Page 68 of To Dance with Death

And suddenly I wonder why I am here.

This feels irrevocably foolish. Pointless. A frustrated growl knots in my throat, but I swallow it down and wade toward the edge of the pool—

“Oh, no you don’t,” Anton says, his breath feathering my ear. Warm hands settle on my shoulders, and then he’s spinning me around. “You agreed to a quick swim.”

“I swam, it was quick, and now I’m going to bed,” I announce.

Behind Anton, Dahlia swims up to curl an arm around his waist. “Oh, let her sleep. I’ll show you a good time. I always do.”

“Another time, darling,” he says, snatching my hand now that I’m pulling away again.

Her face scrunches, and she slants a gaze my way. Then, with a solitary exhale, she croons, “You know where to find me when you get bored.”

Bored withme.The thought curdles, but I breathe through it as she wanders away, pulling herself from the pool entirely.

“You didn’t have to send her away,” I murmur.

“We had an agreement,” he states simply, folding his arms. “You have questions for me. I have some for you, too. Starting with…Who are youreally?”

The question catches me off guard. “What do you mean?”

“You are not Miridranian, as we established,” he states, referencing our dinner. He wades around me, a finger on his chin. “You have a stepmother who was murdered, if I caught your meaning in the Abyssal. You went on to live in my country. You became a performer—a dancer, I gather. How I have never heard of you, I cannot comprehend.”

I twist my soaked curls into a coil with my fingers, spinning so that I’m facing him as he moves. “Surely you can’t expect me to recount my life’s story tonight.”

But oh, how I wish I could.

He pauses and plucks a nearby reed sprouting from between the rocks and plops the end into his mouth to chew. “Did you dance in my court?”

“No, Sire.” Not in Ansa, at least.

“Then where?”

But I can’t tell him—even if the curse allows it. He’s already suspicious of me, and if he knew I served Illian, that I was hisJewel…Illian, whom he still remembers as the brother who tried to murder him…

My voice comes out scraped. “I prefer not to speak of my past.”

“Because you are hiding more than you let on?”

“I am hiding a past that I am ashamed of, Majesty,” I say. “Would you really make me relive it here and now?”

He pulls his bottom lip between his teeth, observing me with a tilt of his head. “You really were a miscreant, weren’t you?”

I dip my chin into the water’s coolness before answering. “Maybe we deserve each other’s company.”

“You realize I could force you to tell me anything I want.” He grins, one of his earrings catching the light. At least I can tell he’s playing with me now.

That, I can use.

“Because you will cast me into the Sands if I refuse? Doubtful. You don’t have the heart for that.” I realize we’ve glided deep, my toes no longer grazing the slick rock beneath.

He threads a hand through his soaked locks, flipping them off his forehead. I watch the motion—the flex of his muscles, the curve of his ribs. “You are missing the point of trading answers, miscreant.”

“You’re the one trying to convince me to stay,” I say. “Shouldn’tIbe asking the questions?”

“And yet we agreed.”

“I didn’t actually verbalize that. Perhaps you should pay more attention next time, Sire.”