Page 92 of Born of Starlight
“May I cut in?” My words were a playful drawl intended for Asterie. The nobleman balked—he recognized me and was about to concede.
“You may not.”Oh, my strange beauty. Challenge accepted.
Fear-stricken panic settled into the features of the man who stood between us. He dropped her hand.
“I…” The man fumbled over his words. “I shall fetch you a drink, Lady Asterie.”
The noble scurried off quicker than a rat caught raiding a pantry. Asterie was left with her mouth agape. That perfect mouth—and that slight gap in her front teeth—on full display.I wanted to slide my tongue across it.
For fuck’s sake. Why couldn’t I just think normal thoughts in her presence?
Her face was flushed with anger. Even that didn’t make me want her less.
She took my hand reluctantly, and I led her to a corner with more privacy. I savored the feel of her fingers in mine.
“I couldn’t stand to watch you step on any more feet.”
As soon as the jab landed, she moved to turn away. My grasp on her hand tightened, and I spun her to face me. She braced her arms against my chest, looking like she might raise them and pound them against me.
I smirked. She’d become so easy to rile. “Humor me—dance with someone who can actually guide you.”
The music began with a somberly sweet and slow-paced tune. It would have been wise to put more distance between us. I wasn’t wise when it came to her.
She spun gently away from me as we danced silently before her body rebounded and pressed into mine. I had one dance before she would return to wanting to stab or behead me. I’d make it count.
“You’re right.” She spoke the words softly into my neck.
I leaned back only enough to seek her eyes. “While I love those words, what am I right about, exactly?”
She glanced over my shoulder nervously. “I’ve been righteous. What happened to the Kruthins, it was my fault—there is blood on my hands too.”
She’d grown heavier, as though her knees had gone out. I lifted her up to her feet and swayed.
She continued, “All the while, the moonstone isn’t guiding me anymore. It hasn’t been for weeks…it still won’t show me anything.Then there’s this connection with you and…I’m not sure what I’m supposed to feel about any of it.”
She swallowed hard after pouring her concerns out to me like an open spigot. I held her there against me, forgetting entirely how to dance.
Fuck—tears.All my senses faltered. I could hear nothing of the party around us, see nothing but her. I reached up and wiped away a tear with my thumb.
I whispered, “I shouldn’t have told you any of that the way that I did.” My mouth pressed against the hair at her temple.
She shook her head, and I finally remembered to move my feet and sway her again before we drew too much attention. “I needed to hear it.” She seemed to be assessing the shape of her hand, which rested at my collar, judging whether it was her own.
“It is you that I see. I desire you—no matter how much you hate me. I don’t care if it makes me the biggest fool in this room. In this realm.”
The truth in my words sobered me.
She let me lead her silently for another few moments.
“When you destroyed Phynx…what happened that night?”
“I can’t speak of that.” My words came out so quickly, so dismissively, that she braced. But then, a look of determination and realization crossed her face as she pulled back to scan my face. Before I could ask her what she was thinking, something else caught my eye.
A familiar-shaped stone. I drew my fingers to her neck, lacing one finger behind the gem and flipping it to reveal an inscription I knew would be there. M.L.L.My mother’s initials.
“Where did you get this?”
“It was a gift from the Queen.”
