Page 52 of Sundered By Fate

Aric's steps were faltering as he stumbled off the dance floor, still dazed from the Lord Regent's touch. But he barely had a moment to catch his breath before Davin appeared before him, eyes alight.

"May I have this dance, Solarian?" Davin asked with a teasing grin, but Aric heard the undercurrent of something rawer beneath it. "I promise not to talk politics."

Aric was too rattled to refuse. "Of course." He allowed Davin to take his hand, and the feel of Davin's warm skin against his own sent a jolt through him.

As they moved together, Davin's touch was gentler than Valerian's but no less charged with unspoken tension. They fell into the rhythm of the music easily, as if they had danced this way a thousand times before.

"It's been a long time," Davin said softly. "Since we've danced like this."

Aric nodded, throat suddenly tight. Memories flooded back unbidden—summer nights at the Silver Tower, endless hours in the library debating magical theory until dawn...

All the moments they might have shared if not for Aric's need to push everyone away.

"I've missed it," Aric admitted.

He felt rather than saw Davin's smile, felt the other man's fingers flex around his hand. "I've missed you."

Aric's heart skipped a beat at the admission. He was suddenly acutely aware of how close they were standing, of the slight height difference that let him look up into those freckled green eyes. Davin's hair, coppery red, gleamed in the ballroom's golden light.

It would be so easy to give in to this. To sink back into the comfortable companionship they had once shared and let all his responsibilities and worries fall away.

But then he caught sight of Valerian watching them from across the room with an unreadable expression, and Aric was reminded of just how much hung in the balance.

"Davin..." Aric hesitated, unsure what he even wanted to say.

Davin's hold on him loosened ever so slightly. "I know there are things we can't speak of here. But whatever it is that's weighing on you—you're not alone."

Aric swallowed hard as they continued their slow orbit around each other. He wanted desperately to believe that—but he knew too well how quickly things could change.

"I know," he said finally. "But there are...complications."

Davin nodded, understanding in those freckled eyes that threatened to undo him entirely. "Just don't let your fear stop you from living."

They moved together until the song ended, and then released each other reluctantly as applause broke out around them.

As much as Aric wanted to cling to Davin a little longer—to seek solace in old familiarities—he knew he couldn't ignore what was coming for them all.

Mid-dance, Aric caught a flicker of silver hair, a glimpse of swirling eyes the color of twilight. Sylthris. Her presence was as brief and elusive as smoke, vanishing into the crowd before he could be sure she'd been there at all.

"Aric?" Davin's brow furrowed as he followed Aric's gaze.

"I—I need a moment. Please, excuse me."

Aric extracted himself from Davin's hold, the loss of warmth immediate and jarring. He moved through the throngs of dancers and revelers, searching for any sign of Sylthris's path.

As he pushed through the crowd, snippets of conversation reached him?—

"—the demons have been quiet lately. Too quiet."

"They say strange things have been happening in the forest. Lights and noises, animals acting wild?—"

"It's that damned mage's fault. He's brought nothing but trouble since he came back?—"

Aric's anxiety deepened with each whispered word. The anomaly. It had to be connected somehow, just like the storms and visions in Thornhaven.

And yet all he saw were smiling faces, hear only laughter and music that droned on over his own rapid heartbeat.

Aric slipped past the dancers, his heart pounding as he tried to follow where Sylthris might have gone. But before he could reach the far side of the ballroom, a group of nobles blocked his path, their eyes sharp and assessing.

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