Page 50 of Born of Starlight
“I’d like to walk down to the lake. I will find my way to the inn later.” I forced my feet to move away from the square.
The new bonds I’d formed with Emmerick and Fen seemed to have broken so easily.How could theynothate me?I caused what we’d seen in Kullworth—myvisions, my words.
“I’ll join you.”
Emmerick’s words surprised me.
“Stay out of trouble,” he warned Fen, who grunted a response with a dismissive shrug. Emmerick seemed to be warming to the warlock—at least he hadn’t suggested the cuffs again. Maybe their hatred toward me was what they needed to get along.
Fenris didn’t follow us down to the water. Instead, he walked toward a footbridge over the river that fed into the lake’s depths, toward the direction I’d watched them take to the inn.
“I didn’t know,” I said quietly as we neared the water.
“I understand.” Emmerick glanced over at me. “I’m sorry forhowI told you. It was unfair. I could have warned you what you might see…”
“You don’t need to apologize for how you speak to me or what you withhold. I deserved the reproach of those people.”
“Regardless, I didn’t need to be an ass about it.” He offered me a weak smile that quickly faded. “My Queen… she’s worried about your Sisters’ decisions recently. She wouldn’t put it in the letter—she was afraid to. So, when you reached out to her, it gave her hope. That maybe you were different, that maybe you could change their ways.”
Afraid.My mind snagged on that word.Afraid of us—people who were supposed to protect the Corridors and uphold an Order to maintain peace.But I’d just witnessed what it actually was doing to the realm.
“How are you feeling?” He seemed genuinely concerned as he looked away to observe a flock of waterfowl gracefully floating across the water.
“Confused…” I answered. “Angry, and if I’m being honest, sick with myself.”
“The fact that you feel that way…that truly is hope for us.”
The music from the band in the square poured out over the lake in a rhythmic, hypnotic tune. The melancholy warmth of the violin, married with an uplifting flute, made me sway. I imagined the quadrille dancers. The thought of their movement calmed my mind, and I found myself swaying to the sound.
“Do you want to dance, Lady Asterie?” Emmerick must have caught my muted movement in his peripheral vision.
Still with the formality. “Asterie,” I corrected.
“Do you want to dance,Asterie?”
“There are stories about what happens when you dance with an Enchantress of the night sky under the moonlight. Unfortunately, those stories are all very true—or so I’ve been told.”
I pointed at the moon that peaked above the treeline.
“Plus, who could dance at a time likethis?” I added.
“I am aware of the stories,” he said unwaveringly. “And my mother has a saying—‘Look for the brightest sides of your darkest days.’”
He outstretched his hand.
My lips quirked into an involuntary smile, and I shook my head.
“C’mon.” He impatiently fluttered his fingers.
I had never danced before, but Emmerick seemed an honorable choice to learn from. The wary look in his eye told me he might need a distraction too.
“Alright, but you will need to keep your wits about you,” I warned. “The texts say everything will shift, except my voice…so, if you get confused, let go and listen to my voice.”
He rolled his eyes and matched my measured tone. “I will know who I am dancing with and who I am not.”
“Very well.” My heart skipped a beat—todance.It seemed such an absurdly normal thing to do after everything we had witnessed that day.
Upon taking Emmerick’s hand, my own hand grew slightly smaller. If Emmerick was surprised by my features contorting in the moonlight, he didn’t show it. Instead, he pulled me close enough to position my left hand at his waist and took my other hand in his. It felt unnatural and incredibly awkward.
