Release(33)

She smiled encouragingly at him. “Step sideways.”

They stepped together. Then backwards. Then sideways again, until they were gliding together in a circle. The steps were simple, but it felt as if Ariana floated with him in his arms. Before he knew it, the music was surging through him, and moving this way, with her, seemed natural and perfect. He’d never been this close to her, he realized. He gazed into her eyes, and she looked back at him, a small smile playing at her lips.

“You’re actually very good at this, Keirth,” she said.

And without being sure why he did it, he tightened his grip on her waist, pulling her closer to him, so that their bodies were inches apart.

It seemed like the song was over too soon.

The Triothians flooded the dance floor. Freetha patted him on the arm. “Married for over a year and still looking at each other like that, eh?” she teased.

Like what? Keirth looked away from Ariana. “I’ll go sit down now.”

“No,” said Freetha. “Stay and learn our dance.”

Keirth looked longingly at the safety of the table.

“One more,” Ariana told him.

Somehow, the dancing seemed easier than he’d thought. Keirth relaxed into the sounds of the music, and it seemed to direct his body, tell it how to move and when. He and Ariana danced for another song. And then another. And another. The Trioth dances were boisterous with a lot of foot stomping and swinging of one’s partner. Before Keirth knew it, they’d been dancing for hours, and it was late.

The musicians packed up, the feast was left to be cleaned by the servants, and Keirth and Ariana were led down a hallway to their sleeping quarters.

Ariana’s face was flushed from the movement and activity. Her eyes were bright as she walked next to him. “Admit it,” she said. “You had fun. You liked dancing.”

“It was okay,” said Keirth. He’d actually enjoyed himself more than he’d care to admit. And he realized that he was enjoying pretending that Ariana was his wife, as well, and not just because of the way it made him look better to have someone like her on his arm. Being close to her was...

The servant opened a door. “This will be your room.”

Ariana and Keirth stepped inside. The room was large, with a fireplace on one wall and a table next to it. A large bed sat against the other wall, covered with animal furs and tapestries.

The servant closed the door after them.

Ariana and Keirth both looked at the bed and then looked at each other.

Ariana bit her lip. “I guess I didn’t think this us-being-married thing the whole way through.”

Keirth knew the gallant thing to do would be to offer to sleep on the floor. But the floor was made of marbled stone, and it looked very uncomfortable. And besides, she hadn’t exactly checked with him before telling everyone they were married. Why should he have to suffer? But he couldn’t very well make her sleep on the floor, could he? “I’ll sleep on the floor,” he said.

“But it was my idea for us to pretend to be married,” said Ariana. “I can’t let you do that.” She went over to the bed and began pulling off pillows and cushions. She lined them up in the middle of the bed, dividing it in half. “There,” she said. “We’ll each have a side.”

“If you’re sure that makes you comfortable,” said Keirth. She was a member of the nobility. She couldn’t offer to share a bed with him without disgrace.

She looked down at the cushions, shrugging. “It’s the best we can do, isn’t it?”

Maybe so. But as Keirth stared down at the divided bed, he wondered if he shouldn’t also be taking how comfortable he was into account. He’d be lying if he said he wasn’t finding himself attracted to her. He didn’t know if it was that damned dress or seeing her be so gracious and poised with the Triothians. Before, in the ship, she’d seemed alternately terrified and angry. When she hadn’t been yelling at him, she’d been screwing things up. He’d seen her as an annoyance, something to be dealt with. Now he was seeing her differently.

Another man might have been thrilled with the fact he was trapped in a bed with an attractive woman. Another man might have wanted to take advantage of the situation.

Ariana was riffling through her trunk. She pulled out a white nightgown and threw it on the bed. “They didn’t even give us a room to change into bedclothes.”

“I, um, don’t think that the people on this planet wear different clothes to bed usually,” Keirth said. She was going to change her clothes?

“Well, you’ll just have to turn around,” said Ariana, reaching behind her neck on the gown. “Do you think you could help me unfasten the dress?”