Flame and Starlight by Dana Isaly
Chapter Eighteen
I stared at her for a moment, weighing my options. I was torn between keeping the past few weeks a secret and letting it all tumble out of me like a high schooler with hot gossip. I hadn’t had a friend to confide in in so long that my brain was begging for me to explain everything. But I had no idea if she was actually a friend.
“You’re going to need an ally in your corner, Alyssandra. You and Asher both will. I’ve always been there for him. I can be there for you, too.” She turned so that she was facing me and leaned her shoulder against the wall. Her hand reached out and touched my forearm in a comforting gesture, but the second her skin made contact with mine, I could feel her sincerity. Her affection for Asher made my heart swell.
So, I told her.
I started from the beginning, that night in the bar, and took her through my day-to-day life at his court. I explained how Emric taught me how to fight and trained me to make me stronger. I told her about the night I changed, and I even told her about Nyxa. I unloaded everything so quickly, partly thanks to the alcohol, I was sure, that I was afraid she hadn’t been able to take it all in.
When I finished, she was quiet and took a moment to digest everything I had told her. When she started to respond, her mouth snapped shut, and I felt more than heard Asher walk out of the door behind me. I knew when his eyes landed on me, and I looked at him over my shoulder.
“There you are,” he said, swinging both of his arms over my shoulders and crossing them over my chest. He was doing a good job of keeping up the plaything act.
“How dumb do you think I am?” She reached up and smacked him across the head. I snorted very loudly and turned around in his arms to see his face. It was worth it. “I know who she is. And I’m on your side, so if you need help, ask for it.” When she walked past us, Asher still speechless, and she gave me a pointed look. “Keep him in line, Lyssa.” And then she walked off in the direction of where the music was coming from.
“I’m still tipsy,” I stated matter-of-factly. “And I would like to dance.” I wrapped my arms around his waist and soaked up his warmth. He looked down at me and finally closed his mouth.
“Did she just hit me, or did I hallucinate?”
I smiled. “I like her. Now take me dancing.”
* * *
The building where the dancing was happening was a few doors down, and music and laughter poured out of it. When we walked in, low golden light and heat from all the bodies moving on the dance floor wrapped itself around me. I turned around and gave him a hard stare.
“Very funny,” I said over the music. “Complicated dancing? Looks like everyone is just grinding on each other. Did you think it was funny to watch me sweat it out?” He just laughed his warm, masculine laugh that sent shivers across my body.
It was so familiar to going dancing back home that, even though I was in a completely foreign world, I comfortably started to pull Asher with me to the middle of the floor. I grabbed a glass of champagne off a server’s tray and downed it, feeling heat rush to my face and my stomach churn with butterflies as I sat it back down.
“I like seeing you like this.” I felt his breath across my cheek.
“Like what?” I asked as I pulled him closer to the throng of Fae dancing in the dim candlelight.
“Happy.” A kiss was left on my neck. “Carefree.” And another.
“Drunk.” I cut him off with a laugh. His sudden intimacy had my legs wobbling.
“It does bring a sinful blush to your cheeks,” he said as his hand left mine and instead snaked around my waist. He pulled me close, and his shadows twined themselves snug against my skin.
I knew I was drunk then because I leaned into him too easily and began to move to the music as we finally crossed the threshold of the dance floor. The beat of the music was slow and deep. I could feel it seep into my bones and crawl across my skin. My arm bravely snaked up behind me to grab onto the back of his neck. My fingers slid through the soft ends of his hair. The alcohol made it hard to tell the difference between his emotions and my own. So I gave up and let myself just feel. I leaned my head back against his chest and moved against him while his arms prowled over my body in ways that made a warmth pool low in my stomach.
“Incoming,” he singsonged into my ear, and I opened my eyes. They landed directly on Leona, zooming in on her like she was prey. I was helpless against the sliver of darkness making its way up, vibrating through my veins. I smiled. She saw us, and her eyes went wide, but she kept coming. Had to give her credit for her massive lady balls.
“Can I have my dance now?” She batted her pretty eyelashes. Asher kept his arms wrapped around me, his shadows following suit and clinging on.
“He’s busy,” I said as I leaned even further back into him. He laughed and sat his chin on top of my head, right in the middle of my tiara. Blondie crossed her arms.
“I don’t think you speak for the High Lord of the Night Court, whore.” I felt Asher stiffen behind me. The sheer power rolling off him in waves should’ve been enough to send her running, but she acted like she couldn’t feel it. I could, though. And maybe I should’ve been scared, but I wasn’t. The darkness inside of me soaked his up like a sponge. I felt the smile creep across my face, wide enough to show my fangs.
“I assure you,” I said, low and slow, “that in this instance, I do speak for him. And I’d really hate to get blood on my dress tonight.” My power seemed disappointed that I wasn’t going to act on impulse.
“It is a beautiful dress,” Asher said.
“Thank you. You did give it to me,” I said, looking back at him over my shoulder. Our eyes met, and I got lost in the swirls of grey and blue before peeling them back onto Blondie. Her eyes took on a fierce glint as she looked back and forth between us.
“Are you going to let her speak to me like that?” Now the Fae close to us were taking notice of the little scene she was causing.
“You’re lucky I’m letting you walk away in one piece after the way you spoke to her. Do it again and you won’t.” He relaxed slightly and wrapped his arms around me tightly. “Though, I would love to see Lyssa in action.”
