father, his first death. “Aye. I just hope you realize how very lucky you are. She’s an extraordinary woman who believes you worthy.”
Daniel is staring at his wife. “She is,” he says. “And, believe me, I know.”
As if she hears him, Catherine glances at Daniel, and I see how much she loves him. How her eyes light up and her lips curve into a smile at the sight of him.
I look down at my wine and take a sip. “I never got the chance to thank you.”
He frowns. “For what?”
“For saving her life,” I say. “I was the reason she was in that carriage. If I hadn’t—”
“They come swift as the night,” he interrupts. “They descend like shadows. You could have locked her in a vault, and they still would have found her. Do you know the truest burden of having the Sight?” He looks at Catherine, watches her dance. “It’s knowing how fast they kill. That if you save one person, you’ve failed to save one hundred more. It’s knowing that I happened to be on that road when her carriage was being attacked, instead of some other road, with another carriage. One where those other people didn’t survive. It’s living with that every night. You know a thing or two about that, don’t you?”
“Aye,” I whisper. “I do. I—”
A hush comes over the crowd. The entire city goes completely silent around us. The fiddlers have stopped playing, and everyone has stopped dancing. I hear a few hushed whispers, and look to the source of their attention.
My breath catches. It’s Kiaran and Aithinne, looking every bit like fae royalty. Aithinne wears a delicate lilac dress that falls like a waterfall over her long legs. No petticoats, no corset. Just a beautiful, form-hugging dress that glitters as though it’s been dotted with stars. Her long dark hair is loose and gleaming, down to her waist.
And Kiaran . . . I’ve seen him dressed like a gentleman before, but never like this. Not in evening wear, with dark trousers and waistcoat and a perfectly tied cravat. Then his eyes meet mine. I’ve never seen such blatant wanting before. Like he’ll consume me. I could drown in that gaze.
Now he’s walking through the silent crowd toward me, and suddenly he’s there, and my hand is in his. His lips are at my ear. “Dance with me.”
And then we’re dancing, and nothing else matters. His hand is pressed to my lower back, our bodies close as we spin. It’s as if we’re alone. No one else matters. No music, or whispering, nothing. It’s Kiaran and me, and this is our first dance. And it’s as graceful and smooth as when we go into battle together. We fit together, my body against his, his cheek pressed to mine as we spin.
“You never told me you could dance,” I say.
I feel his soft smile. “Isn’t this what we did every night?” He whispers against my skin. “We always fought like this. Like we were waltzing.”
That’s when I open my eyes and I see the sea of people around us, staring. I don’t know how long we’ve been dancing without music. It could have been minutes. It could have been hours. It doesn’t matter.
“Everyone’s staring,” I whisper.
“Of course they are.”
Kiaran’s eyes meet mine. Now that I have the Sight, I see just how vivid they are. I see the years there. The pain, the exaltation, even the flashes of Kadamach. But it doesn’t matter, because he looks at me and he sees me, and he’s Kiaran and I’m Kam.
“They’re wondering why I came tonight,” he says. “Why I chose you.” His lips brush my cheek. “Why I’m kissing you.”
“Why did you choose me?” It’s all I can do to keep my wits about me when he’s kissing me like this. Because when Kiaran kisses, he does it with the whole of himself.
He whirls me around with so much grace it’s as if he isn’t even trying. “Because you challenge me,” he tells me. And then we’re not dancing anymore. We’re standing pressed together, our hands entwined. “I chose you because you’re my equal.”
Then we’re kissing right there in front of everyone. And nothing else seems to matter. Certainly not etiquette, or what anyone else thinks. It’s only his lips on mine, the pressure gentle. It’s only us. And I can’t stop—
Which is when Derrick arrives out of thin air and careens into my shoulder in a mess of wings and limbs. “Hellooooo! Don’t mind me, I’m