My stomach tightened with unease and fury. He saw a weapon when he looked at me, a legacy to claim. Fear pricked sharp and hot beneath my skin, but I tempered it, let it cool and set into steel. I needed him, but I would not be a pawn in whatever game this was.
I met his gaze evenly, refusing to flinch. “Be careful what you try to bend, Kaelith. Some things break the hand that reaches for them.”
His smile widened, predator-smooth. “Oh, you’re going to be so much fun,” he murmured, his voice silk-wrapped steel. “I can’t wait to play.”
He flicked his fingers, and music stirred louder at the far end of the hall—strings, low and lilting, carried by the vaulted ceiling. Chairs scraped as nobles shifted, their eyes turning toward me like spectators awaiting the next act.
“Dance with her,” Kaelith said, not bothering to clarify whom he addressed.
For a moment, no one moved. Then Malachi rose. He extended his hand, his expression unreadable except for the briefest downward flick of his gaze. There was a warning hidden in the depth of his eyes.Get up.
Every eye was on me. The hush pressed close, heavy as smoke.
My mouth curved before I told it to—something polite, practiced, a mask I’d worn too many times to count. I set my fingers in his, and let him lead me onto the open floor.
His hand slid to my waist, spanning it so fully I swore it claimed the whole side of me. My pulse flared at the contact.
Without warning he dipped me low, the world tilting until all I could see was the dark fabric of his collar and the sharp carve ofhis jaw above me. My hair fell back, brushing the floor. The crowd blurred to shadow around us, their eyes nothing compared to his.
When he drew me back up, he didn’t look away. His gaze followed the scar that carved across my face—the ridge from brow to lip to throat. In Synnex, they pretended not to see it at all, glancing aside as if ignoring it meant I didn’t exist. To have it studied this closely, to have it traced by his eyes, made my skin crawl.
He moved with precision, each step measured. My body resisted at first, but Hayat’s lessons echoed in my head:even silence can be a strike, even a step can be a shield.So I matched him. Step for step. Mask for mask.
“You don’t know the steps,” he muttered, voice pitched low so only I could hear.
“I learn quickly,” I said, lifting my chin.
His mouth twitched, not quite a smile. “Try to keep up, little dove.”
I dug my nails lightly into his shoulder. “Don’t give me orders. And stop calling me that. I’m not a bird.”
His eyes snapped to mine, sharp enough to cut. “Doves aren’t just birds.”
I arched a brow. “Really? Please do enlighten me.”
His smile curved, faint and unreadable. “Perhaps. One day. Though, I hope you’re long gone before I get the chance.”
The music swelled. We turned in unison, my skirts brushing the polished floor.
The dance ended with him pulling me just close enough for our breaths to mix. Applause scattered against the walls.
Kaelith watched us, satisfaction smoothing his features—until a brief, sharp something cracked across his face. Assessment. As if seeing me in Malachi’s hands had given him a new idea that he intended to use.
The moment passed. His expression reset, polished and perfect, as he turned away.
The food arrived then, carried in on gleaming trays, the hall buzzing with new anticipation. The rest of the table began to fill. Each new arrival carried eyes that gleamed, wings that twitched, skin that glimmered faintly in the torchlight. I was surrounded. Judged. Measured.
For a flicker, fear pressed tight against my ribs—every moment here was another piece of Aeryn slipping further from my reach. But Hayat’s lessons surfaced: play the game, use the mask, survive. If Etherblooms were my goal, then Kaelith was the obstacle I had to outmaneuver.
Kaelith reached for the decanter, filling my glass with a generous pour of dark red wine as he carried on his easy conversation with the woman beside him. I didn’t wait. My nerves were already strung too tight, my thoughts looping back to Aeryn, to the Etherblooms I still hadn’t found. I needed something—anything—to take the edge off, to steady myself before I shattered. I lifted the glass and drank deep.
The wine was rich and warm, but strange—tinged with something floral and sharp beneath the berry and oak. A tingling spread across my tongue, curling into the back of my throat.
Kaelith watched me drink as if he’d been waiting for it.
Malachi leaned toward me, voice low. “That wine isn’t what you’re used to in Synnex,” he said, almost lazily. “It’s laced with bone dust. Mildly hallucinogenic.” My brow lifted, but before I could respond, the shift began.
It started subtly. Kaelith’s already striking features took on a luminous glow, his skin gleaming, eyes burning faintly with starlight. The candlelight thickened, bending around him until even the air seemed to pulse in time with my heartbeat. The room shimmered. The Keepers glowed more vividly, their movementsleaving trails of soft light that lingered a second too long, while the nobles of Kaelith’s court gleamed beneath the illusion of refinement, their laughter thinning into echoes that rippled through the hall. Even the food gleamed on the platters, colors deepening at the edges of my vision until gold tasted like honey and the sound of glass rang sweet as music.