She backed up through the crowd of Fae and disappeared, fuming, I was sure. He spun me away from him as the music changed, and then he pulled me back into him. I hit his hard body with a thunk as he caught me and held me there, front to front. I laughed and tilted my head back, feeling my hair slide off my shoulders and down my back. My power thrummed under my skin, and I took a minute to revel in the sensation.
“I can feel your power coursing just under the surface,” he whispered in my ear as we swayed slowly to the music. His fingertips drifted slowly down my arms, causing gooseflesh to rise. “If you free that, you could light this world on fire, Alys.”
I shushed him and spun out from him again, too drunk to care about what he was saying. This time when he pulled me back, he held my back against his chest. His hand crept up my side from my hip and over my ribs, his fingertips grazing the side of my chest. My breath caught in my throat as his hand made its way over my collarbone and around my neck.
He grabbed my jaw, his hand encompassing the entire thing, and forced me to look back at him. The alcohol made my eyes lazy. They traveled slowly up the length of his neck, over his sharp jaw covered in the smallest amount of stubble, and up further still over his full lips until they finally landed on his eyes. His thumb traced idle circles just below my ear where it sat. I licked my lips and his eyes found them instantly. We stayed like that for a while, the only two Fae standing in the middle of a dance floor not dancing. He held me perfectly still.
“You’re doing a very good job of convincing everyone I’m actually your plaything.”
Word vomit. Absolute word vomit just poured out of my mouth. I cursed the alcohol. He sighed and dropped his hand. He pulled me over to the bar, my drunken feet struggling to keep up in the heels I had worn. He picked me up, sat me on the barstool, and leaned over me with his hands on the bar. I flushed red again and not because of the alcohol.
“Can you stay out of trouble for two minutes while I go speak to Zemira?” I nodded and drunkenly leaned towards him without realizing it. His hand grazed the dagger at my thigh, and I bit my lip. “Alys,” he said as he leaned closer, his voice rough. “You have this for a reason. Use it if you have to.” I nodded again and wobbled on the stool when he disappeared into the crowd.
I turned around and got the attention of the bartender.
“Shots!” I said when he finally came over to me. “Let’s see how many I can do before the ball and chain gets back.”
He eyed me with one eyebrow lifted but sat some shot glasses down in front of me. “What’s your poison?”
“Whiskey,” I said, wiggling my eyebrows. He laughed and poured three of them full to the brim.
Turns out I was able to drink a total of six shots before Asher snuck up behind me. I was well and truly sloshed by the time he showed up, and I was laughing loudly at whatever it was the bartender had just said. Asher spun me around, and I watched as the world tried to catch up with my body. I giggled and hiccoughed.
The next thing I knew, I was thrown over his shoulder, and the whiskey was not liking the sudden movement.
“Everyone is upside down.” He swung me back into his arms. “Well, this feels familiar,” I said, waiting for my head to stop spinning. “At least I haven’t been beat to shit this time.”
He laughed and pushed us through the door into the snow. I let my head loll back, keeping a grip only my tiara, and tried to catch some flakes on my tongue.
“You’re drunk.”
I looked back to his face. “Thanks, Captain Obvious,” I slurred and laughed at my own joke. “Your face is so pretty,” I said, stroking a finger down his cheek. His jaw ticked, and his wings unfurled on either side of him. “So are they.” Before I could stop myself, I reached over his shoulder and ran my fingers across the slick feathers. They felt like the softest silk.
“Alys,” he growled. But I ignored him and pushed my entire open palm against the flat underside of his wing. He shot into the air, and while my left hand gripped onto his neck, my right hand that had been touching his wing grabbed onto the hard spine of it instinctively. “Shit, Alys,” he groaned into my ear. I let go and held on to his neck with both hands, suddenly much more sober.
“I’m sorry, I wasn’t ready!” He breathed heavily through his nose as the air whooshed around us. “What does it feel like?” I asked as my fingers drifted back to where they came out of his back. A very long minute passed in painful silence as my fingertips grazed their softness again.
He groaned again and shifted me so that I was straddling his waist, my dress riding up to my thighs and his hands gripping me against him in dangerous places. If it weren’t for the layer of fabric under his hands, I knew he’d be able to feel how much I wanted him. My arms were around his neck, trying to keep me from falling, and I buried my face in his neck.
“Some warning would be nice!” I hissed.
“You asked what it felt like,” he whispered into my ear. The deep tenor of his voice had me shamelessly pulling myself closer to his body.
“Yes,” I whispered back.
“Kind of like this,” he said as he trailed light kisses from just below my ear all the way down my neck. He went painfully slow, his breath warm in between each kiss. When he reached my shoulder, he nudged my head to the side, and I relaxed, giving his mouth more access to my skin. My breath was coming short and fast now as my magick hummed through my veins, begging for a release. Was I imagining what was happening? Was the alcohol turning this into more than it actually was?
“Mm, there’s that power again,” he said, and then with the tip of his tongue, he left a trail of flame back up to my jaw where he nipped me with a fang. “Am I the catalyst to that raw magick, Alys?” A whimper escaped my lips, and his throaty laughter that followed lit my blood on fire. I had to actively try to not move against him as my sensible side fought against my drunken side. He pulled his mouth away, and I opened my eyes to find his as we landed in front of our cabin.
I wiggled, and with another groan, he let me slide down. I quickly pushed through the door and into the warm living room of our cabin as I saw him adjust himself out of the corner of my eye. I smirked and headed straight for the bar in the corner and poured us a couple of drinks. His shadows, even though we were across the room from each other, still reached out from him and clung to me. I had a feeling I was going to need that drink.
