Chapter 30 #2
Kailia was listening intently as the dance madam explained the steps of the first dance she’d be expected to perform with Cethin.
Razik knew it, of course. Tybalt had ensured that he knew the dances and ways of nobility as much as he’d ensured he knew how to swing a sword and shift into his dragon form mid-step.
Most Avonleyans knew the traditional dances though, whether Legacy descendants, Fae, or other.
Kailia was still, her usual stoicism and unreadable mask in place. Her gaze flickered to Razik at his approach, and he saw the glimmer of panic there.
“It’s not that bad,” he said, his hand falling to Wren’s lower back. “We’ll show you, and then you can practice.”
Lia nodded, and as the madam made her way to the piano, he saw Lia brush her fingers over the hilt of the dagger at her thigh. Not to stab the female, but something he’d come to realize was a self-soothing action for her.
Guiding Wren to the dance floor, he turned to face her. Sliding his hand to her hip, he took her other hand in his, and when the first notes sounded, they both moved. There was no concentration needed. He’d attended hundreds of balls and ceremonies over the centuries, and so had Wren.
“I never thought I’d see the day Razik Greybane let another person beneath his scaly skin,” Wren mused.
“I haven’t,” he muttered, twirling her out before pulling her back in.
“You are currently in a madam’s studio so she can learn how to dance, Razik,” Wren said with a knowing look.
“I’m her guard.”
“This goes beyond your job, and you know it.”
He glanced at Lia, who was observing them with rapt attention.
“I don’t want to give Tybalt a reason to doubt me,” he said as they continued to move through the steps.
Wren’s brows drew together. “Why would he doubt you?”
“That’s not the point,” he said instead. “She has no one else, and—”
“And you see a kindred soul,” Wren said in understanding. She spun under his arm, and when she was pressed back against him, she added, “Careful, Razik. You keep collecting us, and you’ll have a whole family pretty soon. You can keep us with all your other treasure.”
He rolled his eyes at her teasing tone. “And who, exactly, am I collecting?”
“Anyone who has been abandoned,” she answered, her voice soft.
He slid his gaze to hers, navy blue eyes full of a warmth he’d come to know all too well.
Which is why he didn’t want to tell her what he already knew.
Bram was sniffing around for more than a friendship or a fuck.
The fact that the male hadn’t given up after these last months was proof enough.
Anyone else would have found a quick fuck not worth the trouble.
And he didn’t know how to let it happen.
Because when he claimed something as his, there was no turning back.
She was his to guard and protect. It was in his nature as a dragon and in his blood with his lineage.
But he knew that soon enough, Bram was going to go around him the same way he’d gone around Tybalt tonight.
The song finished, and he dipped Wren back, her long hair grazing the floor. She laughed, caught off guard, and when he pulled her back up, her hand came to his chest.
“It’s okay to let someone else in,” she whispered.
“I don’t need anyone else. You and Tybalt are plenty,” he muttered.
Wren only hummed, patting his chest a few times before sauntering over to Kailia. Kailia asked her some questions, Wren explaining a few steps and some timing, before Kailia was making her way to where he stood waiting. She worried her bottom lip, and he could see her visibly trembling.
“I can summon Cethin for this,” Razik said, watching her carefully. “If you call for him, he will come.”
She shook her head. “He’s seen enough of my weaknesses,” she murmured, wiping her palms along her dress.
Then she stepped forward, placing a hand on his shoulder and the other into his waiting palm. He gave her a moment before he brought his hand to her waist. Her entire body was tense, arms rigid.
“Lia, you can’t dance when you’re as stiff as a day-old dead animal,” he said flatly.
“Why would you compare it to that?” she asked, eyes on her feet.
“Because it was a metaphor you’d understand without question, yet you asked a question anyway.”
She looked up, gauging his facial expression, before she rolled her eyes. “Stop speaking and let me concentrate.”
He nodded to the madam, and they started to move. Attempting to guide her as best he could, her eyes never left their feet.
It was terrible.
He was fairly certain he’d never seen a youngling as awful as she was at this. For as gracefully as she moved when stalking people and prey, her steps were forced and clumsy here.
“Lia, you have to relax,” Razik said when they had to start over for the fifth time in three minutes.
“I’m trying. I just…” She stepped back, yanking out the leather band from the end of her braid and shaking out the plait. Her agitation was clear as she moved, ashes fluttering to the floor around her. Lifting her head, she met his gaze, and her eyes voiced the question he was thinking.
How in the realms was she going to dance with others if she couldn’t even do so with him? A male she spent most of her days with? A male she clearly trusted to some extent?
“Let’s try again,” he said, motioning her back to him.
“Maybe I should watch you and Wren again,” she said, taking a step back.
“That’s not the issue, and you know it.”
“That is not the way to teach her this,” came a dark voice, cool and icy.
They all turned, Wren and the madam clamoring to their feet at finding Cethin in the doorway of the studio. How he’d known they were here, Razik didn’t know, but pissed off didn’t even begin to describe the king.
Darkness writhed around him, silver eyes glowing. They’d be a lot brighter if it weren’t for the inky swirls in them. His boots echoed on the polished floor as he strode across it, stopping a few feet away from them.
