Page 47 of Lord of Dance and Desire

Exactly to his taste.

I leaned forward, inhaling the fragrant scent of multiple blooms. Wow. I'd never scented flowers so sweet before. I breathed deep, dizzy with sudden giddiness as tension left my body.

Chúa oi, good stuff.

I wanted to dive into the flowerpot and roll around in it.

It smelled like Nirvana.

Or was that teen spirit?

Wait a minute, I recognized this scent.

. . .never mind. Who cared? Besides, Andrei had sent them.

I inhaled again, giggling.Oh,wow. The florist should have these flowers crushed and bottled. Trust Fae blooms to behave like a good blend of weed.

This was wonderful. What kind of flowers were these? And why hadn't my High Lord gifted me such a bouquet before? I needed one of these to inhale after every single rehearsal.

Something clicked, and there was movement off to the side. I turned my head and glimpsed white blonde hair cropped short, and a tall, elegant body.

I shoved to my feet, startled. “Xavi!”

He disappeared.

Xavi wasalive? Huh. That was. . .surprising.

“Xavi! Come back.”

I ran, stumbling into chairs and banging my head against the threshold of the door because somehow I missed it. I wanted to talk to him; suddenly it seemed important to make sure he wasunharmed. I hadn't wanted him dead after all. At least I didn't think I had wanted him dead.

I hadn't shed any tears.

Which still disturbed me.

No, I didn't want him dead, and I’d tell myself that until I believed it. Maybe seeing him in person forced me to care.

I stumbled into the hallway as he disappeared into shadows where the hallways weren’t lit, and followed.

Followed until I reached the dark backside of the building and walked out a side door. It crashed closed behind me, and cool evening air slapped me in the face.

I drug in more oxygen, but this time there were no fragrant blooms infiltrating my lungs.

Instead of perfume, suspicion bloomed. I stepped forward several feet, realizing I was in a darkened alley; so cliche.

I shouldn't be outside. How in the world hadMathenlet me leave the building on my own? Con was with Andrei, and Philea was on crowd duty, but Mathen and Theland and I thought Esseum were assigned to me tonight. There was no way I should have been able to escape into an alley before one of them pounced and dragged me back to sit me in a neurotically defended corner.

Something was wrong.

“Xavi?”

Wait, I’d seen this movie.

You know what, forget Xavi.

I whirled around, about to head right back to that door because no way was I that girl, when an explosion picked me up and flung me against the neighboring building.

MATHEN

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