Page 97 of The Sundered Realms

Chapter 14

Costume, music, dance—all vary hugely throughout the realms. Continually updating myself on current trends to keep up with political references was a rare bright spot in my later years of training.

Nowhere is it more important than at this ball: understanding what it means when a dress is traditional or intentionally not or nodding at; noting what music has been deemed worthy of highlight to the players of this game; engaging fluently in a political dance. I could write a dozen dissertations on the details from this one event, and others will.

Finally, finally, I’m a player myself.

Don’t fuck it up, Liris. Don’t you dare.

Vhannor spun Liris into a Risardi dance common at balls throughout the Sundered Realms for its lyrical gliding, so she was able to follow his lead easily.

Of course he was a graceful dancer as well—it had never even occurred to her to think he wouldn’t be. A man who specialized in precise control of movement when the stakes were demons could not be anything but.

Still, Liris was grateful. Letting him sweep her around gave her a minute to sort out her thoughts and think about what she could say to him and who might be listening.

Which was too bad, because she also really wanted to revel in the sensation of moving with him as an equal.

As it was, she was excessively conscious of the points where his hands met hers, like the contact itself generated heat that sent tingles up her arms.

“How did your conversation go?” Liris finally asked, conscious of not saying too much without knowing who could be listening.

“As well as I know you expected,” he rumbled, his voice lower than usual.

So, that unproductively, then. She wasn’t surprised, but it was possible it could have been a trap for both of them.

Focused as she’d been on her own problems, she wouldn’t have known. “I lost track of you,” Liris admitted.

“Good,” Vhannor said.

“But I’m your partner.”

“I’m also your partner.”

She practically felt his icy gaze land on her, but she kept her own on the dancers around them.

As they glided together toward the entrance-side of the floor, Vhannor gracefully adjusted to keep one of her hands to steady her while placing another on the small of her back to guide her forward, and she realized he was propelling her out of the ballroom entirely.

Liris’ chest tightened. Was that it?

Vhannor asked the herald to remind him of the directions to the staircase to an upper level, and only then did Liris realize something else was going on, because Vhannor never forgot a layout pattern.

Vhannor smiled down at her with a wink and looked back at the herald, and Liris took the cue, grinning up at him and squeezing his hand. Lovers sneaking off for a tryst. Got it.

Too bad that wasn’t actually what was happening.

Not that she’d try to distract him now—this work was too important—but with her first ball coming to a close as... maybe not a complete failure, but definitely falling far short of the grand political debut on the international stage she’d dreamed of, the prospect of one going that well for her was painfully bittersweet.

Vhannor did not take her to the balcony level of the ball, however, but to the halls behind it.

“Quickly here,” he whispered, because of course this was a servers’ corridor. Trusting his timing, she followed him through a maze of so many rooms before he paused to take a breath in a study.

And then footsteps sounded outside, and he swore, and Liris threw open the nearest door and tugged him inside.

Bathroom. A closet would have been more likely to be locked, she supposed. Still, while she decided it would be weird to sit on the toilet, with both of them standing, the room was small enough that they were wedged in fairly close together.

Liris took a couple of shallow breaths, because any deeper and he’d be able to hear how shaky they sounded.

Of course, all that did was fill her nose with the scent of him with each breath.

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