Page 169 of Swords of Soul and Shadow
Kase’s entire face shone as he grabbed her hand and dragged her to where her parents and the others were still dancing.
The music was happy and bright, and Kase’s arms were around her as they spun around the fire, interweaving with the other couples. His laughter was full of the sunshine she hadn’t properly seen in days, not a single shadow of his past to dim it. She hoped hers matched.
Music flitted around the dancers like wind through the forest trees, light and lilting, rich and dulcet. She sang half the words, not knowing them all or caring to remember them from her sketchbook notes. Even if she had, the dancing left her too out of breath to sing them all.
“Didn’t realize you had a voice,” Kase said, eyebrow raised as he spun her around with one hand holding hers tightly, the other lightly skimming her waist. “I’m disappointed this is my first time hearing you sing, even if I can’t understand a single word.”
“It’s not nice to tease,” she said with a laugh.
Kase wrapped his arm around her waist and dipped her low, and her breath left her chest. He whipped her back up and spun.
She panted. “That’s not part of the dance!”
“Then teach me, birdy.”
“Birdy?”
He turned the dance into a sort of ridiculously stiff tango, which did not go with the beat in the slightest. “For songbird. Not my best work, I’ll admit.”
“And why is that?”
He pulled her so close, she could scarcely breathe. He bent down, his lips close to her ear. “Well, I’m a bit distracted.”
“Oh, really?” she asked, trying not to shiver as his lips didn’t move from her ear.
“I’m dancing with the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. Distraction can’t be helped.”
Heat blazed from her core, causing her to stumble, but he already had her tight in his grip. “Whoa, whoa. You’ve already got me, birdy. No need to throw yourself at me.”
She pulled back and swatted his shoulder. “Now you’re just being cocky.”
The heat dwindled to a simmer. Her power had come back—or maybe it was just the way Kase was looking at her.
At that moment, she didn’t care which one it was.
Kase spun her out from him and back before the song ended. They broke apart briefly to clap. Hallie ignored the looks her mother threw her way from a few feet to the right. So much for being on her side.
The song slowed once more. This time, Fely stepped up to the fiddler and lent her voice to the performance, low and rich and a little sultry. Kase threaded his fingers through hers. “Dance with me again?” He gave her that stupid cocky grin again. “But I’ll have you know, I’m not sharing you with anyone.”
“That’s a little selfish, don’t you think?”
“Never.”
His hands found the curve of her waist, and Hallie joined her fingers at the back of his neck. It was torment not to stand up on the tips of her toes and kiss him, but she didn’t. Not yet. She didn’t fancy a lecture from her mother about it later.
A few more Jaydians joined, including Jove and Clara. Samuel wasn’t in sight. Probably off with Lady Davey, for it was rather late in the evening.
Hallie vaguely recognized a few of the other Jaydians from her days at the Crowne Haven Inn when they appeared with rations in their hands. They greeted the fiddler and a few of the Yalvs. It warmed Hallie’s heart to see it. Seemed like her work before she’d left for the Nardens was finally paying off. Jove and Clara headed toward where Saldr stood conversing with a few other Yalven men.
A flash of blond caught her eye before her gaze turned back to Kase.
Niels. Her heart flew into her throat. He was awake and seemingly fine enough to leave the hospital ward.
Kase tightened his hands at her waist as he followed her line of sight. His eyebrows rose. “That’s a little unexpected.”
Hallie tried to shrug off the unease that entered her gut. She was relieved he was all right, at least for now. The ripped veil holding in his soul couldn’t be repaired—Fely had warned them it was only a matter of time before he fell back into a comatose state. Seemed like the soul from her fire earlier in the day had done some good, though…even if a tree had to suffer for it.
Kase brushed her forearm. “Are you okay? We can go ask how he’s…Hallie?”
