to my mouth and darkened, and for one long moment neither of us moved. The space between his lips and mine was barely an inch apart.
“And the Warden?” I managed. “What if they stop me?”
“Don’t let them. Find a way.”
He released me, but his touch, his words, had given me a boldness. My spine straightened. I squared my shoulders and faced the dark. “I will,” I promised.
This time there was no lie in it as I climbed back toward the Sacred Palace, his handprint still warm on the back of my neck.
It was the dinner hour, and I hoped no one noticed as I slipped into line—unbathed, undressed for evening prayer, but there all the same.
I took a seat at the far end of the table, away from my usual place among the dancers.
The Vestals moved in and out of the kitchen, serving our perfectly portioned plates.
For the first time, I watched as though an outsider, noting how everything about my life was soaked in rituals and routines.
Everything laid out as it had always been, unchanging.
Was this what I had given myself to? A life of being told where to sit and when to eat, following rules made by people who died centuries ago?
My thoughts drifted to the scroll I’d left behind in Airen’s Hollow Kingdom.
The list of names. My bloodline, all dancers.
What did it mean? Had Verena ever stood a chance as Lead Dancer?
I was certain the line mattered, and I was the last of them.
That meant something. Perhaps more than I knew, which meant I was important here. I had power.
I had been blamed for murder, cleared and assigned a guard.
Yet no one asked where I’d gone today. They’d all been too busy watching, gossiping over the arrival of Sacred Mother to our quiet city.
Whoever was doing this had found me a convenient scapegoat, but they knew they needed me to dance in two weeks.
Surely, then, they would not move against me before the next full moon.
Certainly I was safe enough to ask for my own chambers, safe enough to speak to the walls and slip out each night to dance with the Hollow King.
If I were given permission to keep to myself after dinner each night, I might be able to do this.
I stood, my dinner half eaten, and no one stopped me as I crossed to one of the Wardens. “Take me to Commander Tiberon.”
The Veiled Warden waved a hand, and I followed, only moving down a few rooms to where Commander Tiberon dined among companions. He didn’t usually stay in the Sacred Palace, but as the head investigator, he’d stay until the killer was found and executed.
He rose, frowning when he saw me. “Gazelle.”
“Commander.”
He gestured to an open seat, but I declined it with a wave. I felt the curious eyes of his companions on me, but I kept my gaze on him. “I came to understand the status of the investigation, and my position in the palace.”
“Go on.” His face gave nothing away.
“As you are well aware, I did not commit any of these atrocities, and the night of the full moon is two weeks away. I must prepare, dance, practice, and I would appreciate doing so without distractions. I’m asking to return to my own chambers, with the guard outside of it, if it must be so.
I wish to retire after supper and be left alone to meditate and ready myself. ”
Tiberon frowned. “Your safety is paramount. You will go nowhere in this palace without a Warden at your side. And to protect you—from yourself if need be—you will be locked in each night when you retire.”
“Then it is decided.”
“It is.”
A small victory, but enough. A locked room of my own. It should have shamed me, the quiet betrayal of all I’d known. So I turned to go before he would see treason written across my face.
His voice stopped me at the threshold. “Sacred Mother is in the city, meeting with the council. She will come here when she is ready, to watch you dance. You would do well to please her.”
It sounded like a threat. I glanced over my shoulder, fear rising in waves. “And Sacred Mother is also here to investigate the murders?”
“She is. We will have our answers soon. I promise you that.”
My mouth went dry, thinking of what I’d seen and what Verena had shared with me. With a sharp nod, I walked out of the room, the Warden falling in step behind me.