Page 135 of Kingdom of the Two Moons

Again, I try to make sense of what I see there, in his aura. He’s talking about himself, and also not. There is pain and desperation, but also, somewhere, hope and joy.Love.

“If there’s, indeed, truth in the saying, what would it be?” I ask, suddenly too aware of who he’s really talking about as I spot the golden band again.

“Whatever we want it to be,” he retorts, too casually. “Because it’s just a riddle. Like a fairy tale. It’s not real, so it only holds as much meaning as we give to it.”

“But what if it is real?” I push.

“Then I would keenly wish it to be the mirror because what would life be without the ability to love? How empty, how dull. It must feel like a curse.”

He’s telling me something. Too much and, at the same time, nothing. I register somewhere in the back of my mind that the music’s changed. People are starting to dance in a circle.

Riven gets up, too, holding his hand out to me, his somber mood wiped away.

“I can’t dance. I mean, not real dancing. Not likethat,” I confess, mortified. Briefly afraid of what I’ve agreed to in coming here as I watch the swirling and spinning couples. Some move so preternaturally fast that the ground underneath them begins to spark and steam, leaving burned soil. How they exchange the mouths they kiss, along with their partners.

Riven gives me one of his smiles, sowell-practiced and ruthlessly polite. But it doesn’t match the seriousness in his eyes when he says, “We’ll take it slow.”

I entwine my fingers with his when he steps up, his cheek at mine, his hand at the small of my back. Out of the corner of my eye, I see the disappointed faces of other women, envy all over their auras.

He follows my gaze. I stiffen. “You don’t have to do this. You can just leave me here and dance with them,” I say quietly.

“I do not wish to.”

I watch our feet, my bare toes close to his boots. I should not ask, but I can’t help it. “Why? Because we’re still pretending?”

“What else would it be?” he asks darkly.

“I don’t like this game, whatever kind it is,” I say, more harshly than I should. But suddenly, being here in this dress makes me feel more vulnerable than ever.

“It’s not a game.”

“Well then, what is it?”

“I want you to enjoy yourself, Melody,” he says, catching me gently when I make the wrong move.

“So, we’re doing all of this just to make me feel… good?” Sarcasm rings in every word.

“I admit it might be a little bit selfish too,” he whispers, close to my ear. “But yes, I would do a lot of things if they made you feelgood.”

My breath hitches at the way he speaks the last word. I wonder what we’re doing here. It feels dangerous.

“Should I tell you how pretty you look?” he asks as he spins me around.

Our eyes meet.

He turns me so my back is pressed against him, his hard body. Just then he murmurs into my neck, “I cannot. It would be a lie.” I shiver at his breath over my skin, at his words running over it like slow-dripping honey. “Because you look breathtakingly beautiful.”

If I didn’t know fae can’t lie, I would know he just did.So dangerous.

He spins me again until we’re face-to-face. He smiles at the confusion all over me. Another private smile only meant for my eyes.

Then he leans into me and says with midnight smoothness, “Look at them. They can barely keep their eyes off you.”

“Because I look human,” I retort quietly.

“Oh, I assure you this is not the reason they’re staring so unabashedly.”

He spins me again, and I look over my shoulder to study his face. Heat flushes my neck when I find him glancing down at my dress for a second.

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