Page 53 of Trials of Dusk and Dreams
Legion stares at me. Something like longing flickers in his eyes before they turn cold, and he returns to Bodin. “I will ask her about the elixir.”
“Um. Thanks?” I wave my hand. They’re talking about me like I’m not here.
All eyes land on me. Stare.
“You have juice all over you,” Legion notes, and I laugh.
This feels good. I like it.
Chapter 22
Willow
“Do you think anyone will notice if I steal a few Chaser charms on the dancefloor?” I ask absently. “So many of them dangle unprotected, ripe for the picking.”
Styx deadpans and replies, “We can’t repurpose charms already keyed to others.”
“I knew that.” I blush.
He gives me an unimpressed look and then scours the crowd, ignoring me. It both riles me and confuses me. My emotions have been hard to regulate since the mate bond connected but then disconnected. It’s like my hormones are bouncing back into me, furious they have nowhere to go for relief. That scent-marking thing is starting to feel like a really good option for more reasons than my perversive fantasies.
My heart soars when a familiar tune comes on, and the mostly mortal crowd cheers. Grinning, I look at my companions and shout, “It’s my Aunt Melody’s song! She used to be famous in the old world.”
“I remember.” Legion’s lips twitch.
“This is a sign,” I groan. “Who wants to dance with me?”
I look at them expectantly, my grin still on my lips.
Legion shakes his head. “I don’t dance.”
“Neither do I,” Bodin grumps.
“I do.” Styx sidesteps Legion to walk toward me but then smashes his shoulder against mine as he passes. “But not with you.”
I watch him stroll into the dancing crowd, and my grin broadens. I should be angry at his mercurial behavior toward me, but I’m not. Melody’s song is on. I stare at the remaining two.
“Come on,” I plead. “This is the last night we get to mingle like this in public! It will be fun.”
They don’t move, so I start walking backward, trailing my finger down my neck and dipping into my juice-covered cleavage before sucking my finger suggestively.
“Guess I’ll find someone else to dance with, then,” I tease.
Legion palms Bodin between the shoulder blades, and he stumbles toward me. It’s hard to fight my triumph, but when Legion strides behind him, expression hot, I raise my arms and thank the stars in the sky.
I wind around the loners, skirt the main thriving mass, and climb onto the grassed dais. Alfie’s familiar russet hair is a few yards away. His green eyes lock with mine and fill with emotion before hardening as he takes in who is behind me. Dahlia and Becky are beside him, cheering and singing along to the music. Two other female Chasers I don’t recognize listen avidly to something he says. My first thought is that he’s boasting he knew Melody, but then I remember he hasn’t told anyone where we came from. While he never went to the extremes I did, he’s as ashamed as me about our past. Or maybe he’s just ashamed of me.
Legion tugs my shoulder.
“Just here,” he barks, pointing to a spot near a pole.
Fine with me. I’d rather stay far away from thatfloateranyway. With a sigh, I lift my chin and inhale deeply, taking the scent of my mates into my lungs. I lift my hair off my neck. The sensation feels so good on my skin. But it feels even better when I let it all cascade down and leave my hands swaying in time to the music as I saw Styx do earlier. I close my eyes and remember Melody trying to cheer me up last year before she celebrated Christmas with the other old-worlders.
“Sugar, give me a song, any song, and I’ll sing it for you.” She squishes her curvaceous body next to Forrest on the sofa in the Guardian’s house.
“That one you sang when Uncle Forrest stole you away from Crystal City.”
“By John Farnham?”
