Page 24 of Caged By Dance and Desire

“Your former dwelling is unsafe for you now. You’ll remain here with us.”

Deflating under his steady, unblinking stare, I lowered my eyes. “I don’t want to stay here with you.”

“No?” He shrugged. “In time, you will. And I promise, you’ll want to reside in a Coal District rathole even less once my enemies become aware of your existence.”

I gave him a small, bitter smile. “It only took you twenty-four hours to upend my life.”

“Not an entire twenty-four,” was the even reply. Andrei lowered his head slowly, broadcasting his intent.

I stiffened, pulling away from him. “Fifteen more minutes.”

When I glanced at him from halfway across the courtyard, he hadn’t moved. “Are you trying to punish me?” he asked.

I frowned.

He glanced at my feet. “Your injuries make me unhappy.”

Oh. No one had to tell me Andrei, unhappy, would be sure to distribute the misery. He didn’t strike me as the suffer alone in silence type. “I dance when I’m upset.”

Eyes dark from the night remained inscrutable, his expression alabaster remoteness. “Fifteen minutes, Hasannah. And I will not tolerate this behavior again.”

I danced.

But with him present, it was. . .different. He added a new heat to the air, a shimmering of power and silent, pressing need that demanded my attention. He pulled at me the way I pulled at everyone else. A new wildness rose, my endless empty need coalescing into a creature who turned to him andwanted.

So she would take.

I swayed towards him. “Are you mine?”

He could be mine, the way dance was mine.

His eyes flashed, then darkened. “You know I am. Am I enough, cygnet?”

“I need.”

“What, Hasannah? What do you need?”

I could take him, drink him down, and he wouldn’t tell me no.

“Everything. I am. . .starving. Dance with me.”

But my time was up. Andrei approached, arms snatching me out of the air. “No more, little dancer.”

He set me on my feet, hands grasping my shoulders.

“No,” I breathed, leaning against his chest, “let me dance. Dance with me.”

Eyes on mine, his grip on my shoulders loosened, hands sliding down to my waist, his eyes dark with the same need unfurling in me. He cupped my bottom, pressing me against his hard groin. The part of me alarmed by his touch faded under the part of me drowning in hunger.

I smiled, lifting my arms over my head and called up music, the notes flooding my mind and traveling along our. . .bond. . .until he heard its song, until he began to sway with me.

I spun away from him, ignoring my abused toes, ignoring shrieking muscles, bathing in the moonlight and the glitter of his eyes as he flowed towards me, sensual mouth soft with a dreamlike smile.

“Moon nymph, from where do you hail?” he murmured. “You take my breath and balance and leave me with nothing but longing. The ground rises up to throw me to my knees at your feet.”

I laughed, delighted by the courtly compliment, and began a pas de deux from Swan Lake. I let him catch me again, his hands on my waist as he responded to the pictures in my mind, let me dance, let me play, let me seduce.

He chased, but when he caught me the next time, he lifted me into his arms, striding towards the open double doors.

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