Chapter 40
Sage
“Lady Sage.” Raven held out his hand, and I stared at his long fingers, fighting the urge to shiver in disgust and outright refuse him.
Would the High Priestess be furious if I turned him down?
Zinnia had assured me I could, but I couldn’t stop the niggling doubt that refusing someone, especially someone who the High Priestess had picked herself, would be seen as a tremendous slight.
He raised an eyebrow in silent question, his hand inching closer to me.
Something about him put me on edge. He seemed familiar but I couldn’t remember from where.
I glanced toward the dais. The High Priestess’s pale gaze bore down on me.
Refusal would definitely be seen as a slight.
And I really didn’t want to piss off the High Priestess.
“Of course.” I took his hand, fighting the shiver of trepidation that raced down my spine.
I braced for wandering hands, for him to press too close like the others. But Raven guided me through the steps with a grace almost as easy as Talon’s and his hands stayed where they belonged. He even kept a respectful distance between us, and some of the tension in my shoulders eased.
“Overwhelming, isn’t it?” he said, his voice low. “All these people staring, all this attention. I imagine it’s the last thing you wanted.”
I frowned at him. “How did you—?”
“You moved to individual audiences immediately after that first group audience.” His lips curled into a soft smile. “And I did a little research.”
I didn’t know if I liked the sound of that.
“After you fled, I was… concerned.” He twirled me through a complicated series of steps, and I managed to avoid stepping on his toes. “I realized I didn’t know anything about you and asked around.”
His soft smile deepened and a warm understanding filled his gaze. “You’re very shy, aren’t you?”
Heat bled across my cheeks, but I wasn’t sure if it was from a blush or just the exertion of dancing. “Groups of strangers make me uncomfortable.”
“And you are currently surrounded by strangers,” he said, his tone sympathetic.
Maybe I was wrong about him and he wasn’t someone I should be wary of. He’d come across too aggressively during our initial meeting, but we hadn’t had a chance for our private audience yet, and it looked like he’d taken the time to try to understand me.
The music carried us across the floor, the fast tempo stealing my breath, and when the final chords played my gold gown clung to my sweaty skin and I gasped for air.
A cool breeze swept over me from an open door, and I realized we were at the back of the ballroom, the windows here overlooking a magical garden with softly glowing flowers.
“You look overheated,” Raven said, still beside me. His hand rested lightly on my arm from the dance.
“I am.” I pressed a hand to my chest, willing my heart to slow. “I just need a moment.”
“We could step outside,” he offered, indicating the open door. “Just for a moment. The other suitors won’t notice if we slip through here.”
I hesitated. The garden was right there, just through the door. I could see people in it. If something went wrong, I could yell for help. And West could find me anywhere through our unwanted spirit link, no matter where I went in the Divine Residence. I was never truly out of his reach.
The cool air called to me, my body desperate for relief from the heat, and Raven had been kind.
“Just for a moment,” I said.
We stepped out onto a narrow patio and down a few stone steps into the garden. The music faded behind us, and the air was even cooler here, carrying the sweet scent of flowers.
Raven huffed and released my arm.
The people milling about the garden vanished.
I blinked. The wandering trails with softly glowing flowers and bushes were empty.
What the—?
I whirled to face Raven, who now sneered at me, sending every instinct I had screaming that Raven was exactly who I’d first thought him to be.
I brushed my arm where he’d touched me and his sneer deepened.
“Just a little trick.” He raised his hand in a flourish. “But I’ve got to be touching you.”
Horror swept cold through my chest. He’d used his magic to make me think I was safe and surrounded by witnesses.
Now I was completely alone with him and he stood between me and the ballroom doors. I could try to run, but he was bigger and faster.
Would it be better to run deeper into the garden and try to lose him?
Except I had no idea what lay in the garden’s shadows.
I could scream for help, but would anyone hear me over the music. Fighting him was out. I had no weapon, and I doubted I could hold my own in a fight without one. I was just too small and weak compared to a man.
No, I had to—
Something massive surged toward me from the side, and a hand clamped over my mouth and wrenched me backward. My heels scraped across stone, then grass, and a tall shrub swallowed my view of the ballroom.
No. No no no no.
I would. Not. Be. Taken. Again.
I clawed at the arm locked around my chest, bit down on the palm covering my mouth, and kicked backward.
I caught a shin and heard a harsh masculine grunt, but whoever it was, his grip didn’t loosen.
Then two more figures stepped out from the deeper shadows. One I only sort of recognized from the sacred pool but knew from his turquoise eyes and similar face shape that he had to be Raven’s brother — that was why Raven looked so familiar.
The other man sent fear racing through me. His white hair gleamed in the dim flower-light and his yellow eyes were fixed on me with that same hunger I remembered from the sacred pool and the alcove where he and Wells had grabbed me.
Crane.
My pulse stuttered into a rapid, desperate beat. If he touched me, it was all over. His magic had knocked me out before I’d had a chance to fight back last time.
“Lynx, watch the path. Make sure the others stop the knight,” Crane said to the man I didn’t recognize before turning to me and drawing a horribly familiar dagger from a sheath at his hip.
It was the same dagger Wells had used during the ritual to force a mating bond on me, the one with the swirling fae words carved over the blade.
Everything within me froze. Zinnia and Lord Aster had said there was a strange magic still inside me.
If it was the magic from Wells’ ritual, I couldn’t risk discovering that a single cut would awaken my marks and I’d start bonding with Crane.
And with Crane’s magic, he could just incapacitate me and I wouldn’t be able to fight back like I had with Wells.
Oh, Father! Please. Don’t let this happen.