Page 53 of Lord of Dance and Desire

What exactly did Dartanyon want? The men brushed his motivations aside as a death wish, but men with power could afford to be dismissive.

I didn't bother to rise, curling my legs underneath me. If playing dead with Fae was a bad idea, playing submissive would keep from riling up their hunting instincts.

So I stayed curled on the floor, offering no threat and no emotion. Years of suppressing my anger and walking away were paying off.

“Lord Dartanyon,” I said. “Why am I here?”

I supposed I should askwhereI was, but what could I do with that information? Having reached out along the tendrils of my bond, I hit a block.

“You’re calm,” he observed. He wore all white today, fitted pants and a short-waisted, high-necked jacket that managed to display a sliver of his slender chest. “I expected hysterics.”

I kept the desire to smack him out of my expression. “You haven't hurt me.”

His eyes went distant with thought. Distance was the last thing I wanted, it meant time for him to play around in the murky shadows of his mind. No, stalling meant I had to develop a rapport. A talent I’d honed over years of unknowingly calling on my one drop of Fae blood.

“At the party you said a name,” I said softly. “I wanted to ask you about it, but Andrei interrupted. He does that a lot,” I added, not having to feign annoyance. It would give us something to bond over. “He can be difficult.”

“The word you want is spoiled,” Dartanyon said, refocusing on me. “He has suffered no real loss, endured no true challenge. His power, his status, his wealth have all been handed to him.”

I wasn't going to argue, because of course there was a seed of truth. Andrei came from the city's ruling family. But it wasn't all of the truth.

“And yours wasn't?” I guessed. “My family is poor. My parents love each other, but they had a lot of children. That costs money. They couldn't afford to send me to dance classes.”

I ignored the voice in my head sneering about first world problems and folded my hands in my lap, looking down, slightly self-conscious revealing things to him I hadn't spoken of to Andrei. But if I was going to establish a connection with Dartanyon, I had to be honest.

“When Andrei found me, he couldn't believe I was surviving on noodles.” My lips quirked. “He thought it was a deficiency of intellect rather than a lack of funds. I don’t think he understands poverty. So no, he's never been hungry. But you're not exactly powerless either, Lord Dartanyon. What’s your excuse?”

He blinked slowly. “My excuse?”

“For taking me. I’ve done nothing to you, but you, I assume, intend to cause me harm. What did I do to deserve it?”

“You believe this is about what youdeserve?” He laughed, a tinkling, bitter sound that still managed to sound kind. “You think that those who endure harm or deprivation do so because they deserve it? Ah yes, the American prosperity doctrine. A particularly asinine aspect of your rather noxious culture.”

Said the man from the species where the majority of cultures based everything on a magical power caste system, the top tier of which privileged its members to actions like, say, kidnapping lovers off the street and taking over their lives. And, as Cora warned, privileged them toendthose lovers’ lives.

Talk about “If I can’t have you, nobody can.”

“Not always,” I replied finally.

If taking me, hurting me, couldn't be tied back to something I could plead ignorance of or forgiveness for, that meant I couldn't talk him out of whatever crazy was in his head.

I couldn't play the pity or the undeserving victim card if he understood I was innocent—and didn’t care.

“You asked me about the name,” he said.

I tried to moisten my dry bottom lip. “I did.”

Dartanyon stared at me with unblinking eyes, one hand pressed against the glass, a stare that revved my pulse and brought sweat along my spine.

“On the surface, you are nothing like him. He was brilliant, effervescent. He walked into the room and all eyes turned to him. You are contained. Merely a shadow of yourself. But in the end, all eyes turn to you as well. They cannot help themselves.”

I pushed up to my feet. “Who? Someone you cared about?”

“I knew you the first moment I set eyes on you.” His gaze turned haunted. “But you didn’t know me. I will mine you, extract you from this shell you’ve become in this life.” Dartanyon whispered the name again.

I walked forward, placing my hand on the glass against Dartanyon’s. His hand was larger than mine, but the fingers were just as slender.

“If I remind you of him?—”

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