Page 85 of First Light
He whooped out loud, turned her around, and sent her right back to Duncan, who grasped her around the waist and turned them in circles.
“Go with me now.” He bent down and his mouth was at her ear.
A column formed, two rows of dancers standing across from each other, clapping in rhythm as couples bowed and danced between them.
Duncan took her hand, knit his right with her left, and put his other at the small of her back as the clapping company raised theirarms up and she tripped and skipped between them, trying to follow Duncan’s lead, his pleasure like a great warm cloak thrown over her. Her heart felt light in a way that it hadn’t since she’d crossed into the Shadowlands.
This was magic. This wasfun.
As they reached the end of the column, Duncan spun her away, landing her in the line across from him and next to the grey-haired man. He stomped and whistled as the next couple came through the line, roaring with laughter as the man stole a kiss from the blushing woman before he came to stand beside Carys, throwing her a wink before he shouted something in Gaelic to his lady.
“Are you having fun?” Duncan shouted.
Carys grinned. “I didn’t know I could dance!”
“You can with me.” He grinned at her and looked back at the dancers, singing along when the men’s voices rose and joined the instruments.
She could hear voices all around the hall as the song got louder, celebratory clapping and hearty shouts as joy filled the dark night and cold room, and Carys felt—for the first time—her blood stir as if the song meant something to her. Not as a curiosity. Not as an observer.
She felt a part of the music, a part of the magic of the dance, and felt the lure of this mysterious place. It was light and joy stolen in the middle of darkness, a shining star glistening in a velvet black night.
Just then a hand landed on the small of her back and an arm slipped around her waist. She gasped for a moment until she smelled his familiar scent.
Lachlan.
She turned and saw the set of his jaw and the furious expression in his vivid green eyes.
“You’re trying to make me jealous.” He stole her away from the dance floor, rushing her toward a curtain on the far side of the banquet hall. “He’s trying to make me jealous, and it worked.”
CHAPTER TWENTY
“Lachlan, what are you doing?”
“I can never seem to get you alone, can I? You’ve time for audiences with the king. Meetings with the unicorns, the dragons. Even akelpie, for fuck’s sake. And gods know my brother, the blasted—” He flung the curtain back and shouted at the servants who were loitering in the small chamber. “Out!”
“Sorry, my lord.” They scuttled out, and Carys wrenched herself out of Lachlan’s arms.
“What are you doing?” She pointed at the curtain. “Do you realize that Cadell is going to burst through that curtain any moment and tell you to go to hell?”
“Not if you tell him to stay away.” Lachlan stepped toward her, pressing in with his body. He backed her up to a wall and halted only inches from her face. She felt the heat of his breath on her lips. “Tell him to stay away, Carys.”
Her body was screaming at her. “Cadell,” she whispered. Would he be able to hear her through the tumult of the banquet hall?
I am here,Nêrys.
She sighed in relief when she heard his voice. “Stay away. Just for a while.”
Call when you need me.
She closed her eyes, and Lachlan’s forehead fell toward her, their brows touching as she felt him heave a great sigh.
“I miss you every day,” he whispered. “Everynight. Do you think my body has forgotten yours? You being here and not being in my arms is torture.”
“You left me, Lachlan. Youleft.”
“But I would have done anything to stay. I nearlybargainedwith the fae who came for me, Carys. I nearly gave them…” He shuddered. “I only went because I knew that if I didn’t, they would have hurt you.”
Carys shook her head. “Did you think they were going to just let you go? You’re the prince.”