48. A SPECIAL OCCASION #2
“It’s what you’re drinking . . .” he deadpanned.
Instantly annoyed, she turned up her nose and ignored him.
“You do know it’s an intoxicant, right?” he pressed. “You drink enough of it and all your inhibitions will leave your body and you won’t have a care in the world.”
She looked up at him, almost as if something he’d said intrigued her, but she was too stubborn to let him gloat over knowing more than her.
Rather than give him the satisfaction of a retort, she tossed back the rest of her drink, swallowing every drop, and flashed him a smile that was all teeth before dropping the glass to the grass and sauntering off to the other side of the clearing.
I shook my head. “You’re going to have to work on your social skills, Roirdan.”
“If she wasn’t wound so damn tight all the time . . .” He lifted his cup to his lips and sipped, then let out a loud exhale as if the liquid burned as it went down. “Guess that blows my chance at asking her to dance, huh?”
I swung my gaze to him and was surprised to find the way in which he was watching Nivelle. It looked as if he was truly disappointed to see her go.
A question was poised on the tip of my tongue, but a flash of light drew my attention upward. Lightning licked its way across the sky, and thunder followed.
“Damn these storms,” Niall said.
Vanir nodded to the other side of the glade, where Laurent was. “Good thing you have a friend who can help with that.”
Another flash lit up the forest, and Drastia’s High Lord seemed to sense Niall’s tension.
They locked eyes, an unspoken question passing between them.
I knew then that Niall had spoken into his mind, because Laurent immediately paused his dancing, pressed his wrists together—palms open to the sky—and sent a beam of energy straight up into it.
The beam spread through the clouds, illuminating them from within and scattering them to the wind like smoke from a snuffed-out candle.
He had eradicated the storm.
“That’s handy,” I said.
“Very much so,” Vanir agreed. “The power to influence the elements is often underestimated.”
Niall slid his arm around my waist. “And I hear that tonight is a night to be particularly thankful for Laurent’s gift.”
“Why is that?” I asked, tilting my glass and finishing the drink.
“You’ll see. Now, give me this.” He took my empty glass, and it disappeared in his hand.
The fiddles drew a strong tune that was quickly building and calling everyone out into the glade to dance. Taking my hands, Niall tugged me into the open and spun me into a loose embrace.
“What sort of dance is this?” I asked, laughing as I tried to anticipate his next movements.
“I have no idea!” he said, letting out a laugh of his own as he swung me around in a fast-paced step that made no sense. “You forget, I didn’t dance much before you came along.”
His smile . . . I had never seen him smile like this—fully and unrestrained. It was different from the smile he’d given me at our mating ceremony. His eyes burned golden, creasing at the corners.
Time seemed to slow around me as I stared at him, smiling and laughing as we bounded back and forth through the throng of dancers, swinging around the other couples, colliding elbows with some, and laughing even more because of it.
A sting prickled my eyes as I watched him.
His voice, that laugh, the pieces of his hair that broke free and bounced over his forehead as he glanced over his shoulder to guide us . . .
This was my husband—my mate. And I was the luckiest woman in the world to call him mine.
I didn’t want the song to end. I wanted to get lost in this moment, never ceasing to dance, never looking away from his gaze. I could listen to his laughter continuously. I could happily fade from this world as long as I was witnessing that devastatingly handsome smile.
The song finally slowed, and so did we. Our chests rose and fell as we gathered our breaths, grasping onto each other and grinning like idiots. Then, a boom rocked the atmosphere, and the sky illuminated once more, drawing everyone’s gaze upward.
This time, it was not from lightning.
Sparks shot high above the tree canopy, and a singular pop shook the forest. Golden, glittering lights rained down through the trees, and everyone gasped in awe.
Fireworks.
I smiled as another boom echoed from somewhere in the distance, and a rush of red burst into the night, twinkling into existence with another punctuating pop.
Every fae stopped their revelry and watched in amazement as the fireworks lit the sky one after the other.
I turned to look up at Niall, just in time to catch a flash of green light on his face.
He smiled. “This was Aremis’s mating gift to you.”
When we were in Benmoor, Aremis had said he would bring fireworks to Calledan for me. And so he had.
I raked my eyes across the glade, finding Niall’s second, his hand draped around Maeson’s shoulder as they watched the flashes of color.
“Tell him ‘thank you’ for me,” I said to Niall.
A moment later, Aremis turned, found me as well, and gave me a wink.
I settled back into Niall’s arms, feeling the deep booms of the fireworks radiate through my body.
Silas stepped up to our side, keeping his eyes on the sky as he said, “You’ve probably heard it a dozen times already, but congratulations.”
I placed a thoughtful hand on his forearm, but it was Niall who beat me to replying. “Thank you, Silas. And thanks for what you did back there in the temple.”
“Of course.”
“That was an impressive right hook. I’ve been wanting to do that to Killian myself for a good hundred years or so.”
“Don’t know how you lasted that long without putting him in his place.”
“Honestly, neither do I.”
Silas crossed his arms and adjusted his wings behind him. “I’m guessing we haven’t seen the last of him?”
“Unfortunately not.” Niall glanced at Silas’s empty hands. “Drink?”
He shrugged. “Maybe later.”
A rush of sparks shot into the sky, dozens of them, crackling and sizzling as they climbed higher than the rest. Then, bursts of white light exploded, and sparks fell like diamonds, tinkling through the trees and disappearing at our feet.
The guests broke into applause, expecting that to be the end, but the fireworks kept launching.