Chapter Eighteen #2
But Oskar shook his head and turned to Solana. You look beautiful, he signed quickly, the rings on his fingers flashing in the light.
“Thank you, Oskar.” She took in the coat and pants he wore, a red so dark it could’ve been black, the silver buttons dazzling against the crushed velvet. “You look very handsome.”
“Ouch.” Nikolas dramatically grabbed his chest and extended his free hand to her.
“A dance for my broken heart?” he asked.
Beside her, Cora and Suri slunk away from the group, hand in hand, and into the crowd.
Oskar brushed her shoulder as he walked by, eyes fixed on something, or someone, in the distance.
There was nothing better to do. She placed her hand in Nikolas’s.
“One dance,” she told him. It wasn’t as if she knew anyone else, and she was trying desperately not to canvas the room for Reyes.
It was only because she had a bone to pick with him and certainly not because she also wanted to see the look on his face when he saw her in this dress.
Nikolas led her onto the floor, the line of his shoulders proud in the dark green coat he wore.
His hand was firm but somehow distant, and she watched as his eyes roved over the room in the way she hoped hers were not.
Except, it didn’t seem that he was looking for anyone in particular.
Simply looking to see who was looking at him. Solana smiled and shook her head.
He was handsome enough, if a little plain, but he was tall and strong and confident. He could probably show her a good time, if she let him.
They were just about to step onto the dance floor when a body blocked their way.
It was Reyes, his usual cloak and leathered armor replaced with a deep blue jacket and matching pants. The king’s emblem was on his right breast, and the buttons of his jacket were extraordinarily shiny. It looked as though they had never seen the light of day.
It was such a stark contrast to the rugged lines of his face and the gray depths of his eyes.
His hair, which was usually soft and flowing, was slicked back and artfully arranged so that not a single piece caressed his forehead.
Solana wanted to run her fingers through it and tug it free, which was a problem.
She decided to make it his problem and sent him a vicious smile. “You’re in the way,” she said and made to step around him.
A hand on her waist stopped her. Solana looked down at it, at the swirls of ink sneaking past the cuff of his sleeve, and then up.
“May I speak with you?” he asked, entirely ignoring her dance partner and his friend.
Nikolas’s hand slipped out of hers. “I’m going to let you two resolve this alone.” And then he eagerly disappeared into the crowd eddying around them.
Solana stared at Reyes and waffled between her choices. Accept and let him think her entirely unaffected, or reject his request and leave him stranded in the middle of the throng of people.
But his hand was still pressed against her, and Solana was finding it increasingly difficult to remember why she had been angry with him in the first place. “You can speak while we dance,” she finally said, mostly so that his hand would move and her mind could clear.
It did the opposite, however, as his hand crawled from her waist to her back and settled firmly in the dip above her ass. She could feel each of his fingers pressing into her spine. A tingle of awareness shot into her belly with every brush of her breasts against his chest.
Neither spoke for a moment, as if unwilling to shatter the illusion. And then: “You’re upset about what the king insinuated earlier,” Reyes said.
Internally, Solana winced at his ability to see directly into her head. Externally, she dismissed him. “Hardly,” she lied. “I never believed that this truce was anything other than you playing a part.”
“I’m not playing a part.” It was said so decisively, so firmly, that Solana instinctively sought his gaze. There was only truth in his eyes. “Ask me anything, and I’ll tell you the truth,” he added.
“Fine.” Solana shrugged her shoulders, as if it meant nothing to her, even though she was burning with curiosity.
So many questions, but how much time? “What do they mean?” she blurted, pointing at the ink on his neck and chest with her chin.
The lack of a cloak allowed her to see them more clearly, and that the two wings on either side were connected by a body of words directly below the hollow of his throat.
There was probably more useful information to have, but she couldn’t take the words back and found she didn’t particularly want to.
“They are stories,” he said, dipping his head so that he could murmur the words into her ear. Unnecessarily, as she could hear him just fine, but neither did she move away. “Of the people I love and the memories I want to keep close, written in the gods’ tongue. Wings for my mother and sister.”
“You have a sister?” Solana asked, head tilted into him, his scent clouding her mind.
“Yes,” he answered, his breath tickling her ear and reminding her of the last time they had been so close.
On his bed, his body hovering over her, the sleeves of his tunic rolled up.
She wondered if his chest and torso were the same.
So many stories. So many loved ones. Solana imagined it was a heavy burden, that kind of love. Too heavy for the likes of her.
To even the playing field, Solana lifted onto her toes. “What does the king really want with me?” she murmured into his ear.
Reyes immediately straightened. His eyes found a spot over her shoulder and focused into a point, presumably at the man in question. The shift in his demeanor left her feeling dizzy. “I’ve already told you; he thinks you are the key to reversing the curse. He only wants your cooperation.”
“Is that why you proposed a truce? Because I wasn’t being cooperative enough?”
“Yes,” he said easily. His eyes darted to hers and away. “And no. I wanted you to stop looking at me like I was going to kill you every time I came near.”
“Feeling guilty?”
Reyes turned sharply and tugged her with him into a spin that ended with her in a slight dip, both of his hands cradling her back, their mouths close enough that all Solana would have to do was take a deep breath and they would kiss. But it felt impossible to breathe at that moment.
“No,” he said just as smoothly, pulling back the slightest to look her in the eye. “I want your trust. And I didn’t want to trick you into giving me what I wanted.”
“What do you want, Reyes?”
They stayed there, with her reclined and him hovering over her, fingers digging into flesh, tangled together like lovers in the throes of pleasure or enemies in a dance of death. His eyes swirled with hunger as they darted to her lips, and then they shuttered again.
Before she could speak, he straightened them both, putting a step of space between them that felt like an insurmountable wall. Solana felt heat rush through her and cursed herself for it.
“To reverse the curse and save our people,” Reyes said curtly.
She rolled her eyes to hide the hurt of his rejection. “What a hero. You warned me against such antics, and yet here you are, keeping it all for yourself.” Solana straightened her dress and gave him a quick smile. “I’m going to find food. I’m starving.”
And then she turned and strode away, ignoring the urge to look over her shoulder and meet the burn of his attention pinned to her back.
Mouth stuffed with ceviche, Solana watched as Reyes danced with Cora, ease in the lines of his shoulders and mouth. It made her miss the callejon, miss Sami. She wondered if he had gone home or if he was still working in that tavern, near enough to keep an eye on her like he always insisted.
If she hadn’t ignored Sami and followed Oskar and Nikolas that night, if she hadn’t killed two muki and been caught red-handed, she might still be there, hunting in the streets like a thief of the dead. Directionless and drowning under their despair.
The circumstances that had led her there may have been unconventional, but she had no regrets. Even if, in that moment, she felt more alone than ever.
The song ended, and the murmur of conversation paused to give way to applause.
Solana took another bite of her ceviche and waited for the next song.
Perhaps she would find Nikolas and dance with him instead.
Or someone else as equally handsome and empty-minded.
That was probably better, since she had to work with Nikolas for a few more months.
There was no need to make things more complicated than they already were.
Mind made up, Solana turned to find an attendant to take her plate.
There was no one that she could see, so she took a step forward only to pause in place.
The buzz of the crowd had fallen into a hush and the people around her glanced at her warily.
She looked down at her dress, just to make sure everything was in the proper place, and then a throat cleared behind her.
“May I have the next dance?”