Page 81 of A Kingdom of Shadows

Our eyes meet once again through the masks and he tilts his head as we move at a slower pace than others. "So, Goldie, did you ever plan on telling me today was your birthday?"

"Does it matter if I'd told you or not?"

"Yes, for starters, I would have made you a birthday pie."

I snort. "I'd have refused to eat it."

"And wasted a delicious pie?" He tsks. "That's terrible behavior, Goldie, though one I should be accustomed to when it comes to you."

I smack the side of his jacket, and he laughs. "When is yours?" I ask and add, "Your birthday. When is it?"

He doesn't answer straight away. Instead, he dips me and brings me back up again. "The 21st of June."

Shock climbs its way up my throat, the realization spearing me like a sword.

Summer Solstice... Noctura. "You—"

"Attended the Noctura ball on my birthday?" His lips stretch out into a grin. "I quite like to think seeing your surprised face that night when I appeared as the best gift of all."

All that time, it had been his birthday. A day he risked everything to see me. "Was stealing the pendant part of those birthday gifts?"

He chuckles, mouth closed. "Something like that."

"Then I suppose we are even on not telling each other beforehand when our birthdays were."

"Well, I had a reason, Goldie. You—" He lowers his head, our lips almost touching. "On the other hand, I'm not sure what the reasoning was."

My throat bobs. "Is that you hinting at a question?"

"I have infinite questions I can ask you, Goldie, and that I can promise you will never stop."

I look away in resignation and sigh. "Birthdays no longer meant anything to me after my parents died."

His silence is agonizingly painful.

I glance back at him. He's staring at me like the other day in the Melwraith mountains.

"Mine too," he says with similar solemnity just as the music picks up and everyone cheers and dances without a partner in sight. Other Elves are chatting excitedly, staring up at the sky as the world is cloaked in the brightest stars that not even the sun can outdo.

Darius draws back. The space where his hand was on my waist turns cold and empty as he lets go.

I don't want it to be over.

I want to be selfish.

"Wait," I say, not daring to look at his eyes. "I know I'm angry at you, for everything—for Faye, for kissing me... I just—" I exhale. "I don't want to let go of this just yet." Glancing up through my lashes as the tip of the cutouts in my mask cover it, I see how he's staring at me, like something is squeezing his heart just as mine is. He nods without a word, and I don't have to say anything else for him to understand what I mean as he pulls me toward him in a soft embrace. His arms encase me with warmth, and my cheek rests against his chest as he lowers his chin on my head.

I nestle into him like I can't get enough, and all we do is sway even to the upbeat sound of the fiddle. Closing my eyes, I breathe him in. It makes me think of home and how I share my vulnerable side with him. I don't hate it. In fact, it puts me at ease, guides me, and, more so, it feels... just right.

* * *

An hour later, I am back to staring at the Elves celebrating. Except this time, I'm inside the grand hall. I would have been content to stay outdoors with Darius, but a male elf had asked him to dance, and in my selfishness, I recognized we couldn't stay that way forever.

No matter what part of me wished it so.

"You danced beautifully with Darius," a sweet, wistful voice says from behind. I twist from the pillar I'm resting on, and my stomach curls as I face Faye. She is stunning in a shimmering white neck holder with a colorful shoulder cape that looks handmade, yet no mask shields her deep bronze skin. "I think I even saw you glow," she continues, her pouting lip tilting up at the side.

"That was a one-time thing." I fiddle with the side of my dress, suddenly uncomfortable in it. "I don't want to come between you two. I think you both look wonderful together."

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