Daegan slips the book from my hands and puts it down. “I will find the ending for you. It has to be around here somewhere. Now come, I really want to dance with you.” He really looks very handsome. “Are you any good at dancing?”
For some reason, the question really bothers me. I haven’t told him much about my past, yet he claims to love me. If he knew me at all, he’d know I’m very good at dancing and it’s one of the things I was taught by Emyr that I like. I was forced to dance with Emyr nearly every weekend, sometimes more than that in a week. I was taught to dance to absolute perfection, but he never knew I enjoyed the freedom I felt when I was dancing. I’ve danced with my leg broken once. I’ve danced and danced until my feet are torn up, because I was always a puppet on his string, doing anything he commanded. If I hadn’t escaped, it would have been like that forever.
He can never find me, which means I can’t leave. Even if I could escape, what would be the point? I haven’t looked for a door, a way out, in a long time now. I don’t want to be trapped with someone else again, but in here? I’m safe. “Can we talk after the dancing and the ball?” It’s time. Even if he hates me, it’s time to tell him how I feel. I refuse to be someone else’s possession when I don’t love them.
“Of course. I can never refuse you.” He leads me to a part of the mansion that I’ve never been in, through the auditorium into a ballroom in the back. It’s like the auditorium, almost, but with curling staircases around the edges instead of seats, wrapping around the tiled dance floor that must be a mile long. There’s an orchestra playing at the front, music I’ve never heard, but it’s strangely familiar to me. The ballroom is packed to the edges, and I feel like an intruder, here celebrating when I didn’t become a dragon rider.
The majority of people are dressed in golds, yellows, or brown dresses. I wish I had worn them now; I stand out too much. They have a bit of orange in the crowd but not much. The men’s suits are all brown, and there is so much of the Sun Dynasty in here that I wouldn’t even know if anyone from the Moon Dynasty was even present. They’d be engulfed in all of this. I look around the crowd, straightening my shoulders as several people look our way. “Come and dance with me before someone tries to steal you away.”
Etena catches my eye from a corridor leading out of the room, and she’s not wearing a dress, instead, just her usual clothes and weapons. Not that I actually expected her to wear a dress. She watches me back and smiles once, which I return as Daegan leads me to the other front of the room. He spins me around once, pulling me back into his arms. “You’re a good dancer, Dae.”
“You’ve never given me a nickname before. I like it,” he replies with a grin. After a few minutes, he has figured out I know this dance well. “Where did you learn?”
I clear my throat. “My master liked to make me dance.”
His eyes turn stony. “I’m sorry.” I lean my head on his shoulder, content to let him lead the dance and forget the past for tonight. He keeps his arms wrapped tightly around me. “I’ve enjoyed all these weeks with you, getting to know you. You feel like you’re so much to me.”
I don’t have the words to tell him that I do feel like he is a very good friend but I’m not sure I feel exactly the same way he does. “It’s been great to get to know you, too.” If deflecting was an art form, I know I’d win awards for it. He only hums in response. We dance for several songs before we take a break to get a drink and talk with some of the people from the Sun Dynasty, who seem to know more about me than I possibly could ever know about them. Daegan is halfway through a conversation when Etena steps up to his side. “I need to talk to you. Alone.”
Daegan leans into me. “Wait for me here. I’ll come back soon.”
He quickly leaves with Etena, while I wonder what that is about. I watch someone playing the violin so effortlessly, while I’ve never been good with musical instruments. My mother once tried to teach me how to play the piano, but my fingers were always too clumsy, and the violin, I know I could never play like that. “Dance with me.”
I turn, never even hearing Ziven step up to my side. Ziven is holding out his hand, but my mouth parts when I get a good look at what he is wearing. Ziven is a gorgeous man; I’ve always thought that. The intimidating part of him usually outweighs the beauty, but in a tux, with a black crystal crown…he is breath-taking. His hair is tidily brushed to the side, the top buttons loose on his black shirt, and he is not wearing a tie, but somehow, he makes it work. Casual, yet dangerously devastating for any woman. But his eyes are nothing but serious, pure silver moonlight. “Where I come from, it is extremely rude to refuse a dance.”
“You can refuse me, Storm,” he offers, more of an offer of peace between us than I’ve ever seen. “I will never force you to do anything.”
I take his hand, surprised by how quick he is to tug me onto the dance floor. He spins me around, pulling me back into his arms, pressing our bodies together. We move together like we’ve danced a hundred times, so effortlessly that I don’t need to think about how my body is moving to the music. I know people are staring. I know I should look around, but my eyes are fixed on his like we are the only people here as he spins us around to the song until it ends, and he steps back. There is a look of indecision in his eyes as he pauses.
