A Gift of Three(22)

“Nice to meet you,” I replied, only just avoiding a stammer. “I’m Aida, I’m from The Shade.”

“And a werewolf,” he mused, his blue eyes sparkling with humor.

“What of it?” I asked. I knew that not all fae were as welcoming toward other supernaturals as Sherus and his kin were. His expression became instantly repentant.

“Nothing,” he replied. “I can just sense it. It’s curious to me, that’s all—I wanted to meet you. I didn’t know werewolves could be quite so captivating.”

“I’m part werewolf,” I corrected, heat rising up in my cheeks despite my best efforts to remain unruffled.

He nodded, the slow smile returning and lighting up his handsome face.

“Will you dance with me then, Aida of The Shade?”

I glanced around for my friends. They were gone.

Why not? I asked myself. I’d come here to have fun, and spending some time with an exotic fae was definitely the way to have it.

“All right,” I replied. He took me in his arms, one hand sliding around my waist and the other taking my hand. As if by design, the music slowed, and a soft, mournful tune echoed across the grounds of the palace. Thankfully, he led me like an expert. I wasn’t exactly skilled in ballroom dancing. Caleb had once tried to teach Serena, Vita and me, but we had made poor students, more interested in being twirled than actually learning any of the steps.

“You move beautifully,” Thantos whispered in my ear, his warm breath tickling my neck. I felt like we were dancing inches off the ground… then it occurred to me that with a fae, that was actually possible, and I looked down to double-check. No, we were definitely on the ground. I started to relax into his arms, enjoying the haunting notes of the music, almost growing drowsy from the spicy scents of the food and the balmy air of the summer night.

“Do you have a male companion, back at home?” the fae asked.

“Um…no,” I murmured, wondering why that answer suddenly made me feel sad when it never had before. I looked out into the crowds, thinking of Field. I hadn’t seen him before we left The Shade, and I couldn’t see him now. But perhaps I’d just missed him and he was off in one of the mazes with Maura. They could have been dancing mere feet away from us and I still wouldn’t necessarily have noticed him, thanks to the sporadic lighting.

“I can’t imagine how that can be,” Thantos murmured, his blue eyes searching mine.

Inwardly I scoffed. This guy was certainly a smooth talker, but there was only so much charm I could take. Still, I wasn’t ready for the dance to end just yet. The weight of his hand on my waist was comforting, and just being able to enjoy a few moments with a ludicrously handsome man—one who was actually being attentive—was a feeling I wasn’t willing to part with just yet.

We started to move faster and faster. The tempo of the music had picked up, and we spun around and around until I started to grow giddy. His long white hair flew around us, and I started to imagine it was the white sea foam that broke along the shore in The Shade on blustery days. I saw myself as a four-year-old girl, wearing the pink-spotted swimsuit I recognized from old pictures, carrying a plastic bucket in one hand, loading it up with shells and stones to bring back as ‘treasures’ to my mom.

I stumbled backward.

“Whoa,” I mumbled, the image vanishing and being replaced with the spinning lights of the celebration. The ground shifted and swayed beneath my feet. I held onto the arms of the fae, trying to regain my balance.

“Are you okay? I’m so sorry. I forget that we fae move too fast for others’ liking,” he replied, drawing me over to a chair. He handed me a glass of water, and I drank from it greedily.

“Don’t worry,” I replied when I’d finished. “It’s probably more to do with the journey here. The silence of the In-Between always gets to me.”

He nodded solemnly.

“And when did you last eat, little wolf?”

Oh.

It had been a while ago, stupid me. I was probably hungry and dehydrated. With all the excitement of the dress fitting and then getting here, I’d forgotten to eat anything since breakfast.

“Let me get you something. Wait here,” he replied, seeing my vacant expression. He left the table abruptly, and I couldn’t help but feel a little bit smug that I’d found such an attentive dance partner for the evening.





Field





A distorted sense of reality had kicked in. I couldn’t quite grasp that the last few hours had actually happened, and my mind reeled from the speed at which I’d gone from a relationship break-up to the wild and elaborate celebrations taking place on the fire star.