Page 87 of Steel Heart Iron Claws

I stamp my heel against the table three times.Come, the rest of you! Join the party!

Honeybees buzz through the windows, waltzing aimlessly until they discover the honey-glazed tarts. A cloud of iridescent dragonflies takes wing around the chandeliers. Ants creep through tiny wall cracks by the thousands, parading in fanciful lines between the partygoers.

I climb down from the bench to revel in the presence of all my woodland friends. The chamber is filled from floor to ceiling with animals that coo and chirp and chitter, and my heart feels so overjoyed that I spin in a slow circle, weaving my hands among the cartwheeling dragonflies.

A nuthatch lands on my shoulder to chirp a pretty melody. Rabbits hop between my feet, chasing berries rolling across the floor. Tiny claws delicately climb up my gown, and I gasp in delight at her familiar face.

Little friend!I exclaim.

The forest mouse perches in my palm.What a feast! And to think, you tried to leave.

This place is not at all what I expected,I admit with a nuzzle of my nose to her soft fur.

The crowd gasps in awe as ladies dodge swooping owls. The Blades’ self-satisfied smirks have vanished, replaced by expressions of disbelief. Iyre gapes openly, dumbfounded, at the legion of animals.

Vale slowly rises from his place at the table, clearing his throat. At the scrape of his chair, all eyes turn to him. I hold my breath, clutching the mouse in my palm, waiting.

Slowly, Vale brings his hands together. "We have our winner—Lady Sabine!”

A brief pause blankets the air like the calm before a storm…and then the crowderupts.

The force of their applause deafens me, raw energy crashing around me like a tidal wave. My cheeks burn in a sudden flood of pride. Back in Astagnon, such a spectacle would have incited screams. The crowd would have tripped all over each other to escape the swarm of creatures.

But Volkany—these people—revel in what I can do.

A grin cracks my face as I nod to the lords and ladies who press forward to congratulate me.

“Humanity scores a win!” Paz exclaims, draping an arm around my shoulders.

Arden laughs as she ducks beneath a swooping blackbird. “You’ve done the impossible, Lady Sabine!”

“Bested the fae?” I ask.

She shakes her head, grinning. “You’ve found a way to make a fae party evenwilder!”

The musicians take up a spirited tune. Laughing, Paz and Arden pull me onto the dance floor, but just as my feet begin to catch up with my head, Iyre clamps her hand around my wrist.

“Your father wishes to speak to you,” she hisses low in my ear.

My good mood dims slightly as she drags me toward the head table, nudging the beaver out of our way with her boot. At the table, honeybees cover nearly every pastry, and the squirrel family has nibbled the turkey to the bone.

Iyre releases me, and I stumble, wine-drunk, before resting a hand on a chairback.

Pull it together, Sabine.“Father.”

Vale folds his arms, his face unreadable behind the wild beard. “There was the matter of a prize, Daughter.”

My heart begins to patter again in a tentative mixture of pride and apprehension. I dare to meet his eyes. In the faestories I was told as a girl, “prizes” from the fae could be as much a curse as a blessing. But the spirited dance music hums through me, its jaunty chords stoking the hidden part of me that revels in this party.

“I would be honored,” I croak.

His massive hand cups the narrow point of my chin. “You did well. You proved yourself a credit to me and to your mother.”

His stern face breaks into a smile.

My heartbeat takes up a strange, feather-light pattern. In twenty-two years, I’ve never had a parent say they’re proud of me. Maybe it’s silly to care at my age, but standing before Vale in all his immortal splendor, I can’t help but feel like a thirteen-year-old girl again, writing a letter to my father in hopes of a scrap of affection.

I swallow, fumbling with the twine around my finger.

---