I level him with a stare. “I intend to win.”
“As do the rest of us,” Ace replies before running a hand over his oiled hair, chuckling. “Well, all of us except for Paedyn, who simply intends to survive.”
He’s mocking her answer from the interviews.
Hera squirms in her seat beside Ace, clearly as uncomfortable as the rest of the table. And what I’m about to say is going to make things a hell of a lot worse.
“Enough.”
Kitt’s voice cuts through the tension, turning all eyes on him. But he only has eyes for one person, one girl wearing the glittering dress beside him as he says, “Dance with me, will you? Please?”
Paedyn hesitates for only a moment before nodding. And then I’m staring after them as they stride onto the dance floor where several other couples have begun spinning in time to the music.
Blair is suddenly saying something to me, dragging me to my feet before dragging me onto the dance floor. I don’t remember when we started dancing. Suddenly, she’s in my arms, and we are spinning across the marble floor. The feel of her is foreign to me after the nights spent with Paedyn in my arms. Nights that I still haven’t told Kitt about.
I was doing him a favor.
My eyes wander across the dance floor, landing on my brother and the girl in his arms. I’m not wearing green, but I feel it, nonetheless. Envy claws at me as I watch them step in time to the very waltz I led Paedyn through only last night. She looks elegant, enticing, entrancing.
What the hell is wrong with me?
I turn away from their spinning forms, angry with myself for feeling. Feeling jealousy and possessiveness over the one girl who’s made it clear that I shouldn’t.
So, I distract myself. I dance with Blair and other beautiful women who sweep me onto the dance floor. I flirt and toy with them, focusing on the girls in front of me rather than the one dancing close by with my brother.
I catch her watching me and our eyes lock, sparks dancing between us.
She is the embodiment of a bad decision. The twin of danger and desire. The fine line between deadly and divine.
And I can feel myself drowning.
Chapter Twenty-One
Paedyn
The world spins around me, green and black blurring together. I gasp, caught off guard by the spin before I’m suddenly pulled back into strong arms, the faint smell of spices and deep laughter washing over me.
“Sorry, I thought you were ready for it,” Kitt chuckles, green eyes daring me to look into them.
“A better dancer would have been,” I say with a small smile, my eyes roaming around the room instead of meeting his. The ballroom is like nothing I’ve ever seen before with its windows, pillars, and beautiful molding. I’m stunned by the sheer size and elegance surrounding me.
The people filling the space fit in perfectly with the surroundings, all of them groomed and graceful. The men garbed in deep black while the women are draped in every shade of green.
Well, every woman but me.
Adena was stunned into the silence for the very first time when I told her I wanted a silver dress. I needed to stand out. Needed to remind the people of their Silver Savior. And since there is no rule declaring that women must wear green, the only risk in showing up in silver was drawing more attention to myself if I trip all over the dance floor.
So many eyes, so many people watching as I descended the stairs. So many gazes sweeping over my body, skimming over the slitted dress and dagger beneath. Even now, I’m being watched. They all look at me with varying levels of intrigue, some with curiosity and others with scrutiny. I’m not sure I’ll be winning these peoples’ votes tonight, but I am certainly making myself hard to forget.
I look up at Kitt, his blond hair appearing even lighter against the dark suit cut close to his figure. He looks…handsome. Charming.
Like his father. He looks like his father.
“Are you ready for tomorrow?” he asks softly, still spinning me slowly.
My eyes snap to his of their own accord. “Am I supposed to be?”
He almost laughs, but instead says, “No. You’re not.”
“And does that seem fair to you?” I blurt before I can stop myself. “These Trials?”
The song comes to an end, our dancing doing the same. I feel his gaze wandering over my face even after I look away, as if he is searching for the answer there. Then he sighs. “Why don’t I get us something to drink?”
I blink. Despite him evading my question, I nod in answer to his. He looks around at the men crowding the dance floor, several suddenly staring in our direction. “And I suppose I’ll share you with everyone else, if only for a few dances.” He smiles before giving me a slight bow of his head and striding away.
As soon as the future king turns his back, a tall young man meets me on the dance floor and sweeps into a bow. I politely accept his offer to dance and don’t have time to be nervous before his arms are encircling me. I can’t help but feel a pinch of pride at how well I keep up with his long strides, and we talk idly while spinning across the floor.
When a new waltz strums to life, a new partner steals me away. I’m suddenly folded between the arms of a young man, seemingly my age, with pale blue hair meticulously styled atop his head.
“I would have never guessed you were a Mundane from the slums by the looks of you,” he says, his gaze roaming greedily up and down my body. I shift uncomfortably in his tight grasp clamped around my waist, feeling the reassuring weight of my dagger strapped to my thigh. If it weren’t for the favor of the people I’m trying to earn, that little comment would have earned him a fist to the face. His voice is lower than before when he says, “You’re a vision.”
“She is, isn’t she?”
My heart skips a beat. The voice coming from over my shoulder is so cold I nearly shiver. Kai brushes my arm as he steps around me, facing the stunned boy still clutching me to him.
“I’ll be stealing her now,” Kai says simply, completely aware of how inappropriate it is to cut in during the middle of a dance. But, then again, he is the prince, the next Enforcer, a cocky bastard.
The man’s hand drops slowly from my waist, his eyes flicking over me one last time before he offers Kai a quick bow and steps away. The prince doesn’t miss a beat. I’m in his arms before the musicians’ finish drawing out their note.
He feels too familiar.
We fit together perfectly, pieces of a puzzle snapping into place. I shouldn’t let myself relax into his touch. Shouldn’t let the tension ease from my body when he holds me. But I can do nothing to stop it. Utterly and completely powerless.
His palm is flat and firm against my exposed back, callouses brushing my flushed skin. “You looked like you needed saving,” Kai says, and I catch a glimpse of his smirk before he spins me.
“For once,” I sigh, “I’m going to have to agree with you.”
“I’m sure I could think of other things we agree on.”
“Oh really? And what would those things be?”
“That he was right,” Kai says softly. “You are a vision. I’m sure we can both agree on that.”
I swallow, my heart beginning to pound a rapid beat I choose to ignore. Unsure of what to say to him, I instead ask, “And what other things do we agree on?”