Chapter 14
Chapter
Fourteen
NISSA
Cillian’s ocean blue eyes flare as they bounce between the two of us.
Tension wraps tight around my heart. I watch as his flat expression takes in the state of his brother and the intimate hold he has on me.
Every muscle in his body is taut, his jaw tight as he grips the doorframe with a single hand that I’m worried may splinter the wood.
“Brother,” Caspien greets, unaware of the fact that my world has just come to a screeching halt.
My heart stutters at the word, or maybe it’s the look on Cillian’s face. It shouldn’t matter to me that he thinks I spent the night with his brother, but my brain cannot function knowing that he does.
Cillian ignores his twin, eyes slowly moving from my head to my toes and back again, like he’s searching for some evidence to confirm or deny what he suspects.
He clears his throat. “Princess, I was just coming to find you.” I flinch at his even tone and the use of my official title. “You have a dance lesson today. My mother asked me to assist.”
Unable to form words, I nod and slide fully into the hallway, making sure not to touch Caspien on my way out.
I start off towards the ballroom, and Caspien calls, “Have fun,” after us before I hear the echo of his door closing behind me.
My entire being is at war with itself, my heart heavy in my chest. I don’t owe Cillian any explanation. He ended any type of relationship we had years ago. And I’m betrothed to his brother.
But he is also completely selfless when it comes to the Fae, doing a job that isn’t his. And despite the anger and hurt I am experiencing from what I overheard his family say yesterday, every fiber and cell of my being is urging me to explain that what he just saw is not what he thinks.
When he steps around me to pull the solid wood door to the ballroom back, my gaze stutters on the muscles that tighten his arm. He stands there unmoving and silent until I realize he is waiting on me to enter first.
“Cillian—” I start, deciding my conscience won’t let this go until he knows the truth.
“The dance master is waiting.” He briskly cuts me off and holds his hand out towards the waiting room.
I stand there with that unsettling heaviness still weighing on my heart before squaring my shoulders and walking inside. If he doesn’t want to give me the benefit of the doubt, then maybe he deserves to think what he wants.
An unenthusiastic Isolde is standing in the center of the room with a male Wind Fae who is speaking to her animatedly.
He is probably close to the queen’s age, but the smile and excitement in what he is telling her, gives him a childlike quality.
The stark difference between the two almost makes me giggle.
I unconsciously turn to share the humor with Cillian.
He doesn’t even glance down at me as he quickly passes by, moving to meet them at the center of the room.
Well, this is going to be fun.
Isolde gets straight to the point unaware of how just seeing her makes my blood boil, “Princess, after the midnight ceremony, you will attend a reception to celebrate the coronation and your bond.”
Cilian’s jaw ticks.
“The Elite and your family and friends will attend. You, as the new queen, will do a first dance with King Caspien, the first of many you will do together as a mated couple. Obviously, the divine bond will be in place. Everyone will know you are blissfully happy.” An edge of sarcasm tinges the words. “The dance is more proof of this.”
A crease forms between my eyebrows. I may not believe the bond will be there, and from what she said last night I’m not surprised that she agrees. But I am shocked that she is being so obvious about it.
“Caspien is unfortunately unable to attend today, but Cillian generously offered to step in.” Couldn’t attend or she told him not to attend?
Cillian says nothing. Isolde cuts him a tight-lipped look of irritation before leaving, handing the floor over to the dance instructor.
The instructor quickly goes over a handful of steps for my benefit and then steps to the side.
A steady rhythm fills the room, and Cillian and I step up to one another.
The air crackles between us with tension, and the wind catches in my throat.
The stubborn part of my personality wants to punish him for thinking the worst of me.
But looking up into those stone-cold blue eyes that refuse to meet mine, I know I won’t be able to.
We are frozen, just leafs apart, but neither of us makes a move to touch. The music dies in my ears, and the instructor is suddenly next to us.
“Oh Goddess! I didn’t realize you didn’t know the starting position.” He tries to sound encouraging, but it comes out with a tinge of annoyance. He thinks I’m a clueless idiot.
I may not be great at dancing, but I do know the starting stance.
The instructor reaches down between us to take my hand. With unnatural speed, his wrist is in Cillian’s grasp.
“Don’t touch her.” His deadly tone, a low and hard warning, fills the little space between us. I swear I hear the instructor’s bones crunch in Cillian’s white-knuckled grip.
Shock and pain apparent, the instructor tries to pull away. “I-I… yes, of course. I wasn’t thinking,” he stutters as he’s finally released from Cillian’s death grip.
I feel bad for him, but the shock has me remaining quiet.
“My apologies, Princess. If I could just explain-”
“She knows. And if she doesn’t…” Cillian says cooly as his blue eyes finally set on me. “I’ll show her.” My magic shivering in response to his intensity.
The instructor nearly sprints away as Cillian holds his hand out to me.
I slowly lift my hand to his. He wraps his other arm around my waist but his body remains stiff.
