Page 5 of A Duchess to Unravel
“Calypso,” she replied.
“Ah,” he remarked. “I should have known. The daughter of the Titan, Atlas. Known for her beauty and mischief.”
A giggle broke from Theo’s lips, enjoyment seeping through her body and washing the tension from earlier away. Cernunnos looked at her is if he enjoyed the sound and took another step toward her.
“Tell me something, Calypso,” he implored, swirling the wine in his glass. “What brings you here?”
Theo shrugged.
“I suppose the same reasons that bring you here,” she replied.
“Nay,” he chuckled, “I came for a wee dally with a free-minded lass. But you?”
He paused, shaking his head.
“I’ve watched ye since ye arrived, and ye’ve only danced and conversed. Flirtatiously, I’ll give ye that,” he added the last bit with a smirk, his dark eyes glittering with approval, “I could be wrong, but I dinnae think ye be the type of lass to go farther than that.”
Theo looked down at her wine, feeling uncomfortable with how easily he had read her.
“What if I am, um, the sort of ‘lass’ that prefers a dance and conversation before getting to more decadent matters?” She asked.
“Are ye?” He asked quickly, his head tilting with curiosity.
She let out a light laugh, raised the glass to her lips, but didn’t look back at his eyes.
“I suppose not,” she confessed, “But the rules of the Masquerade dictate that I am allowed to choose how far I want to go.”
“As they should,” Cernunnos said with a nod, “But I ask ye, why do that here, when you can have dancing and conversing at any ball?”
She shifted her eyes to him as he took a long, studying look over her body, noting how he lightly grazed his teeth over his bottom lip as he did so. She suddenly pictured those lips grazing over her navel, and her cheeks flushed.
“Ye are nobility.” He went on, starting to walk a slow circle around her. “I can see it in the way ye hold yourself. Hear it in the way ye speak. Ye be the type of woman that can command. A true lady. Yet ye think of yourself as a wallflower. So, I ask ye again, why de ye come here?”
Theo’s nerves began to hum with discomfort. No man had ever paid such close attention to her. Not at the masquerade or the countless balls or parties she’d attended with theton.
“Ye were not afraid to go toe-to-toe with that fool on the dance floor, but now ye shy away from a question?” He asked, his smirk returning. “Aye, ye are a fascinating lass.”
Theo tried to fight the smile that tugged at her lips, but it broke free along with a laugh.
“I like the masks,” she confessed, then stroked her hand down her dress. “I like the fashion, better, too. I can be wild, free here. I do not need to be prim or well-behaved. I do not need to endure gossip with a sweet smile. Here I can just … be.”
Cernunnos studied her quietly, some emotion she could not identify shifting through his dark eyes.
“Ye wish to be free.”
It wasn’t a question.
“Yes,” she breathed, then cleared her throat as another bout of startling honesty took over her.
“In our society I am not deemed good enough in many ways. I am the well-named wallflower. And I think my peers prefer that of me.”
“Why?” Cernunnos asked.
“The way I think. The way I look.”
“I dinnae see anything wrong with the way ye, look, Calypso,” he retorted quickly, his eyes raking down her body again. “I would even venture to say that your body is perfect. Far better than any other woman possesses.”
Heat washed through Theo’s body at the blatant compliment, but her fingers moved to brush the bottom of her mask.
