Page 99 of All the Chaos of Constellations
Sarelle chewed on her bottom lip, her shimmering gaze sweeping across the sea of bodies. “Do you think she’ll follow through with such a thing? The very idea is disconcerting and seems to be a rather extreme consequence for the use of a love spell.”
“I tend to agree with you, it does seem…” Novalise trailed off, two bent heads in the far corner of the ballroom catching her eye.
Just beneath one ruby sconce lit with frostfire stood Solarius and her mother. The silvery glow drenched them in a play of faint light and shadow, but from her vantage point, it was easy to discern they were in the throes of a heated discussion. Solarius raked a hand through his shoulder-length hair, a testament to his frustration. Trysta fisted her hands on her hips, a scowl deepening her glower.
She watched as Ariesian walked over to them, attempting to diffuse the situation.
“Sarelle.” Novalise lightly jabbed her sister with her elbow. “Are you seeing this?”
To make it worse, more than one bystander had chosen to hang about and eavesdrop, obviously intrigued by the argument between the matriarch of the Starstorm fae and one of her beloved sons.
“They argue all the time. Mother and Solarius have never gotten along.” Sarelle rose up on her toes, peeking around a couple who stopped in front of her, blocking her view. “At least, not since Father died.”
Novalise contemplated her sister’s words, rolling them around in her mind. She always regarded herself in intimate confidence with Solarius, as he was the one closest to her in age. Had she always been so blind to the animosity developing between him and their mother?
“Don’t worry.” Sarelle reached over and gently patted Novalise’s forearm. “I’m sure they’ll work it out. They always do.”
But when Solarius stalked off, fury brewing around him like a storm cloud, Novalise wasn’t so confident in her sister’s assumption.
She headed off in the same direction as her brother.
“Where are you going?” Sarelle called after her.
She tossed a backward glance over her shoulder. “To speak with Sol.”
Novalise followed Solarius’s retreating frame, squeezing her way between the scuffle of bodies and yelps of shock as he shouldered his way through a line of dancers. She opened her mouth to call out to him, when a shadowy figured stepped directly in her path.
She stumbled into the solid wall of a chest, looking up to find Prince Drake towering over her.
“If you’re going in search of Lord Firebane,” he said, the rich accent from the Northernlands inflecting his tone, crafting each word like a provocative sin, “he isn’t here.”
“I’m not, I was going to—wait. What do you mean, he’s not here?” Novalise skated her teeth along her bottom lip. She’d lost sight of Solarius, and now Asher wasn’t even going to make an appearance. “This ishisparty.”
“Be that as it may, my lady, the Lord of House Emberspire has chosen not to grace us with his presence this evening.” Prince Drake took her hand, hooking it into the crook of his elbow.
“But why?”
“Well, if I had to guess,” Prince Drake mused, bending his head down to whisper in her ear. “I would imagine it has everything to do with you.”
“He’s avoiding me.”
“For lack of a better term.”
Novalise expelled a sigh, disgruntled. She knew he was still upset with her, even though he’d been the one to pull her from the recesses of her mind when the overwhelming surge of panic left her fragmented and shattered by despair for his life. It was his voice she heard, his composure that filled her, and pieced her back together. She had to find him.
“Come.” Prince Drake led her toward the dance floor, where couples twirled in time beneath the churning flames of magic. “Dance with me.”
She pulled back, but her heels slid along the smooth surface of the ballroom as he pulled her. “I can’t, I really need to?—”
“Nonsense,kearsta.” The shadow prince gestured around them. “Everyone is watching.”
But for the first time in a long time, Novalise didn’t care. “No.”
Her refusal hovered in the space between them, the remnants of her confidence dangling precariously in the balance.
“Pardon?” He watched her with cool regard, his dark green eyes frosting over like a forest kissed by winter.
She would not cave beneath the pressure of his intense stare. She was exhausted from being relegated to a life not fully her own, and she would no longer stand for it.
