Page 16 of The Never List
The term of endearment shoots lava through my veins. I’m suddenly starved, but not for food.
“You know what I mean,” I say, rolling my eyes. “Do you work in the royal city?” I assume from the cut of his suit and the detail in his mask that he has to live here, or in one of the Legends’ cities at the very least.
“Sometimes,” he says simply.
Dangerous. He’s danger and thrill personified and so damn tempting. It would be too easy to distract myself with him tonight, to fall into whatever spell he’s weaving and let him help me forget that I’ve failed, forget that I’m no closer to finding my sister and that I’m still just an Ashlander in a pretty dress.
“Where are you from?” he asks. “I haven’t seen you here before.”
“Do you memorize every Choosing’s guest list?”
The hand on the small of my back flexes. “Dodging my question,” he says, his voice like liquid honey. His indigo eyes fall to my lips. “Better than lying. Maybe that mouth is warming up to me.”
“Sounds like you have an issue with liars,” I say, noting he’s brought it up twice.
“I hate liars,” he says smoothly. “Lumathyst is filled with them.”
“Yes,” I say. “And the biggest ones usually have the deepest pockets.” I bite my lip, instantly regretting my retort.
Shock churns in his eyes.
The music fades, the song ending, and I step out of his embrace.
“Thanks for the dance,” I say with a wink.
“Don’t I get another?”
“Time’s up.”
Something tugs on me the farther I get away from him, but I ignore it as I finally make my way to Ivy and Layce.
“It’s midnight,” the announcer says. “Time for the Legends to announce the potential mate of their Choosing.”
“Who was the guy?” Ivy leans down, whispering the question in my ear.
My eyes immediately dart to where I’d left him, but he’s no longer there. I scan the crowd but can’t find him. “No one,” I say, my chest tightening. Except maybe someone worth sneaking over borders for. I didn’t get his name, though. Probably for the best.
“Didn’t look like no one,” she says. “Not the way you were dancing.”
I wave her off, still searching for him.
The kings rise from their thrones, raising their glasses as the Legends make their way to the stage.
“Wait—” I glance at Ivy, then the dais, as the men who were announced as the Legends don’t budge an inch. Instead, three men emerge from the crowd in suits of ruby, emerald, and sapphire, climbing the stairs to stand with their backs to the kings.
Their masks… They all look…
“Bait and switch,” Ivy says, impressed, and Layce laughs at the trick.
But I can’t share in their impressed intrigue. I’m too busy feeling the floor shift beneath my feet.
“Thank you all for coming,” the one in the suit of sapphire says, his voice deep and coarse. “With so many amazing and eligible potentials, it’s never an easy decision. On behalf of the Legends of Chaos, we want you all to know how grateful we are that each of you came to meet us. So,for tonight, the number of the potential is—”
Another man cuts in front of him, a pair of indigo eyes finding me through the crowd.
No. Fucking. Way.
“Thirteen,”he says, that silken voice awakening every nerve ending in my body. “The Legends of Chaos choose number thirteen.”