“Come with me.” I don’t get a chance to ask where we are going as he leads me through the dancers and to the side of the ballroom, to a staircase, and we go up together. It leads all the way up to the top, nearly above the ballroom as another song begins to play. It’s louder up here, the music echoing and amplifying. My eyes widen as we get into a small, cozy room. It’s made of pure glass on every side and in the shape of a dome.
Standing in it feels like standing in the stars. “This is so beautiful.” Ziven is staring at me like he is starving, and I’ve seen that look before. Felt what it’s like when he gives in. I glance at my dress, and the darkness has made it pure green.
“Like you.” Ziven tugs me to him once more, and I wrap my arms around his thick shoulders.
“I never had you down as a dancer, Ziven. Why’d you bring me here?” When he doesn’t answer, my heart races. “Luring your enemy alone is a good way to get rid of them.”
“Nothing I do will ever make me rid of you.” He runs his hand up my back, sending shivers down my spine for more than one reason before weaving his hand into my hair. He pulls our faces close so there’s not an inch between us. Our lips are only seconds away. My body seems to come alive under his touch, remembering what he tastes like, wondering what it’d be like for him to kiss me again. I crave it. Every touch from him, knowing it could be my end, knowing that he’s dangerous and I really shouldn’t want him anywhere near me. “Do not trust Daegan, Story.”
My blood goes cold with the warning. He has never called me by my real name before. “Are you jealous?”
“Perhaps, but that’s not the reason I’m warning you.” He searches my eyes. “I know you’re lying about things in your past, and I really hope the one thing you’re lying about is that you can’t get out of here. If you can, find a door. Go. Don’t ever come back. Go tonight.”
“Ziven…why would—”
His lips take mine, demanding and carnal with every stroke. He claims me with his mouth, with a scintillating kiss that he steals so easily from me, and I’m helpless to do anything but enjoy him. Want him. Need my enemy more than I want to breathe. He breaks away and lets me go. I stare at his back, breathless as he walks away from me, and he leaves me with nothing but the stars for company and my lips burning from his touch.
I stay with the stars for a while before going to join the ballroom, Ziven’s warning running over and over in my mind. Mazzis soon finds me and asks me to dance with him. My feet are killing me by the time that I manage to break away and refuse any more dances from the many people who ask. Just as I go over to the table of food, Daegan returns to the ballroom, heading right for me.
There’s a bit of blood on his collar and a faint smell of smoke that blows over me when he is close. He looks scruffier than before, and I can’t help but ask, “What happened to you?”
“There were some escaped…animals. I was helping, couldn’t leave Etena alone to deal with it.” He wraps his arm around my waist. “Do you want a drink, or can we go somewhere alone if you want? I’ll just get asked to dance with all the ladies here, and I really only want to see you tonight.”
I pick up two biscuits and grin at him, pushing Ziven’s jealous warning to the back of my mind. Daegan has done nothing but help me, guide me, and look after me since I got here. Ziven has done the opposite, and I would be dead if he had won. “I trust you and I’d love to leave.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Page Twenty-Three.
He called me a traitor for loving him.
Daegan leads me towards the greenhouse, where it’s completely deserted. In fact, everything is so silent, and the music from the ballroom sounds like it’s miles away instead of only the other side of the dragon wing bridge. The dragon statue gleams in the light of the moon, bright silver dancing across its massive wings and marking our path. We head around the steps, Daegan’s hand on my lower back, until we get to the greenhouse doors, and he opens them for me to step in. The greenhouse feels like our place.
Don’t trust Daegan. Ziven’s haunting words won’t leave my mind, and I can still feel his lips claiming me. He was jealous. He knows that I’m not going back to his dynasty after tonight, and maybe he regrets making me feel like I can’t go back there. I know he didn’t mean to hurt me when he was fighting with Daegan, but Daegan is right. The Moon Dynasty is dangerous for me because of how I feel about Ziven. Either way, perhaps it’s better that I don’t spend any time with him at all after tonight. We’re no good for each other. He will destroy me at this rate. As for Daegan, he’s kind and forgiving. He puts his people first. He’s a good person. He is who I should be worried about. Not Ziven. I need to forget Ziven.
“I lied to you.” My head shoots up, looking towards Daegan, and for a second, I feel nervous. We both stop near our bench, the place we always end up on our dates.
He looks over the forest as I frown. “What about?”
“The last pages of the book. I ripped them out myself long ago.” His answer only makes my stomach drop further.
“Why would you do that?” I quietly ask. He will have a good reason, he must. “If you didn’t want me to read them, you could—”
“I didn’t want anyone to read them. That book is more than a book. If you’ve not guessed already, it’s a diary.” He looks back at me. “It’s based on the life of the last princess of the Twilight Dynasty, who became the queen of the Dawn Dynasty and the Twilight Dynasty by the end of her life. She wrote that book. I know that because she was my lover, and she left the book to me.”
I freeze. “How? What? I don’t understand…”
