Chapter 33 #2
I let out a strained sigh. “Is he annoyingly beautiful and charismatic? Yes. Am I attracted to him? Unfortunately, also yes.” I hated how it sounded to admit it aloud. “Does that mean I have feelings for him? No, it does not.”
My body was more curious than I wanted it to be, but my heart was wherever Gavin was. I gave up trying to deny that to myself.
Like the end of a horribly planned joke, Elias chose that moment to walk up to us. Surprise graced his features at the sight of Mina, where his attention lingered. She gulped and dropped her chin. I knew how insecurity felt but wished she wouldn’t give him that power.
Elias’s stare ignited when he fixed it on me. “Dance with me, Fera.”
Mavic, with Yara on his arm, slid up to my side when Elias approached.
My cheeks burned, already warm from the wine.
His proposition—rather, his command —made my body constrict.
I’d only ever danced with one man, and I’d felt a level of comfort, safety, and trust with him that I wasn’t close to feeling with Elias.
“Is that a request or a command?” I answered dryly.
“A request.” He leaned in and offered his hand. “Though I won’t leave you alone until you say yes.”
I cocked my head. “And if I say yes, do you promise to leave me alone for the rest of the evening?”
He narrowed his eyes. “Are you trying to bargain with me over a dance?”
I shrugged, feigning innocence. “Maybe.”
Mavic snorted, then turned toward Yara, pretending he hadn’t made a sound. I thought I saw Elias’s eye twitch.
“Fine.” He grimaced. “One dance, and I won’t bother you for the rest of the evening.”
I avoided the unwanted spark I felt when his fingers touched mine and let him lead me through a sea of bodies and glares to the center of the dance floor. As the musicians began a slow song, he pulled me flush against him. Goose bumps pricked my skin at the touch of his hand to my bare lower back.
“You could kill a man in this dress, you know,” he said, his voice dangerously low.
“You’re right, I could.” I glanced down and shifted the slit along my leg to show where I had my favorite dagger sheathed. “The hem’s just long enough to hide the blade.”
He laughed smoothly, shaking his head. “Always full of surprises.”
More than you know , I thought.
I instinctually arched my back when his thumb brushed over my spine, but all my movement did was push my body tighter against him. His touch wasn’t horrible, but it wasn’t home. Avoiding his eyes, I stared over his shoulder while feeling him search my face.
“Is dancing with me so miserable?”
“I just think it’s odd that it’s me you’re choosing to dance with. Sophia Bruta has been fawning over you all evening. Now you’ve probably given her incentive to kill me.”
His shoulders shook with quiet laughter. “As if she’d succeed. She’s been fawning over me for ten years. Old news.”
I arched my brow. “Did you just call a woman ‘old news’?”
“Don’t judge me, Fera,” he sighed, rolling his eyes. “It’s just fucking.”
“Then dancing should be no trouble at all.” I felt genuinely sad for Sophia Bruta. If she’d been offering herself up to him for a decade, the least he could do was dance with her. “Honestly, I think you’re better than that.”
He glared down at me like I’d struck him. “As much as I wish this dance was purely for my own enjoyment, I wanted a moment to brief you in private. I need you ready to leave tomorrow morning, before sunrise. We’ll be gone for a few days.”
My ears pricked up. “Tomorrow morning?”
He nodded. “The lead I mentioned the other day? Regarding whoever murdered that man, Isaiah Cross? It was confirmed.”
“Who?”
He looked over my shoulder, then pulled me closer. His lips grazed the shell of my earlobe. “Do you see Draven Finch here tonight?”
My steps stumbled, and I realized I hadn’t seen him tonight. In fact, I hadn’t seen him anywhere in the fortress since the second test.
“Keep dancing, Fera.” He tightened his grip on my waist while leading me in a rhythmic sway.
I cleared my throat. “You think it’s Finch?”
“Nearly positive,” he mumbled through tight lips.
“The day after Cross was found, Finch wasn’t wearing his fighting leathers, which leads me to believe they needed unexpected laundering.
That, and some questionable items and journals were found among his things.
