Page 14 of Obsidian Throne

The ballroom was a whirlwind of standing at Evander’s side while he accepted our congratulations with a haughty tilt to his chin and a proprietary hand around my waist.

He hardly glanced in my direction, but every once in a while, his thumb would brush underneath one of the chains of my dress, stealing my breath and sending bolts of lightning throughout my entire body.

It was a stark contrast to our wedding in Lochlann, where he had openly shown affection and laughed with my cousins. Here, he was the brutal heir to the most powerful clan in Socair.

So I tried to follow his lead, giving little away, letting my dress and my cosmetics be a shield for me.

Even Mila was more on guard than I usually saw her, making her way around the room at Taras’ side with none of the warmth I had witnessed between them earlier.

And then there was Theo, whose features could have been carved from stone as he offered Evander and I both a congratulatory nod. I hardly had time to respond before the string quartet started up, and it was time for the dancing to begin.

Evander led me out to the floor, taking one of my hands in his. Tension zapped between us at every point of contact.

It was still surreal that we were finally here, together. We had been given so little time together before we were separated that I had half-expected things to be awkward once I was here, but standing in his arms felt...perfect. Right.

Just as it always had.

I savored the several minutes of the song in his arms, of us moving around the dance floor as if we were one singular person. My body instinctively responded to his, following his lead fluidly.

By the time the music stopped and a muted applause sounded around us, I wasn’t ready. Our dance was over far too soon, leaving me to face the room at large.

As if he sensed my disappointment, or perhaps shared it, Evander rubbed a small, comforting circle between the thin layer of my gown and the sensitive skin on my lower back.

Fire ran through me, and I saw it reflected in his eyes just as he released me to make my way around the room.

Worse yet, I realized if I needed to dance with all the dukes, that included...Aleksander.

The man in question strode over, offering me his hand. His eyes were clearer than I was used to seeing them, the same exact shade of gray as Evander’s, but the look in them was even more calculating.

It struck me that this version of him was far more terrifying than the unhinged man I had seen in the breakfast room. What would have happened if he had felt this way the day I walked into his rooms?

I suppressed a shudder, taking his hand while Evander watched us warily from the corner of his eyes.

“I finally meet my son’s new bride,” he commented.

His voice was almost too casual, and the resemblance to Evander’s tone was startling. At least he truly didn’t remember meeting me, unless this was part of a game he was playing.

It wasn’t a question, so I didn’t respond.

“Good.” He nodded his head. “I had worried when I saw that dress that you would be difficult, like your grandmother was. She fought hard, for all the good it did her. But you won’t be difficult, will you?”

The nonchalant reminder that he had strung up my mother’s parents outside their own castle for the world to see had the blood draining from my face. I glanced at Evander, who was dancing with Ava.

His features were still perfectly neutral, but his eyes were fathomless pits of ice. They grew harder still when he caught sight of my expression, and I willed it into something more unaffected before he intervened.

I wanted desperately to tell the duke I took more after my father, the man who had closed the tunnels over hundreds of the duke’s men, including his brother. I wanted to remind him that my family won that war, and I was no one to be trifled with.

But I had told Evander I would do my part to help, not make things worse. So I gritted my teeth.

“No. I won’t be.”

Aleksander smiled in a patronizing way. “Good girl.”

I averted my gaze before he could see the fury flashing through my eyes, and I wondered vaguely how many of these days he had.

At least Evander and I could face it together, this time.

CHAPTER EIGHT