Kailia was watching him, and Razik wasn’t sure if she was about to go to him or stab him.
He was never sure what she was about to do, and that was half the problem.
He wasn’t sure she was entirely sure she knew what she was going to do all the time.
It made it entirely too difficult to get a feel for her.
“Your Majesty,” Razik said, working to keep the drawl out of his tone. Since the three of them weren’t alone, he bowed his head and went through the expected formalities.
“Cethin, what are you doing here?” Kailia asked, looking up at him with a puzzled expression.
“I was in the city on business and ran into Bram,” Cethin gritted out, his stare locked on Razik. “He mentioned he’d escorted Wren to the two of you a bit ago.”
“And you are upset he did that?” Kailia asked.
Razik had to work extra hard to keep his lips from turning up in amusement as a muscle in Cethin’s jaw ticked.
“No, Kailia, I am not upset by that. I’m upset because—”
“Wren, can you get everyone some water?” Razik interrupted, and Cethin’s head snapped to the other two females. Razik had assumed the male had forgotten they were even here, and he’d been right because Cethin’s features softened a fraction as he forced some of the tension to leave his limbs.
“Yes, that would be much appreciated, Wren. Thank you,” Cethin said with a tight smile. “And Madam Vera, thank you as well for generously allowing the queen to practice here. I trust you’ve been compensated, but I will add more to whatever has already been paid.”
The madam’s cheeks turned a faint shade of pink as she curtsied to Cethin, murmuring something about that not being necessary.
“Would you mind playing the song again?” he asked, and she skittered over to the piano, taking a seat on the bench. “Just give us a moment.”
Razik made to step back, but Cethin said with a low snarl, “Stay there.”
More than irritated with the command but unable to do anything about it in a public place, Razik’s feet stayed planted while Cethin’s attention returned to Kailia. He motioned her forward with a crook of his finger, and she slowly approached.
“You need to get the steps down. Then work on the touching,” he said, his tone a shade calmer with his wife before him.
“Think of the dance like a hunt,” he coached, motioning for her hands.
But he didn’t touch her. His hands stayed at his sides while one of hers went to his shoulder.
Her other arm was raised in the air, and whether it was the lack of touch or simply his presence, her limbs weren’t as rigid.
Cethin nodded to the madam, and she began playing.
Kailia stumbled through the first few steps, but Cethin didn’t falter.
Instead of guiding her with his hands, his magic was there.
Dark tendrils and wisps nudging her this way and that.
Even the twirls were shrouded in the inky swirls, and his gaze never once left hers.
Razik would never admit it out loud, but it was something to witness.
A dark and haunting beauty to it all. The knowledge of why the king was teaching her this only added to the moment.
When the last notes echoed in the studio, the quiet was heavy. Wren had returned at some point, a tray of water still in her hands as she’d stilled to watch the two.
And him?
Razik had this odd sense of uncertainty.
Maybe Tybalt was wrong. Maybe Kailia didn’t have any ulterior motives in any of this.
Maybe he’d been wrong because the way she was looking at the king in this moment showed no trace of a female who’d been forced into a marriage.
If the goal was to be convincing, this was all they needed to do to show everyone at the Union Celebration.
Cethin was the first to step back, Kailia’s hands lowering back to her sides. Looking from her to Razik and back again, Cethin said in a low tone, “All either of you needed to do was ask.”
“I didn’t want to burden you with this,” Kailia said. “Razik was only helping at my request.”
“You don’t need to defend me to him, Lia,” Razik said in his usual bored tone.
Cethin ignored him, saying to Kailia, “I’ll see you for dinner.”
He bid farewell to Wren and Madam Vera, and then he was gone as quickly as he’d appeared.
“He is upset,” Kailia said, staring at the doorway.
“With me, not you,” Razik said, gesturing her closer.
“How is it your fault?” she asked, positioning her hands. “I asked for your help.”
“If the choices for a direction for his anger are you or me, it’s going to be me every time,” he said, moving as the music started.
He actually had to concentrate on this. How had Cethin moved through this dance with his hands at his sides the entire time?
He’d made it look effortless, and it was… not.
But that was how the next hour went, and by the end of it, Kailia was moving with the same grace she did everything else with. Of course, she couldn’t very well dance like this at the Union Celebration. That would be something to tackle another day.
They left before the younglings started showing up for their lessons, the madam’s coin purse much fuller now. Bram was waiting for Wren, and Razik said nothing as he lightly touched Kailia’s arm to Travel them back to the castle.
Her rooms were empty, and wanting to leave before Cethin returned, he headed for the doors.
“Raz?”
Turning back to Kailia, he found her watching him curiously. “What?”
“The animosity between you and him? If you’re not jilted lovers, then…why?”
Why?
As if there were a simple answer to that question.
As if there were a simple way to explain he was left behind in a realm he wasn’t born in to be forced into a position without a choice.
As if Cethin weren’t at the center of all of that.
No, there wasn’t enough time to answer that, and she may be more comfortable with him, but Wren was wrong. He didn’t need another person to care about.
So he said simply, “Ask your husband,” and he left.