Page 90 of What Lurks Between the Fates

“Mine.”

32

Estrella

The cages were empty where they hung from the ceiling of Mab’s throne room, but one of the Summer Court Faeries had lit them on fire. The metal burned even though it was impossible, casting a golden glow down on the room as the flames stayed inside the bars of each cage. The Llaidhe had hung dark draperies of fabric, sweeping from one side of the throne room to the other.

The effect was ominous, sinking into that darkness everyone feared. The music that the troubadours played upon the stage near Mab’s throne pulsed through the room as bodies moved in the twining of a dance that I recognized.

A jolt of disbelief struck me in the chest, with the realization that the very dances I’d been tormented into memorizing by the Priestess had been taken from the Fae. We’d stolen the culture and heritage straight from the very things we claimed to hate.

I scanned the gathered group of Gods, searching for the tall frame of my mate and his silver hair that would gleam in the firelight. There was no trace of him in the crowd as I made my way toward the center, hoping to catch even a glimpse of him.

Malachi watched my every move, seeming unwilling to allow me out of his sight, even at an event where I was meant to mingle. Mab wanted me to be sociable, had given me orders through Malachi to make myself welcomed among the Gods. I had no doubt it was so that she could watch my every move and interaction or use me to gatherinformation for her down the line.

With Mab, there was always an ulterior motive.

Rheaghan approached me where I stood in the center, his light green eyes entertained. There was nothing sexual about the assessing stare he swept from my feet up to my face. The maroon of my gown was thin, the fabric breezy as it swept to the side to reveal a line of thigh. The top half of the dress was carved into sharp points that glimmered with gems, cut out to reveal lines of cleavage and breast that barely covered the necessary bits.

“I’ve not yet seen your mate, Princess,” Rheaghan said, lowering his head into the slightest of bows.

I returned the gesture, making sure to drop my curtsy lower than he had. As the King of the Summer Court, he far outranked me. I could show my manners when it didn’t involve showing deference to Mab herself.

I felt her eyes on my back as Rheaghan’s wide mouth spread into a grin of satisfaction. “Now, where did a human girl learn to curtsy like that?” he asked, holding out a hand for me.

I took it, rising smoothly until my feet were properly underneath me once more.

Rheaghan studied the markings on my fingers, running his thumb across the teardrop mark from my blood oath with Fallon.

“I was groomed to be the Lady of my village one day,” I said simply, swallowing as I thought of sharing the rest of the story. Of how gruesome that grooming had been.

Rheaghan must have read the unspoken words, his smile faltering as he nodded his understanding. “My niece has a mark just like this,” he said instead of answering.

Holding his stare, I didn’t offer the information he sought.

He hadn’t asked.

His lips twitched as if he knew exactly what sort of game I was playing. The Fae couldn’t lie, but I wouldn’t tell him the details of my oath with Fallon. He and his sister, for whatever reason, had some sort of bond. Even if I didn’t understand how the male who radiated sunshine could still love the sister who wanted to plunge the world into darkness.

“Dance with me,” he said, using the hand that clutched mine to guide me into position. He lifted it to place his palm facing toward me, allowing me to slide my fingers until they pressed against his.

“What makes you think I know this dance?” I asked, waiting as the song came to an end. There was a lull in the music as the troubadours prepared for the next song, leaving us to stare at one another in challenge.

“I think you know far more than you let on, Princess Estrella,” he said as the music started.

I would never get used to people calling me princess, but I didn’t protest, knowing it would fall on deaf ears.

The violin struck first, the chords of notes floating through the room as Rheaghan led me into the dance. He circled us, our steps slow and methodical—two opponents assessing one another before a battle. In this case, our battle was a dance floor. In a few days’ time, it may very well be the arena.

We moved in harmony as I went through the steps that had been beaten into me as a girl. The perfectly timed movements were an echo of the other Fae moving around me, leaving me to be swept into the dance in ways I’d never been able to before.

There was no punishment for a hand that wasn’t perfectly positioned, or a leg that didn’t extend straight enough. There was only thejoy that came from feeling the music sink into my bones, driving each of my movements with more fluidity than years of practice had provided to me. My only distraction came in the way I watched the throne room doors, waiting for my mate to arrive.

Rheaghan placed his hands on my waist, lifting me and spinning me in time with the others. It forced my attention back to him, to our dance, to find his mouth set in a tight line.

“I suspect he may be a few moments late this evening,” Rheaghan said, answering the unspoken question of where Caldris was. It wasn’t like him to miss any moment of time we could be spending together—under Mab’s watchful eye or not.

“Dare I ask why that might be?” I asked, staring up into the piercing light green of his eyes. The sun-kissed color of his skin seemed so at odds with the coldness of the throne room as he held my gaze.

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