Page 22 of King of the Damned
I hear the door open behind me and glance up to see Kaius standing there. “Do you mind if I watch you today?” he asks, motioning to an empty wingback chair in the corner of the room that has suddenly appeared.
“Only if you tell me why the entirety of the palace isn’t so depressing for once.” He nods and takes a seat in his chair. “A straight answer this time,” I clarify. He tilts his chin down and rests his ankle on his knee. I spy the hilt of a silver dagger in his boot. There’s a large ruby embedded in the pommel, perfectly matching the shade of the one around his neck.
I never noticed it before, but ever since I touched the ruby and became flooded with his dreadful memories, I’ve come to realize that the gemstone around his neck hums with a dark aura. It’s faint, but I can see and feel it…almost reaching for me, and I find myself wanting to reach back.
“Adelasia,” Kaius whispers, and his hand softly rests on my hip as he looks up at me from the chair. I hadn’t realized that I'd been approaching him slowly, stuck in a trance. “It’s not your fault. It preys on uncorrupted people like you.” His thumb gently brushes over my hip bone. “I won’t let it hurt you.”
“It’s dangerous then?”
“No.”
I chuckle uncomfortably as I back away with my hands pointedly behind my back. “I’m not sure I believe you.”
“It’s not dangerous because I will protect you.”
“Why would you protect me? What am I to you?”
“So many questions.”
“So little answers.”
“Dance, Adelasia,” he warns, though teasingly. He glances down to my feet. “Where are your shoes?”
“Dead,” I say. He raises an eyebrow. “Oh? You wish for further explanation I see.”
He grins. “You’re lucky I enjoy your company. That smart mouth of yours is nothing but trouble.”
I slightly roll my eyes. “When shoes are dead, it means they’re worn out. It causes unnecessary strain on my feet and ankles. I can go through a pair of shoes in just one day if it’s a particularly brutal class. Mine were already on their last leg when I was…taken.”
Something in his face falls then, as if he doesn’t like to remind himself that he’s taken me from my human life.
I shrug my shoulders. “It doesn’t matter,” I whisper, then take a spot in the center of the room and look over my shoulder towards the instruments in the opposite corner from Kaius. “Something cheerful then? To irritate your good master while he broods over there in the corner.”
The instruments seem to perk up and a moment later, the strings begin to play a quick, lovely tune that makes me feel as though I’m racing through a vibrant forest lit by the gentle luminescence of fireflies.
It’s been a long time since I’ve danced like this without my pointe shoes, but after a small adjustment period, I feel…uninhibited. The technical constraints of ballet no longer govern my movements, and I let the music take me to a world filled with light, joy, and laughter. Filled with freedom. Filled with dazzling turns and high leaps and dynamic lines.
The instruments know when my body begins to grow tired and the tune begins to soften and slow. Afterward, when my chest is heaving and my brow is coated in sweat, I look at myself in the mirror and realize that I’m smiling.
My cheeks turn pink when I orient myself and remember Kaius is in the room with me. I look at him, and an unfamiliar shyness overtakes me, as if I’m embarrassed for being so passionate.
Kaius stands up and his long legs carry him over to where I’m standing in a few steps. He cups my cheeks and his eyes flicker towards my lips, as if he intends to kiss me. His mouth parts slightly. The beginning of a word gets stuck in his throat. We stand there for a moment in silence. My chest is still heaving, but no longer from exhaustion.
“You are the most radiant creature I’ve ever seen. Never let anyone steal that from you. Least of all me.”
He runs his hands from my cheeks to my neck, over my shoulders and down my arms until he takes hold of both of my hands. He places one of them on his shoulder and holds the other in his own.
He begins to slowly take small steps until we’re turning in a circle together with me following his lead.
“I didn’t think you could dance…or at least wouldn’t care enough to learn,” I say as his movements become more confident. Our feet and arms begin to sync until we’re moving together as if we’ve been ballroom partners for years.
“I’ve lived a lot of lifetimes,” is all he offers in explanation. “The reason everyone is so…happy today is because it’s nearly the full moon. Every quarter-year, we like to celebrate our immortality with a feast and a ball.”
My stomach turns at his use of the word ‘feast’. What else could that mean to vampires other than blood?
“I thought you were cursed…why would you celebrate that?”
“Iwascursed,” he confirms. “But not all vampires hate being immortal as I do. Where would their loyalty go if they discovered their King despises them?”
