Page 98 of Hollow Court
This time, there was the slightest edge to her tone. I motioned to one of the servants to refill my glass.
“I know what you’re doing,” I said, trying to ignore the vicious feeling churning in my gut.
She hummed noncommittally, her brow arching in amusement as she took a sip from her glass. “Then, why is it working so well?”
I sighed, wondering the same thing. Then, the song came to an end and the next one began. Gallagher and Lina didn’t switch partners.
“If you’ll excuse me,” I added. “I have appearances to keep up.”
“By all means, if that’s what you want to call it,” my father called after me, and I ignored him.
With each step I took, I tried to remind myself that I was getting in too deep. That all of this was supposed to be for show. A carefully crafted ruse that helped us both get what we needed.
I told myself that regardless of her stalwart presence at my side over these last few days, or the conversations on rooftops where the rest of the world faded away, we were not real.
She was still the girl who walked away, and I was still the boy who lied to her.
The ruby on her finger glinted under the candlelight, a shining symbol of yet another lie we were telling the world. Ourselves. Each other.
And just like when I had been stuck in Socair, this ruse was a necessary one.
That was the only reason I crossed the room, barely acknowledging the other dancers as I stepped between them, making my way straight to Galina.
It was for my people. My home. And not at all because I had a sudden visceral need to touch her, to hold her in my arms. To be the only man she was looking at.
“I’ll take it from here,” I said, tapping my cousin on the shoulder.
My cousin dipped into a short, slightly mocking bow before leaving the floor, an amused expression on his face that I didn’t deign to acknowledge.
In fact, I ignored everything except for the woman in front of me.
The pink that tinged her cheeks from the exertion from dancing. The life that glimmered in her starlit gaze. The way her hand fit seamlessly in mine as I pulled her nearly flush against me.
I didn’t waste any time before leading her into the next step, guiding her across the floor around the other couples just as smoothly as if we had been dancing together the entire time. Our entire lives.
Several times, Galina’s full lips parted as if she were about to say something, then closed just as quickly. I didn’t blame her.
Tension pooled between us, binding us together by a single, fragile thread. Usually, I would find a way to break it, severing that feeling, or any other, with a glib remark or a humorous comment.
But words failed me as I stared into her eyes and found that she was staring right back. The longer we danced, and the longer she held my gaze, the more her expression softened until it morphed into something almost vulnerable.
Something I had only seen on her once before.
Eventually, the sounds of the music and the chattering court were eclipsed by the pounding in my chest and the gentle breaths escaping her lips.
Nothing else mattered anymore. Not my corrupt cousin. Not the vote or the rebels or the fallout of every bad decision I had ever made.
It all fell away.
Instinctively, my fingers flexed around her back, pulling her closer to me, as close as this dance allowed. Her breath hitched, but she didn’t pull away. Instead, she melted into me everywhere we touched.
Thiswas why I had avoided dancing with her all night.
Because for all that we both claimed to be pretending, nothing about this moment felt like a lie.
THIRTY-THREE
Galina