Page 93 of What Lurks Between the Fates

The power I’d come to associate with the Gods pulsed off him. It spoke to something related to nature coating my skin. His felt like the familiar rush of the harvest—like foliage and decayed leaves upon the ground.

“My name is Kahlo, Estrella. I am the King of the Autumn Court and the God of Beasts,” he said, his head tipping to the side in that way that was purely Fae. More animal than man. He dropped our hands lower, only holding me with a few fingers as he studied me.

“Ah,” I said, glancing toward where the Queen of the Autumn Court danced with another male. She smiled up at him, her face lit in ways that defied the mood of the Tithe.

I guessed mine hadn’t been much different when I first danced with Rheaghan, feeling the joy of the music. “Shouldn’t you be dancing with your wife?” I asked, pursing my lips as I raised a brow at him.

He chuckled, the deep sound sliding across my skin. “Let her have her fun. She is my wife, not my mate. We each enjoy the company of others,” he said.

I swallowed as my cheeks flushed, opening my mouth to speak when Kahlo spun me out of turn. I kept my feet beneath me, rising up onto my toes until I danced into a familiar embrace.

Caldris wrapped one arm around me as he caught my hand with his in the other.

“Having fun, Little One?” he growled, seamlessly guiding me into the movements of the dance.

I turned to look back at Kahlo, finding him striding away and leaving me to my mate. I forced myself to quiet my concerns and my anger over all that he’d kept from me, turning back to stare up into Caldris’s icy gaze.

“Jealous?” I asked, sinking my teeth into my bottom lip.

His gaze dropped to it immediately, a groan rattling in his chest. He spun me to face the opposite direction, pressing his body close to mine—closer than was necessary or appropriate for the dance—as I crossed my arms over my stomach and held one of his hands in each.

His warmth sank into my spine, soothing the frayed edges his secret had caused. “Always,” he murmured, his breath brushing over my neck. My eyes met Malazan’s where she danced with the other male who had entered with them—her stare fixated on where my mate melded himself to my body.

I swayed as I spun back to face Caldris, cutting her off from my view and deeming her unworthy of my attention. His eyes gleamed as he stared down at me, and it was then that I saw the hollowness I’d missed.

The agony in that stare as he looked at me, knowing that he was keeping secrets and contributing to my future pain. I sighed, reaching up to cup his cheek and draw him down to me.

“I forgive you,” I whispered, stretching up onto my toes to touch my lips to his.

He’d sacrificed himself—given his own body and pain—to protect me from the same. No matter the consequence of that, the least I could do was forgive him for doing everything in his power to protect me.

I’d deal with those who deserved my ire later, but for now, I allowed my mate to wrap me in his embrace and guide me through the dance. He didn’t ask what I’d forgiven him for, his lips parting slightly as he looked at me.

The guilt I found there nearly stole the breath from my lungs. He wouldn’t ask me what I’d forgiven him for, not when doing so might force him to reveal what he couldn’t.

Instead, we danced in silence, our secrets hanging between us. I knew his secret, but he couldn’t know what I planned to do with it.

The weight of that was mine alone to bear.

33

Caldris

I left my mate to her dancing later that evening, stepping to the side and allowing her to shine. And dance, she did, allowing Kahlo to spin her at the center of the room. The Fae around her watched as she smiled, her face lit with the joy she so rarely got to experience. Even Mab stood from her throne as Estrella raised her hands, tiny, shimmering stars rising from her opened palms.

She sent them up toward the ceiling, beaming up at them as they cast the appearance of a night sky down upon the previously haunted throne room. Rheaghan looked at my mate, approaching her side and drawing her away from the God of Beasts so that he could dance with her once more. Kahlo glared at the God of the Sun, his displeasure in having his dance partner stolen by his enemy evident, but Estrella was oblivious to the fight brewing between them. It had been centuries since they’d last tried to kill one another in an all-out brawl.

They were overdue.

Rheaghan slid a hand around the small of Estrella’s back, taking her for a turn around the apex of the room as he raised his hand. He extinguished the flames in the cages, winking them out one by one as they made their slow, methodical circle.

The room plunged into darkness, only the stars above to light the dance floor. Mab stepped down from her throne, descending the dais. But mymate held the room captivated, her laughter striking me deep in the place where the thread of our bond connected with my heart.

No one turned to look at the Queen of Air and Darkness as she approached the edge of the dance floor. No one bothered to ask her to dance. I joined her from the side where I’d taken up vigil in watching the love of my life seduce the Gods to her side with nothing but the shine of her inner light.

“They can’t take their eyes off her,” I said, keeping my voice low.

Mab spun to look at me. Her eyes narrowed into a glare as she huffed and turned back to the room of her followers. Of her minions and those she’d bound to obey her.

---