Page 38 of Mermaid on Heels
However, King Luke wasn’t looking at them. His eyes already found the one he was looking for, and Liriya’s ever so rapidly beating heart skidded into a pause. Her whole body went rigid as he took a step forward, eyes locking with hers. When the girls in front of him showed no sign of moving aside to make way, he murmured to them politely, “Please excuse me,” eyes still on her.
“Oh, gracious heavens… Liriya!” Bianca stifled a squeal next to her, seeing the king coming towards them. “Don’t blow this up, you can do this. Good luck.”
She gave a gentle and reassuring squeeze to her hand and dropped it before stepping aside. But Liriya wasn’t aware. All she could see was him and his breathtaking ocean-blue eyes searching hers through his golden mask.
“My lady.” King Luke bowed when he reached the front of her, not breaking their eye contact. He held out a hand as he straightened, looking almost as breathless as her, the shadow of a smile on his lips. “I would be beyond honored if you let me have this first dance with you.”
Liriya opened her mouth and shut it, opened and shut it again, both times sparking a hope in his eager, beautiful blue eyes. “I… I-I… I c-cannot, I do not, I—”
“I understand,” he cut off her words with a soft, understanding smile. “Do you trust me?”
Liriya’s jaw fell, and he rushed to add, “I know, that is utterly absurd of me to ask someone who I just met, but, youcantrust me.” His eyes were so sincere that it stunned Liriya, before he said, more reassuringly, “Iknow.”
He knows. He knows who I am…
“But I cannot…”
“I will lead you, if you let me.” The young king dropped his eyes briefly to his waiting hand and then at her. “Will you, Lady Liriyalda of Pearltuna?”
The carefree smile on his rose lips was hard not to return, and Liriya felt her anxiety and nervousness slowly melt away along with it. She nodded with a beam and accepted his hand. “Yes, Your Majesty.”
King Luke’s smile widened and he led them to the center of the room. He placed her hand on his shoulder and wrapped his arm around her waist. Then, in an unexpected move that surprised Liriya, he drew her close to him. Before she could react, he lifted her effortlessly and placed her shoed feet onto his own boots.
Liriya’s eyes widened in horror.
“I’ve got you, little mermaid,” he whispered in her ear. “I’ve got you.”
Liriya drew her head back a little, her focus narrowing solely onto the man who held her in his arms. His proximity was intoxicating, his scent a heady mixture that sent her heart racing even faster, so good like she had never smelled on anyone before—especially not on a merman.
The music began, and King Luke swayed them into the dance. With every step, every sway, Liriya felt the magnetic pull towards him strengthened in a way she couldn’t explain. It was as if an invisible thread connected them, drawing them closer with each graceful movement.
Their eyes remained locked, two souls caught in an unbreakable gaze that held a depth of emotion neither of them could articulate. Everything else faded away. It was just the two of them in the world, nothing else mattered and no one else existed.
Liriya’s death grip on the king loosened, and her body relaxed against his in a way that mirrored her emotional transformation. The initial shock and nervousness that gripped her melted away like mist under the morning sun, replaced by a growing sense of enjoyment and connection.
“I’ve got you,” he said once again before lifting her in the air by her waist.
Liriya gasped when her feet left their grounding—his boots—and he spun her. Her dance lessons with Bianca didn’t have this part, but the moment King Luke placed her on the marble floor, everything she learned came running back to her.
He then twirled her, and to her surprise, she didn’t fall. The young king had a firm grip around her as he led her further into the dance. It gave her a surge of confidence that, even if her legs got tangled, she wouldn’t fall. Her feet followed his lead, but before long, he lifted her to stand on his boots again.
She was dancing, at the ball, with the king, and she was literally in his arms. The sensation of being in his arms, of moving in harmony with him, was unlike anything Liriya had ever experienced. It was a heady cocktail of emotions—exhilaration, enchantment, and a budding attraction taking root deep within her heart.
She didn’t want it to stop, this unworldly feeling that was consuming her; if he would hold her, she wanted to keep dancing with him forever, caught in a trance-like state where reality was suspended. She wanted to remain cocooned in this moment, wrapped in the magic they had created.
King Luke smiled, and she returned it. In his ocean-blue eyes, she saw not just the king, but a man who was extending his heart to her. And the way he was looking at her… No one had ever looked at her that way.
By the time the music began to fade, Liriya’s heart was in turmoil, a maelstrom of feelings that she struggled to contain. When the final notes of the music drifted away, they stopped swaying. She was still standing on King Luke’s boots, her breath coming slightly faster, her eyes locked onto his.
“I want to dance with you again, milady,” King Luke spoke in a deep and husky voice, and his shimmering blue eyes confirmed the desire. “Andagain, again, and again.”
He smiled, and Liriya’s heart couldn’t flutter more.
“I have danced a hundred times before, with various ladies, but this…you…” he trailed off, and his eyes burned with intensity. “You have enchanted me, Lady Liriyalda. I’ve never had a moment like this with anyone before, let alone believed that the noble art of dance can be enchanting and run so deep into one’s heart.”
Liriya was at a loss for words. Many mermen had complimented her before and she always counted their words as just that, a compliment, a flattery. But this,thisfelt like a confession.
Something profound shifted within her. All her senses highlighted, and a spark of deep affection settled in the center of her heart. What was the meaning of this? All she knew was that she didn’t want this dance to stop, and now, she was disappointed it did.