Page 23 of Caged By Dance and Desire

“I need my shoes.”

Mathen brought me the flats I’d been wearing. I slid them on and went outside, testing them on the smooth stone surface with a pirouette.

And then I danced.

And danced.

Danced away my confusion, abandoned fear and frustration. Drifted in the warmth of the satin rising in my blood.

“Lady,” someone said. “You need to rest.”

“How long has she been dancing?” A female voice, a murmured masculine reply. “Damn. She crazy?”

Constin tried to intervene. Once.

Pain seeped through my muscles. I was overextending, but I couldn’t stop. This was the only thing that kept the shadows away. I stopped long enough to take off the shoes. It wasn’t enough. I needed to feel ground beneath my feet. I needed. . .needed something.

So empty.

So hungry.

My life was unraveling, but this couldn’t be taken from me.

Thiswas mine, unto death.

Distantly, I worried. A toenail cracked, and someone exclaimed about the blood. Mathen tried to grab me mid spin and I jerked my head up, stabbing him with a glare.

“Go.”

He fell away.

“Hasannah.”

This time, I stilled. That voice wouldn’t be ignored. I came back to myself enough to realize my breaths were coming in harsh, fast pants, and sweat trickled into my eyes. My feet. . .I looked down and closed my eyes, mouth thinning. I’d take care of them before I slept. This wasn’t the first time I’d?—

“Hasannah.”

I looked back up at the Fae Lord approaching with slow, silent steps. The moon, high in the sky, cast his pale skin in an otherworldly glow, his dark hair wild around his shoulders.

“Lord Andrei.”

He wore a long brocade duster in sapphire blue and gold, and I glimpsed pants and heeled boots underneath. His fingers were ringed in gold, tiny hoops winking at his ears.

“Come inside now, Hasannah,” he said in a soft voice meant to cajole a small feral animal.

“Are you taking me to my apartment?”

“No.”

I turned away from him. “Then I’m going to dance.”

“Consort, your feet are bleeding.”

En-pointe already, I lowered back down, arms falling to my sides. “I know.”

He circled in front of me and slid his fingers under my chin. “You’re upset.”

“Youkidnappedme.”

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