Page 34 of Lord of Dance and Desire

I was still caught up on the word servants. “. . .no.”

He draped his arm back over his eyes. “Don’t sound so uncertain, darling. Of course, it doesn’t concern me if you drain a hundred servants dry. Feed as you wish. You aremybonded consort. Your pleasure is Casakraine’s law.”

Sneaky. “And I’m the manipulative one?” Except if he was able to say it, it must be true. More proof that what lurked in my bonded wasn’t the gooey marshmallow center he tried to project. I chewed my bottom lip. “This was why Lord Iliweh was pissed.”

“Hmm, yes. They were highly displeased by your poaching.Thatalmost started a feud—you really need to control that disconcerting little habit of yours. Now, regular proximity keeps the bond open, though time and absence may close it. So you haven’t left a bevy of zombies in your wake, or a line of broken hearts, if that’s your fear.”

Evidently the lackadaisically moral nature of this discussion moved Mathen to intervene. He shifted his weight and I glanced over to where he stood near the living room threshold. He gave Andrei a thin-lipped look, then turned to me.

“You will hurt people, Anali,” he said, gaze unflinching. “You have some power. You must learn to leash it. As all of us must, who wish to cause no more harm than necessary. . .my Lord.”

I was still figuring out the “necessary” bit, though. When or how I might ever use my nature in self-defense. But I doubted it would ever come to that.

Andrei fluttered his fingers and sighed. “Yes, yes. Listen to the noble one, Anah. He’s so much better at this than I. I do try, but people are alwaystestingme. Who am I to deny them the opportunity to try their mettle?”

Mathen sighed. “Anali, you will be late.”

I picked up my bag and followed him out of the house, Andrei’s, “Behave, cygnet,” trailing me.

He was really one to talk. Who knew what he got up to during the day? I’d heard whispers about the ongoing investigation into Ixnie, but I steered clear of him and the luudthen when they discussed it. I didn’t want to be dragged into tattle-telling, and for now they seemed content to keep me out of it.

“Don’t dance holes into your slippers,” Mathen said, the corners of his eyes creased with amusement as he escorted me to my solo practice room.

“Obviously you don’t know me very well.”

He kissed my forehead. “I have hope. We are here if you need us.”

Mathen stepped back, fingertips brushing my cheek and I entered the room with a smile, dropping my bag at the door.

As I rehearsed, I tried to separate my succubus nature from my affinity, so I wasn’t eating myself for lunch.

Sigh.

This was why no one liked the Fae.

One of whom was a not so distant ancestor. Five or six generations removed, at most.

Dancing, I sank into my mind, calling on the affinity that gave me the extended bursts of strength and grace and timing to execute immortal choreography.

Calling it my affinity had also sparked debate, because they weren’t entirely certain it wasn’t the wild magic—a Skill. Evidently it would take time and experimentation and observation to determinethattoo.

Whatever. All of that was way too much Fae esoterica for me. Let them dissect me, I didn’t care. I only cared about ballet.

I suppressed the satin but sank into my mind, the stage I went where I released myself into the dance. Became my story, the choreography as instinctive as breathing. I lost track of count, of time, of strain.

Lavender mist filled the room, a scent of cotton candy and jasmine in the air underlaid with a woodsy musk.

The lavender sparkled, darkening in the corners of my vision and I laughed, giving myself over to the dream state as I spun, leaped, danced through the clouds as voices whispered in my ear, urging me to greater heights.

Leap higher, spin faster, dance until my veins opened and spilled my light onto the ground.

I was no longer Hasannah, called consort by a High Fae Lord, but a more primal creature made of wind and light.

But even wind and light requires a master, a voice whispered in my ear.

Hands on my waist, hair falling over my shoulder.

I opened my eyes; I hadn’t realized I’d closed them.

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