Page 54 of These Fractured Bonds

He took her hand and parted the crowd for them until they reached the platform, where he positioned her in the front, telling people to let her through.

“Can’t you see how short she is?” he told one particularly grumpy Fae, but it worked. The Fae moved over, giving her enough space to get a front-row seat.

“Thank you,” she mumbled. She needed to get platform shoes; the height commentary was getting old. She liked her height and thought nothing of it, but she could admit that she looked a little odd next to a crowd averaging around five-foot-eleven and above.

Leo grabbed her shoulders, smiling, and said, “Wait for me here. I’ll be on in a minute or two.”

He was leaving her alone. Her breathing quickened, and she clutched his arms.

“You’ll be okay,” he murmured. “You’re strong enough for this.”

Yareli swallowed, but her throat was dry. Shedidn’tfeel like she was, but there was no choice; Leo had somewhere to be. She couldn’t hold him back. She swallowed again and ignored how it stung. She dropped her arms.

“There ya go.”

His lips curled in a broad grin, and with one last look, he patted her shoulder and jogged toward the platform. She soon lost sight of him as he squeezed through the crowd by the platform’s steps. She licked her dry lips and held herself stiff, avoiding physical contact with strangers. Her eyes darted around the area, alert. A flash of hazel caught her attention, and she backtracked, but she didn't find the pair of eyes she thought she had seen.

“Found you.”

Erick’s voice startled her. He pushed past the grumpy Fae with Bri following. He cursed at them, and Bri made an obscene gesture at the man. One look at her and he made himself scarce. Yareli bit back a smile at the interaction.

“Hey,” Yareli said. “You guys were fast.”

“Couldn’t miss Leo’s performance now, could we?” Erick replied. “It’s going to be h-o-t.” Then, in a whisper, he asked, “How did it go?”

She shrugged. “It’s like they’re both allergic to kissing.”

That startled a laugh out of Erick. “Trust me, one of themwillcave.”

The fire dimmed, its flames nothing more than dying embers, and it darkened, reminiscent of twilight.

Bri hushed them, saying, “It’s starting.”

The crowd went silent, and even the merchants quieted. The crowd’s features, hard to distinguish in the dark, buzzed with restrained excitement. A loud thump resounded; its vibrations, magicked so each one sparked a deep red, reverberated across the crowd and left a weird, hollow feeling in Yareli’s chest. Another thump followed shortly after until it was a constant beat.

A deep, guttural chant erupted, and then Leo was on the platform. He had changed clothes, wearing only fur pants, but in his hand, he held his axe, holding it upright like a staff. His gray eyes, hardened in the dark, nearly black, found hers. He spun his axe in front of him, swinging it to one hand, throwing it in the air and catching it with his other. His quick movements in the dusk entranced her; his performance sublime.

Nothing but a sharp glint, the axe flew into the air, caught again by Leo. He rolled it across his shoulders, letting it slide down his arms and swinging it like a pendulum across his body back to his original hand. He froze, chest rising and falling inrapid succession, his axe held upright once more. The crowd stomped. The rumble reached Yareli’s soles, and she joined them, their fervor igniting a deep thrill in her. On and on, they stomped until, finally, Leo moved. He released a low, throaty grunt and swung his axe into the platform, piercing the wood. It remained there—stuck—as Leo flipped in the air. He moved backward to the slumbering fire.

He did a backflip, sweeping one leg outward as he landed, and swiveled, blowing air onto the embers. They stuttered for a moment, then erupted into a tower of flames. The crowd whooped, and Yareli found herself cheering alongside them, but Leo wasn’t done. He pulled his axe out in one smooth motion and spun, twirling it between his hands. Each movement was so fast he was a blur to her human eyes. He came to a sudden stop and launched his axe into the air. His eyes met hers.

Yareli froze.

The world fell away, and it was only he and her. Her heart thumped. Silence dominated her hearing, and the axe fell at breakneck speed.

It followed Newtonian law—going down and down.

And yet, his gray eyes flashed silver, churning like molten lava and drawing her in.

It was not lost on Yareli that she was the moth flying too close to fire. If she touched it, she would burn—this she was certain of. It would burn through her paper-thin wings and leave her flightless. The lava would consume her whole until there was nothing left. Until she was one and the same with the molten silver. Leo—she realized—was courting her, telling her to allow herself to be devoured, to behis.Only his.

The axe swooshed down mere millimeters away from Leo’s nose. He caught it, never breaking their eye contact. Sweat poured down his face, dripping onto his chest, leaving it glistening. She trailed it downward, lingering a little too long,and lifted her gaze upward. Leo smirked, winked at her, and departed from the stage.

“He’s good, isn’t he?” Erick prompted, lightly bumping his shoulder to hers.

“Yeah, that was…” Yareli cleared her throat. “Where did he learn that?”

Bri answered, “Military school.”