Chapter 39
Sage
The High Priestess’s ballroom stole my breath the moment I stepped up to the wide, open double doorway.
Crystal chandeliers hung from a high ceiling covered in intricately stamped gold panels, their faelight fracturing into a thousand glittering shards across the marble floor.
Gilded columns rose like sentinels along the walls, wrapped in flowering vines that pulsed with soft luminescence.
The entire right side of the room was a bank of impossibly tall windows filled with fae glass so clear it might as well not have existed.
Beyond them, a rose garden glowed with fae lanterns, the blooms swaying in a gentle breeze.
It was beautiful and terrifying.
Because everywhere I looked there were fae men.
Hundreds filled the space, their faces flawless, their clothes dripping with jewels and silks and lace.
“Lady Sage and Captain Talon of the Black Guard,” the servant at the door called out, his voice carrying over the roar of voices and music.
In an instant, every head turned toward me, every eye fixed on me with that hungry, assessing look I’d seen too many times in the Garden.
My pulse jumped, and I locked the muscles in my legs before I could take a step back.
Stepping back would show fear. That, and stepping back would bump me into Sir West who stood directly behind me.
The urge to run squeezed my insides, and I scanned the room for doors or windows I might be able to slip through and escape.
There, three glass doors in the wall that I thought were just windows, one by the back of the room, and another discreet one beside the royal dais sitting against the lefthand wall where the High Priestess reigned over the event.
Except large, masculine bodies filled the space between me and any escape, and even if I could reach the doors, where would I go?
This was supposed to be a ball in my honor. I couldn’t just run away.
“Sage,” Talon murmured, while my thoughts and emotions spun out of control. “Dance with me.”
“I—” Heat rushed across my cheeks. “I don’t know how.”
I’d barely begun dance lessons when my mother had passed, and I had no idea if human dances were the same as fae dances.
Shadow shit, why hadn’t I thought about dancing? That’s what happened at a ball, and it hadn’t even occurred to me to ask for lessons, to prepare myself with what little time I had.
“If you’re dancing, you won’t get swarmed,” he said, his voice low.
And with the High Priestess watching, she’d want me to perform. If I wasn’t dancing, I’d have to be talking.
“Right. Let’s dance.”
I placed my fingers in his and let him lead me onto the floor. The musicians shifted into something slow and formal, and Talon pulled me into position, one hand still gripping mine, the other settling against the small of my back.
My pulse skipped, and the colors in his eyes swirled in that mesmerizing way that made it hard to look away.
I knew I shouldn’t react to him, knew I couldn’t afford the complications, but my body tried to lean closer anyway, drawn to him whether I wanted it or not.
Father, why was he so beautiful?
The chandelier light caught the sharp lines of his jaw, and the perfect slope of his cheekbones. I couldn’t stop thinking about the alcove and him pushing inside me, his breath hot against my ear.
I wanted that again. Wanted him to look at me the way he had in that one unguarded second when his forehead had rested against mine and he’d seemed to forget himself and the distance he’d kept between us.
But despite me staring at him, he wasn’t looking at me. He was looking past me, scanning the crowd over my shoulder, even as we started to move, and I realized his movements were too precise and practiced. His hand sat exactly where it was supposed to and he hadn’t pulled me close.
This was a job for him and I needed to remember that.
I let my gaze wander as we twirled across the dance floor, his skill at leading me was so effortless my feet seemed to know where to go before I did.
Most of the dancers were men partnered with other men, their movements graceful and mesmerizing. There were a few women with skirts swirling around them like me, but not many.
Which was probably why the stunningly beautiful blond woman with the red eyes standing at the edge of the dance floor caught my attention.
Ember. I recognized her from the courtyard in the Garden when she’d stalked up to Talon and pointedly ignored Lord Quill who’d been sitting at the same table.
Ash had said Ember had been trying to mate with Talon since her marks appeared, and from the way her gaze burned with resentment as she glared at me and Talon dancing, it was clear I’d just made an enemy.
Which was ridiculous. Surely it was obvious that Talon wasn’t interested in me. His posture, lack of eye contact, and lack of conversation while we danced said it all.
The music ended and Talon released me with a small bow, but before I could catch my breath, the Lord Treasurer stepped forward.
“Lady Sage.” He extended his hand with a bright, hopeful smile. “Might I have the honor of the next dance?”
Every gaze in the room shifted toward us. Waiting. Watching to see what I would do.
Refusing would make a scene and likely draw the High Priestess’s ire.
The musicians played the initial few chords for the next dance, and I dipped my gaze demurely to my feet.
I didn’t want to dance with him, but I didn’t want to get swarmed with men, either, and I had no idea what the safest response would be.
If I said yes, he’d know the moment we started dancing that I didn’t have a clue. If I said no—
“I’m unfamiliar with these dances,” I replied.
Please let it be logical that I might not know all these dances.
“Worry not,” he said with a soft warm smile — with no hint that I’d said anything wrong or concerning. “I’m as skilled a dancer as Talon.”
If he hadn’t been so boring during our private audience — and if I’d indeed been looking for a mate — I might have considered him. He seemed kind.
“I’d be honored.” I took his offered hand and he led me deeper onto the dance floor.
Kindness, however, was not enough to guide me through the unfamiliar steps without me stepping on his toes half a dozen times.
But it was enough for him to not let it interrupt his steady, boring conversation about expected wheat yields in the coming fall.
I made what I hoped were appropriate sounds of interest at what I hoped were the right moments and, as boring as it was, wished it wouldn’t end.
At least with—
What was his name? It started with a D? or was that an A?
At least with the Lord Treasurer, I knew he wouldn’t get upset when I stepped on him or tripped over my own feet.
But the musicians played the final chords of the piece, and the Lord Treasurer bowed and thanked me for the dance.
Pine, one of the other handpicked suitors, pushed his way in front of me. He flashed a brilliant smile and swept me into the next dance without even asking permission.
The beat of the music picked up, and Pine deftly whirled me around the dance floor, chattering all the way.
“—and then she said the flowers were the wrong shade of pink, can you imagine? As if there’s more than one shade of pink—”
“—so I said, if you’re going to bring a gift, at least make sure it’s not the same lute you gave her sister last spring, but did he listen—?”
“—and then he tried to claim he’d written the poem himself, but everyone knows it’s from the Third Age, and honestly, did he think no one had read it before—”
Thankfully, his ability to lead me was almost as skilled as Talon’s and I didn’t step on his toes.
After Pine, I was passed to another suitor and then another and another, all who ended up with very sore toes and sour expressions despite being warned.
The musicians kept the tempo lively and my legs started to burn. Every spin left me more breathless than the last, the air in the ballroom felt thick, and sweat gathered at my temples and between my breasts.
But the men just kept coming, one dance ending and another suitor appearing in an endless line I couldn’t escape.
I searched for West in the crowd but couldn’t find him. Too many bodies, too many faces, and I was about to use my ability to refuse a request and to hell with what the High Priestess thought when turquoise eyes met mine.
Raven. Another of Her Brilliance’s handpicked suitors.