Page 45 of The Heir the Fae Forgot
I didn’t realize it, at first, but I was stepping right along with him.
Together, like that, we rose into the ballroom that Icarus had grown for me.
Only then, when the swell of music fully enveloped me, could I finally bring myself to look away.
All around us, fae twirled and twisted in all shades of black. Zev and Finch stood out among the crowd like two pinpricks of light in their white shirts. At least, I thought, they’d be easy to spot if I got separated from them.
Not, I reminded myself, that I planned to let that happen.
We’d made our entrance in the very middle of the ballroom floor, but in the brief moment before the arrival of their lord disrupted the bodies gliding in time to the music, I had a chance to see the full magnificence of what Icarus had arranged.
The last remnants of the day had faded, the only light now coming from the many lanterns filling up glass-paned hall. It was as if Icarus had gathered all the lanterns from the court into this one place, giving the feeling that the revelers danced among the stars, not beneath them.
A long buffet table lined the far end of the room, with elaborate sculptures made of live berry bushes grown in the shapes of faerie beasts. Stacks of glasses refilled themselves magically with that same sweet wine that had been served at Icarus’ luncheon, and from the glassy look in the eyes that slowly turned our way, it had been steadily flowing for some time already.
Those eyes continued to turn our way, the bodies they belonged to each one slowly coming to a halt as they recognized their lord. It started slowly at first, those closest to us spinning to a halt with small shrieks of surprise as they struggled not to run into the other twirling figures before they’d seen us too. The disturbance rippled through the crowd, quickening until, all at once, the orchestra ground to a halt and suddenly every last eye was turning our way.
It was a second before I realized their eyes were not on Icarus, they were on me.
It was a second longer before I realized why—I still held onto Icarus, but not the way I had when he’d led me up the stairs. I’d moved closer to him, pulled his arm to my body where I clung to it like a pillar for support. I imagined how it looked, us standing together, like this, in the middle of his ball.
It might have been thrown for me, but the way we clung together, it looked like it was thrown for something else. Like it was not an announcement of my coming of age, but rather, of something we planned to sharetogether.
I tried to let go of him, to step away and break the illusion I’d willingly taken part of, but Icarus’ refused to let me go.
He leaned in close, his lips nearly grazing my ear as he whispered for only me to hear.
“All this, for you, My Storm.”
His hand squeezed mine at the same time that his wings shuddered slightly. They came forward over his shoulders a bit until they encased both of us slightly, their ends brushing along the back of my arms in a way that made my skin prickle.
That wasn’t what made my heart skip a beat, however.
No, that was the look in Icarus’ eyes when I lifted mine to meet his again.
I knew, in my head, that this beautiful ball was all part of Icarus’ plan for me, that plan being to get me to stay here, with him, so he could take advantage of the fact that he thought I could channel this new glamour without the same trouble as the other fae. It was one more part of an elaborate puzzle he’d put together long before we showed up at the doorstep to his court.
But my heart, that treacherous organ, couldn’t seem to hold onto that truth the same way. That part of me looked around the ballroom at the faces turned our way, imagining what they saw with me in the dark fae’s arms, and itlikedit.
More than that, itlongedfor it.
There was no hatred in their eyes when they looked at me beside their lord. No jealousy. No venom. No hint that they thought me unworthy to stand by his side. I’d come to this court as a stranger, nothing more than a curiosity who had all too quickly come to represent something worthy of their hate. But now, now they looked at me like something more. Like one of them. Like I belonged.
I’d neverbelongedbefore. Not for a moment.
Icarus made a motion towards the orchestra, and they once again fumbled back to life, but no one else in the room dared move yet. They were waiting for something. Icarus finally loosened his hold on me slightly, still holding onto my hand, but not pulling me completely to his side.
He bowed his head slightly. “Dance with me.”
I considered him, looking out at the crowd once more as it shuddered back to life.
Here, at Icarus’ side, I was not the child who’d been pawned off on strangers. I was not the despised daughter. I was not the girl sold like cattle for a pitiful price.
I hadn’t known how much I longed for this until the moment I had it, however brief that moment lasted. Because even as the feeling settled deep inside me, something deeper began to take hold.
These fae only looked at me like this because I stood at Icarus’ side, because ofhispower. Because of whohewas.
But they should be looking at me like this because ofmypower. Because of whoIwas.
