Page 49 of Fly to Fury
It took the crowd a few moments to quiet somewhat, though that silence disappeared into clapping and cheers as Tenian Daefiel glided onto the stage again, his golden hair flowing artfully around his shoulders as he waved.
Margaret Grey scurried onto the stage after him, her shoulders hunched as if to make herself more invisible. She clutched a book in her hands as if the slim paperback would shield her from the crowd.
Before the intermission, Tenian Daefiel had performed a scene for them from the latest book with Margaret Grey, stumbling and blushing, filling in for the role of the lead actress.
Now, the authoress perched on one of the two chairs, her face slightly white as the officer handed her a wooden bullhorn. She juggled the bulky, flared bullhorn and fumbled to open the paperback to a spot marked with a slip of paper.
She cleared her throat, shot a glance at the crowd, and read from the book in a shaking voice that didn’t carry over the crowd even with the bullhorn.
Various people in the crowd shushed each other, but the ambient noise of several hundred people breathing, shuffling their feet, munching on popcorn, and shifting inthe creaky metal chairs remained loud in the confined space.
Pip stuffed more popcorn into her mouth, chewed, and chased the popcorn down with a swig of root beer. Oh, well. Even if she couldn’t hear the reading from the latest book, at least the snacks were good.
And the company was better. Fieran stretched his arm along the back of Pip’s chair, and Pip slid down on the metal seat until the back of her head rested against Fieran’s arm. She could barely see the stage over the shoulder of the elf in front of her, and her rear end would go to sleep before too long, slouching as she was, but for the moment she could pretend she and Fieran were more in a relationship than they presently were.
Margaret Grey must have reached a spot in the book with dialogue from Star Forest because she blushed and shot a glance at Tenian Daefiel, her voice trailing off.
After an awkwardly long pause, Tenian Daefiel leaned over, snatched the book from the author’s shaking fingers, and proceeded to read the line, his voice modulated so that it carried over the crowd even without the bullhorn. “How might I rescue you, my lady? For you rescued my soul long ago.”
Somehow he managed to make the rather cheesy line sound utterly natural.
Fieran leaned over the bag of popcorn that had somehow ended up balanced partially on her lap and partially on his to whisper into her ear, “I think he likes her.”
“Star Forest?” Pip straightened to better whisper back, sad as she was to lose Fieran’s arm as her pillow. “That’s the whole point of the entire series.”
Margaret Grey’s face grew even more red, and she snatched the book back from the actor. When she spoke intothe bullhorn again, her voice had steadied to the point that it actually carried over the crowd.
“No. Tenian Daefiel likes Margaret Grey.” Fieran flicked a glance in their direction before he grabbed another handful of popcorn.
“Are you sure? He seems like the type to flirt with everyone.” Pip reached for more popcorn too, her hand grazing Fieran’s.
At the next section of Star Forest’s dialogue, Tenian Daefiel claimed the book again, reading those lines as Pip imagined he would sound, if his words could be heard in the moving pictures. The author’s jaw worked, her eyes flashing, but she didn’t snatch the book back.
“Perhaps he’s the type who flirts to hide his true self from the world.” Fieran’s tone deepened as his head tilted near Pip’s, those words holding an extra depth.
“Maybe.” Pip lifted her root beer and tipped it in the direction of the stage. “Well, she’s attracted to him. She doesn’t want to admit it and hates that she is, but it’s there.”
“Really? She seems steaming mad at him at the moment.” Fieran raised his eyebrows.
Onstage, Margaret Grey accepted the book back and read the next part of the book. When it came time for Star Forest to speak again, she thrust the book at Tenian Daefiel, as if, although she was still angry, she’d decided that she had no choice but to let the actor insert himself into what should have been her moment.
“She’s angry that he’s just steamrolling over her without asking her opinions first or letting her have a choice in the manner.” The words hit a little too close to home, and Pip had to drop her gaze away from Fieran. She fussed with her handful of popcorn, though she didn’t eat any.
“Then she should speak up to him about it. If he likes her,he will listen to her.” Fieran was still looking down at Pip, and when she peeked up at him, his bright blue eyes remained fixed solely on her.
“Maybe she’s afraid.” Pip swallowed as she held Fieran’s gaze. “He’s so famous, and she’s just a normal person.”
Would Fieran hear the extra layer of truth in her voice and see it in her eyes? This wasn’t the spot she’d envisioned telling him about the doubts and fears churning inside her.
Fieran held her gaze for a long, aching moment. Then he blinked and faced the stage again, waving a hand. “She’s the famous authoress Margaret Grey. She’s hardly a normal person either.”
And the moment was gone. Pip released a long, shaky breath and sagged back against the hard metal seat behind her.
Chapter
Seventeen
Fieran whipped one of his swords up to block Dacha’s strike. His magic hummed through his veins, coursing through him even as he let some twine around his fingers and down his swords. As his blade clashed with Dacha’s, their magic sparked against each other, a point of white-hot power that could explode outward if he and Dacha didn’t hold their magic in check.
