Page 18 of Hearts on Fire

The scent of wine was nice, but not nearly as pleasant as his. Not that I was going to tell him that.

He lifted my hand to his mouth and kissed my fingers, catching an errant drop of wine on his tongue. The caress of his lips teased my unfulfilled desire. I had to leave. I needed to climb off his lap and leave this room, whether it was allowed or not. But Elex had robbed me of my excuse to leave, and I was too distracted by the caress of his lips on my fingers to come up with another one.

He slid his hand up and down my back. The gesture was soothing, simple but intimate. And I gave in. I curled against his chest, resting my head on his shoulder.

“Amber,” he started.

There was urgency in his voice, and I pressed my finger to his lips.

“Shhh,” I whispered, relaxing in his arms. “Not right now. Please.”

This very moment, I found myself in a happy place, even if against my will. Now, I just wanted to stay like this for a little while longer, basking in the warmth of his body and enjoying the few stolen moments of peace it brought me.

Six

AMBER

“Dance for us,” the king’s voice boomed from the royal throne.

The cozy bubble around Elex and me burst at the sound. Reality rushed back in.

The music still played. The musicians clearly possessed inhuman endurance. Zenada climbed off the king’s lap with some reluctance. She must be wishing to stay in her own bubble, too.

“Good girl.” The king slapped her butt, making her giggle. With a bow to him, Zenada left the room to get ready for her dance.

The king sat up on his throne, then ripped another meaty bone from the dish on the table nearby.

Elex ducked his head to see my face under the hood. “Are you hungry, Amber?”

When was I not hungry? The few pieces of fruit I’d eaten in the caves that morning didn’t last long.

I said nothing, but he knew the answer anyway.

“Here.” Leaning to the left, he dragged an entire table to me. “Try these. They were my favorite growing up.”

From a large brass platter, he picked a twig with what looked like a handful of ground meat stuck around it like an elongated meatball. He dipped the meat into a dish of cherry-red sauce, then offered it to me. Circling his wrist, I took a bite as he kept holding the end of the twig.

I wished I could pause to savor the full complexity of flavors of the sauce or to appreciate the mix of spices in the meat, but I swallowed the first bite with hardly any chewing, then stuffed the rest of the meatball in my mouth, sliding it off the twig with my teeth.

“It’s good.” I nodded, quickly reaching for another one.

Elex rinsed and refilled his goblet for me, and I washed the meat down with some wine, then kept eating. There were vegetable disks that looked like grilled eggplant and purple potatoes drizzled with oil and roasted with garlic. The greenish pancakes tasted like the most tender zucchini latkes I’d ever tried. They were served with a creamy dill sauce that was just to die for.

I tried every savory dish before moving on to the dessert of syrup-soaked cherries and roasted nuts.

Snacking on a handful of candied cranberries, Elex watched me silently. Every now and then, he would refill my goblet or move a dish closer to me, but his expression grew darker the more I ate.

“Does Mother of the Sanctuary know humans need to eat more often than fae?” His voice sounded grave.

I nodded. My mouth was too full and sticky with dessert to reply with words. He drew in some air, possibly to ask more questions, but the doors to the room opened again, and Zenada entered.

She wore her robe with the hood up and the lace drawn low over her face. In one hand, she carried a large leather sack with metal rods sticking out of it.

Dropping the sack at her feet, she stopped in the middle of the room and faced the king.

“Isn’t she lovely?” The king rubbed his hands, his face lighting up with excited anticipation.

I wasn’t sure how he felt about the woman, but he certainly was looking forward to the entertainment she was about to provide.