The Queen's Line (Inheritance of Hunger #1) - Kathryn Moon Page 0,106

but a polite answer, and there was a kind of friendliness in his eyes that he didn't show elsewhere. Or at least, that was what I wanted to see. "You didn't answer my question."

"Will you be my dance partner?" I asked.

For a moment, that warmth in Aric's stare shuttered, and I cursed my too loose tongue for even thinking of asking him to dance with me, but then he bowed softly again.

"For one dance," he said, lips twitching as I vibrated with my restrained shout of victory.

I stilled as his hand lifted to my face, fingertips brushing loose strands of hair back before sparking gently against my skin. The familiar tight feeling passed over me, as well as a cool rinse of clarity that made the lines of the world sharper again when I hadn't even realized they'd begun to blur. I looked down and found my dress simplified, and my dagger hidden.

"You've made me plain again?" I asked, grinning.

"Never plain, but safe," Aric said quietly, and the Hunger in me prowled impatiently. He looked up over my shoulder to Cresswell. "Stay close, but not so much so it will make it obvious who she is. I'll return her to you shortly."

I glanced back over my shoulder to find Cosmo wearing his usual knowing smile and only Thao looking irritated by the interruption. Aric's hand found mine and I followed his tug, a sudden sense of freedom hitting me as we left the circle of guards.

"I thought you'd say no."

"Did you want me to?" Aric asked, pulling me closer to his side as we wove through the mingling crowd.

"No, I got what I wanted," I said. Mostly, I added to myself.

I wanted Aric, which was terrible because he'd made it clear he found that impossible. Maybe it was worse to get to see him, to call him my Chosen and have him make me beautiful magical charms and give me glamours so I could experience small fragments of a life that didn't really belong to me. Moments with a man I couldn't really possess.

"You deserve to dance," Aric said as we neared the surging mass of dancers, the ground stamped down to mud from the day. "You've given the north its best day in a long time, princess."

The music and the shouts of dancers were growing too loud, making it harder to hear Aric and his scratching soft tone.

"You don't know how to dance like that, do you?" he asked, leaning to my ear.

I watched the men and women leaping together, practically running past one another, women hooked to their dance partner's chests with strong arms around their waists, heads thrown back with laughter. It wasn't how people in court danced, and even that I'd done very little of aside from some instruction. I looked to Aric and shook my head, and he grinned, his arms squeezing tighter around my waist, his free hand scooping mine up.

"I'll lead," he said, and then we were galloping into the mass of the crowd.

I screeched, my arm wrapping around Aric's shoulder, clutching to the dense leather of his vest as he drove us straight towards a dozen other couples. I was sure that at any moment we'd crash into them, but Aric just spun us into the movements, my feet racing to follow his, my eyes as wide as they could go as I laughed in my joy and panic. There was no logic to it that I could find, not while I was trying to keep up, it was only wild movement, but it was as if every person who followed the pounding rhythm of the musicians was in some kind of connected understanding with one another, moving like air currents or rushing water, constantly spinning around like mad planets in orbit.

Many partners changed hands, tossing women into new arms, but Aric kept a tight clutch on my waist, turning us away before we could be interrupted. I thought I could feel his heart pounding against my chest for how tightly we were pressed together, the buttons of his clothing catching on the embroidery of my dress. He was laughing with me, his breath against my ear and throat, my toes barely touching the earth before he would swing me around again, my skirt pooling out behind me like a lady's fan.

There was no room to speak, even if I was able to catch my breath; we were going too fast, the music was too loud. The longer we moved, the more