Page 82 of Caged By Dance and Desire

“I told you I danced from the heart. I thought. . .I thought that was what I was doing.” Faltering, I turned to Andrei, looking up at him. “It wasn't on purpose. You know that. You know I didn't know what I was doing. I didn't even know until tonight what?—”

I made myself stop talking. I was babbling, on the edge of hysteria. And I wasn’t telling the entire truth. Some part of me had known.

My full watt smile and my mermaid voice. The net I cast when I danced, drawing in my audience.

No, I wasn’t completely innocent.

But whatever I'd suspected hadremainedsuspicion until coming to Casakraine. Meaning I'd had the excuse of denial for all these years.

I closed my eyes. Was I any better than the Fae? No, no better.

Andrei brushed my cheek with the back of his fingers. “You're a babe with a brush of power barely awakened.” He glanced at Iliweh. “Mistakes happen. We've only been made aware of my consort’s possible nature, and we will take steps to ensure she is trained.” He paused. “She has been mine for little more than a week, Lord Iliweh. I would beg your understanding, if notyour indulgence.” He gave a faint smile. “My mother would be displeased with me if she knew I had upset you.”

The subtle flattery softened Iliweh, who glanced at their bonded and exhaled. “If there was no ill intent, no attempt to beguile my consort in order to gain favor?—”

Constin laughed coldly. “You claim that the consort of theHeirrequires the favor of a dancing instructor?”

The whip of scorn in his voice incensed me, breaking my instinctive flinch at the H-word. I turned on him.

“Do you have any idea who Adoncia Vargas is?” I demanded. “A third of the prospective dancers who cross over to this realm to join the company do so just so we can have a chance to train under her tutelage! Show some respect, Constin.” I poked him in the chest. Hard.

He glared at me.

I turned back to Mistress Vargas. “Please excuse him. He is sauvage. But he means well.”

I deflated. They all stared at me.

Iliweh smiled. It was thin, but genuine. “Very well. As I was saying, if the beguilement can be broken, we will put this matter behind us.” Their smile faded, and they pinned me with a hard look. “And you cannot fool me, prima. You may not have had ill intent, but you did seek to seduce her to your side, to make an ally of her. If, as you say, a third of the dancers come to Casakraine to train under my beloved, all of them come to Casakraine because they have ambition. You are no exception."

I lowered my gaze. They were right, of course.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I'm starting to become more aware of myself now. It won't happen again.” I curtsied again, to emphasize the apology.

Andrei caught me up immediately. “Enough, Hasannah. Enough. Can you break the beguilement?”

I hesitated, rubbing the back of my neck. “I've never tried before.”

If you allow it, I will show you what to do. You have to open your mind to me, my Anah.

Of course.

Let us begin.

“That could have been a disaster,” Constin said once Lord Iliweh and Vargas left.

I was curled up on the couch in our living room, clasping a pillow to my chest, exhausted and trembling.

Andrei had walked me through how to break the beguilement and it. . .hadn't been easy.

I didn't understand what we'd done, but I understood the energy taken from her was; One, real. And Two. . .I'd had to give it back.

My stomach rumbled, but I wasn't hungry for real food. I dug my nails into my arms absently, scratching down.

“Anah,” Andrei snapped, seizing my wrists. “What are you doing?”

I glanced at my arms, blinking. I'd scratched long, scarlet rivulets into the skin.

“She needs to feed,” Constin said. “If she is what we think she is, she needs to feed.”

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