Chapter 17 #5
“There he is.” Finn saluted him with his now-full glass. “I didn’t know you had those dance moves in you, Griff. Although we’ve all seen you fight, so I suppose it shouldn’t be too surprising. But that was… artistic.”
Griff’s eyes found mine over his glass. “It was just a dance, Finn.”
Was it? I couldn’t read what that look meant.
“Just a dance that had half the ladies swooning,” Finn said, his eyes mischievous. “Including Aine. She couldn’t stop staring. Looked positively murderous when she saw you dancing.”
Something twisted in my stomach as Griff dragged his eyes from mine to glare at Finn.
“A striking woman,” Finn continued, still trying to get a rise out of his brother. “The kind of woman who gets exactly what she wants. Who seemed rather put out when—”
“Shut up,” Griff snapped.
The dangerous edge to Griff’s tone made even Finn pause, tension crackling in the air.
Finn held up his hands in mock surrender, almost spilling his champagne, the broad grin edged with something else still on his face.
But I’d already heard enough. The way Griff had looked when Finn mentioned her…
was he simply defensive because of a mistake, as he’d made it sound, or was it something more?
I forced a bright smile. “And how long am I expected to stay at this?”
The room had been thinning, paired-off couples disappearing out the doors to the courtyard. With the light snowfall, I imagined it was magical outside. Zachariah and Andrei still sat at the high table, but surely I wasn’t expected to stay as long as them.
“That’s a good point.” Finn turned to Griff. “We probably need to get going soon. Mam is expecting us.”
Griff’s jaw tightened, and I caught him glancing at me from the corner of his eye. “Perhaps we should wait until morning,” he said slowly.
Finn looked confused. “What? No, we always go after the ball. It’s tradition!”
I looked at him in surprise. “Your mother is here?”
Finn laughed and shook his head, sipping his drink. “Oh no, we’re leaving tonight to go back to her house. We like to spend the High Day with her.”
Although I tried to hide it, my face fell.
Why was this the first I was hearing about them leaving?
I shoved away the emotions running wild through me—exhaustion, disappointment.
And above all, although I refused to think about why this was at the top of my list, still wanting to question his relationship with Aine.
“But you’ve probably done your duty, Lexie, and can sneak off to bed.” Finn swept me up in a tipsy hug, causing me to stumble a bit.
Griff held out his arm. “Allow me to walk you back, Princess.”
I stared at him, attempting to determine anything in those hazel depths. But I might as well have been looking at stone. “I can walk back to my room by myself.”
“Humor me. For chivalry’s sake.”
I took his arm, and we walked back in silence, my thoughts swirling. So much to say and also nothing.
When we reached my door, I made myself let go of his arm, holding my hand stiffly at my side. I stared at his boots, taking a deep breath before raising my eyes to his.
An emotion flickered across his face as he took a step closer to me, before pausing.
He swept a curl away from my face, his fingers brushing over my bare shoulder before he captured my hand.
He pressed a warm kiss directly to my palm, his lips soft against my skin, lingering longer than before.
“Light’s blessings, Princess.” His words whispered over my skin, his breath warm on my wrist.
“Light’s blessings, Griff.”
I managed to extricate my hand, an ache tumbling through me when he released me.
I fumbled with the knob on the door, feeling his eyes burning into my back the whole time.
When I finally opened it and stepped inside, I turned to find him still standing there, one hand braced against the doorframe, leaning into the room.
His sandy waves had flopped back over his forehead, making him look more like the Griff I knew than the polished gentleman who had escorted me all night.
“How long will you be gone?” I asked, looking somewhere in the vicinity of his collar.
“A few days.” The roughness in his voice made me look up. He opened his mouth before closing it, only to say, “Sleep well, Princess.”
“Good night,” I whispered, gently closing the door.
I leaned heavily against it, my head thumping backward. I wanted more than anything to open the door, call him back, and figure out what this was between us, but I resisted. I heard his footsteps pause, then continue down the hall.
I slid down the door to sit in a pile of crimson fabric, pressing the hand he had kissed to my heart.
Maybe it was best he was leaving for a few days. That would give me a chance to figure out what the hell was happening between us.
I fell into an uneasy sleep. In my dream, a woman with dark hair and my eyes was shouting at me, trying to communicate over a great distance. I strained to hear her, but before I could, a dark mist rolled in and she was swept away.