He keeps distance between our bodies as we move into the steps.
Every point of contact tingles with the magic running through my blood trying to break through.
It’s different from earlier in Caspien’s room.
With Caspien, I just felt… nervous. And there was that niggling voice of warning in my head.
This feels natural—safe—despite me being in the arms of a male who is clearly livid.
“I don’t think the instructor was a threat,” I say, tone light, hoping humor will break the tension.
Cillian’s eyes remain trained over my head. He easily moves through the dance steps as we go a few more beats. Whereas I continue to stumble multiple times.
The feeling of Cillian’s simmering anger wraps around us with each step and turn, despite his look of indifference. The intensity, not helping with my nerves.
“I went to talk to Caspien,” I say as we continue through the disaster of a dance.
“His idea?” He grunts, his jaw still locked into place.
“Mine.”
He offers me no response. His hand on my back fists the fabric of my dress, and we move into a turn. When I stumble, I hiss out his name, and he finally looks down at me.
“All we did was talk, then I left,” I blurt out, “For some insane reason, I thought he was going to kiss me so I turned my head. That’s all you saw. I didn’t spend the night with him.”
He releases the wind in his chest in a slow frustrated breath, and glances down at me for only a second. “I believe you.”
I begin running my thumb up and down a tensed tendon at the back of his neck. I feel his muscles begin to relax under my touch. A blush creeps up my cheeks as thoughts run through my head that are anything but appropriate.
He uses his grip on my dress to pull me a fraction of a step closer. His breathing picks up too. “What could you have possibly been talking about so early?” His words come out strained.
If I wasn’t planning on leaving this Goddess-forsaken world, I would remind him that Caspien is my soon-to-be mate and there are a million things we need to talk about. But there’s no need to mention that since it won’t ever be happening.
“Nova,” I say quietly so the instructor doesn’t hear.
He nods slightly but doesn’t respond, trying to reconcile my answer and what he’s conjured in his mind.
“He has a theory about what happened,” I say.
This gets his attention, lines forming at the corners of his eyes when he looks down at me. “Does he?” he asks skeptically, searching my eyes.
The song is coming to an end, and I step back.
The instructor’s cautious steps approach us, but he stays more than a branch away. “Let’s run through it one more time. You had it towards the end, but the beginning—” He breaks off his criticism of me with a nervous glance towards the prince when Cillian narrows his eyes at him.
“Such an improvement.” The instructor is suddenly beaming at me. “Let's just run it one more time.”
“Turn the music on and then you are dismissed. I can teach her the dance.” The cold look is back in Cillian’s eyes waiting to see if the instructor questions his command.
“Yes, of course, Your Highness.” He nods, music fills the room followed quickly by the door slamming shut.
Cillian is more relaxed this time as he pulls me close as a slow melody flows through the room. “Now, we can actually talk. What does my brother think happened?” he says, tone sarcastic, his eyes now lit with amused curiosity.
“He thinks Varethiel may have staged the whole thing to weaken your family.”
Cillian’s brings us to an abrupt halt. His eyes go distant for a brief moment. “That… could make sense,” he says, words slow. He quickly picks the pace back up, continuing the conversation. “With Aiden, anything is possible.”
“Who’s Aiden?”
“The King of Varethiel’s son,” he mutters, as if there’s a bigger story to go with the name.
Whatever the story, he’s not sharing it now. It makes me even more curious. “Caspien mentioned a king and ruling council. He never mentioned this Aiden. Maybe he doesn’t think he was involved?”
“Varethiel’s king has passed most power to his son. Aiden makes the decisions for their kingdom even though he hasn’t formally reached his majority yet. If a move like that was executed, Aiden’s hands would have been in the fire.”
“So you agree that it’s possible?” I’m doing my best to ignore how we seem to be moving closer than necessary and how charged my skin feels anywhere he is pressed against me. Does he feel it too?
“It’s possible. Varethiel has been on the edge of rebellion for a long time.
They want the Two Kingdoms to actually be two kingdoms. My father gave their king his throne.
He’s more of a figurehead than a ruler. Aiden has been pushing for more.
He feels our laws are outdated and restrictive, but…
” His words trail off as we continue to sway and step to the song, his thumb at my back, rubbing up and down.
“But…?” I question.
“He’s arrogant and abrasive, but to kill Nova…” He shakes his head. “That would be extreme.”
“But he has more motivation than the humans?” I’m already getting an idea.
“I’ll look into it, Nissa,” he says, eyes narrowing as if he can see the wheels churning in my head. “Stay out of this.” He holds my gaze. “Aiden could be dangerous.”
We sway to the mounting symphony in silence, each step in each other’s arms as natural as walking. It’s a silent battle. I lift my chin in challenge, me staring at him, him staring back at me.
As the music slows, his ocean-blue gaze slips to my parted lips, and his eyes darken. Clearing his throat as the last note finishes echoing through the room, he steps back.
My body cools the instant his heat is pulled from me. My magic searching for the missing contact.