No one has seen him for the past two days, which makes me think he might have sensed my suspicion and run. ”
“What would be his motive for killing Isaiah Cross?” I asked.
He sighed through his nose. “I’ll explain tomorrow.”
I nodded slowly. “So, who is going with us?” “It will be just you.”
My mouth fell open. “What about the others?”
He shook his head. “Just you and me.”
“Where are the others?”
“Gone.” He gave a cordial nod of acknowledgment to someone passing behind me. “I decided to send them away the morning after our get-together on a more important mission. I think I know where Finch went, but I don’t want anyone but you and Valda knowing about this until I’m sure.”
“What’s more important than finding who killed our own messenger?”
The hatred in his eyes made my stomach drop. “Finding the Butcher of Nyrida, Fera,” he spoke through gritted teeth. “ Nothing is more important than that.”
My skin pricked in warning. Even if they found Gavin, they couldn’t kill him. He was too skilled, too powerful. And yet, Elias’s obsession with revenge nagged at my instinct in a way I couldn’t explain.
I wanted to ask him why, if taking down the Butcher was so important, he wasn’t doing it himself, but provoking him on this didn’t feel like a smart move. I must have been wearing the question on my face, though.
“I don’t know how long Gerard and the others will be gone.
I’d love to kill the Butcher myself, but more than anything, I want the job done.
” His fingers flexed over my spine again.
“Like I said, I’ve had some questions about their loyalty.
Something Gerard said to me made me unsure I want them inside the fortress walls right now.
But if they can kill the Butcher, my doubts about them may be assuaged.
” Elias hesitated. “Still, if you see them again, you should refrain from taunting them like you did during the other night,” he muttered, eyes bouncing between my eyes and mouth.
“Taunting them?” My empathy and concern dulled quickly. “Defending myself is taunting them?”
He frowned. “No, of course not. I don’t think so, but that’s how they see it.”
“What I’m hearing is that your soldiers have egos bigger than their brains, and I’m not allowed to bruise them.”
“When they’re being particularly stupid, yes. The men in my ranks don’t enjoy being tested.”
I glanced at where some of them stood, faces blighted by scowls at the sight of the Brinnean rogue dancing with their commander.
“Men with small cocks usually don’t,” I sighed. “If they’re so bothered, they’re welcome to settle it on the mat.”
“Believe me when I say you don’t want to settle anything on the mat with Alec Gerard.”
I lifted an eyebrow. “You think I can’t take him?”
Elias released an exasperated sigh. “You’re impossible.”
“Believe me when I say I am not interested in Gerard or any of his friends.” I was more than ready for this dance to be over.
“Who are you interested in?”
His question caught me off guard, but I recovered quickly. “I’m interested in no one.”
No one here.
“I don’t believe you,” he answered. “There’s someone.”
“I don’t give a shit what you believe!” The urge to hide the truth overcame me. I felt guilty for my outburst, but he was out of line. As his queen, it would be reasonable for me to be concerned. As Fera, it was none of his business.
But Elias studied me with a strange resolve I hadn’t seen in him before. “You know, that mouth of yours is going to get you in trouble.”
I laughed ruefully. “I don’t need my mouth to get into trouble.”
His burning eyes locked on my parted lips, hungry in a way I didn’t like.
It felt like betrayal to stand here, in his arms, and let him look at me like he wanted to devour me, so I was relieved when the dance concluded.
Instead of releasing my hand, Elias jerked me closer.
“I’m giving you a warning, because regardless of my best interests, I find myself giving a shit about you .
When you’re with me, I don’t care what you say, but when we return, keep your head down .
” Unwanted heat simmered between our bodies.
“Get too close to the flames, and you’ll burn yourself. ”
Like the follower in every pair, I lowered myself into an unhurried curtsy and peered up at him through my eyelashes. When it was time to back away, I paused, holding his stare and standing tall.
“You’d be surprised how well I play with fire, Commander.”
I left him in the middle of the ballroom floor, wholly aware of his eyes on the bare skin of my shoulders as I walked away.