Page 54 of ShadowLight
Lifting the drink to my mouth, I let the cool glass send beads of condensation over my painted lips and watched the entertainment. In the far corner, acrobats beat huge drums made from teakwood stained a vibrant red. The dancers jumped around on the tips of their silk-shoed feet. In one hand, they held streamers in sheer cloths colored blue and purple and green, which were twirled erratically around their bodies. In the other, large wooden mallets were gripped tightly and landed with a force that seemed nearly impossible for their petite frames to strike with. I tapped my feet along to the music, the sound of the drums beating me into a deep, mindless daze.
I wasn’t long into my ruminating when two warm fingers pressed into the skin of my left shoulder. When I looked, no one was there.
Odd.
Growing rather uncomfortable, I pulled my shawl up to my neck.
“Great plan, Gwyn.” Kalen laughed as I yelped, nearly jumping from my skin at the clear sound of his voice in my ear. I offered him a roll of my eyes, crossing my arms as he straightened beside me.
“It’s not my fault Tyr is ignoring me,” I said, still fidgeting. “He knows I want the dagger.”
“And what? You plan to stare at him all night until he hands it over?”
“No.” Kalen glanced at me sideways, waiting, so
I huffed, “I just haven’t figured out exactly what I am going to do, yet.”
“What you are going to do...” he replied, voice growing a little more demanding than I was comfortable with, “...is march over to our friend, the General, andmakehim pay attention.”
I took a peek up at Kalen, who was already looking down at me. The cold in between our shoulders melted slightly. “I didn’t realize you had such confidence in my social skills.”
“Social skills, no. But you on the whole...I have never been more confident in anyone else.”
Just like that, I was alight.
I studied Tyr from across the room where he stood at one of the refreshment tables, laughing with the other officers. The men were newly anointed Merlords, who had completed their training prior to tonight’s ball. Each wore the silver embroidered sashes of their new regiment pinned with Ione’s serpent crest. Their shoes had been shined so brightly I could almost touch up the rouge Mary had painted across my cheeks in the reflection from where I stood. Their hands sat loosely on their weapons as if to remind the party-goers that power was something that slipped easily from its holster.
I ground my teeth watching them laugh and look around the room and think themselves so important.
“Okay,” I said, turning my back on the party. “But I’m going to need your help.”
Kalen shrugged. “I figured.”
Minutes later, I was walking up to Tyr, his attention turned to the rows of champagne flutes. Picking up one of the frostedglasses, I moved to his side without notice. I took a deep breath, steadied myself, and in one movement of my arm, like a door upon a hinge, I swung for the dagger. In less than a second Tyr’s hand latched itself onto my wrist, his attention still on the figs he’d been gathering in his other palm. Icy blue eyes slid over mine, chilling me from my core to the hard pulse of my wrist underneath his fingers.
“I must say, Brave Gwynore. I’m flattered, but women usually ask my permission before going that low on the belt.” He lifted our hands like evidence, cheeks dimpling.
I snatched my wrist from his. “I thought we were beyond asking, General. Seeing as you have something that is mine hanging from your waist.”
The Merlords around him snickered at the innuendo and Tyr’s mouth gaped with both surprise and delight. He hadn’t been expecting me to play the game.
“I would be remiss in my duties to the High Mer to just hand this over,” he said, patting the weapon at his hip twice before he took my hand again, more gently. Tyr brought it to his lips, placing a kiss just above my knuckles. Not a quick brush of his lips, but something more sensuous and lingering. Smirking, he said, “But I’d say a good tumble with you might convince me to do just that.”
I could feel my cheeks ablaze from his touch and the suggestion. From his corner below the dais, I practically heard the tremor of Kalen’s bones against one another as he tried to subdue his anger. Before I could help myself, my mouth tugged up into a smile.
I sat into my hips, pulling my left foot up until the inside of my thigh brushed against Tyr’s, fully aware of each set of eyes on the movement. Especially the High Mer’s. Tilting my head to one side, I opened up the soft flesh of my neck to Tyr. I stifled my amusement as I heard a single breath hitch in his throat.
“I hear, lately, that you are often remiss,” I said as flatly as possible, “when it comes to your duties to the crown.”
A chuckle rose, deep and hungry from his armored chest. “Those gods-damned phames.”
We stared at each other for a long moment, in what was a test to see who would back down first. Tyr had nothing to lose if he let me have the dagger. I had everything to gain. He was thinking it, too, and that satisfied look on his face assured me he would do anything to keep me from getting my stone. I don’t know how long we looked at each other, but the room had quieted around us. Now was the only moment to make my offer.
“What of a dance?” I asked, batting my lashes. “I’ve been very rude, and would love to take a turn with you to set it right.”
Tyr’s devilish smile widened. “Only if my queen finds us well-matched.” I looked to Ione, who was not nearly as angry as I thought she would be.
“Oh, I find you two to be quite matched,” she said, lifting her chin to speak clearly to us from her throne. “Please, if your will is to dance until your feet fall off, you know I cannot stop it.”