House of Eclipses by Casey L. Bond

8

Kevi helped me into a dancing costume with silk panels in the deep teal shade I imagined the deepest fathoms of the ocean held, layered with sheer ones over my hips and legs. “The panels allow for movement,” she noted, cinching the silver belt a little tighter where small, silver discs hung all over it. “When you roll and shake your hips, you become the musician,” she teased.

My stomach was bare, as was most of my back. The small halter pushed my breasts up and together. “It fits you well,” she noted, arranging my veil. “Though I’m not sure what dancer could possibly afford sun diamonds.”

I quirked a brow at her. “Those, I keep.”

They belonged to my mother, and the bracelet and anklet were never leaving my skin. Not that I could take them off if I wanted to. The gold would not break.

Kevi laughed and innocently batted her eyes. “I wasn’t implying anything.”

The hell she wasn’t.

“You’re ready. I hope you’re not clumsy and that you can keep up.”

I scoffed inwardly. Kevi is twice my age! Surely, I can keep up with her.I think…

She swayed from the room as if she owned the House of Dusk and everything in it, my thick gold bangle unabashedly adorning her wrist. Locking the room behind us, we joined her dancing crew. “Not a word about this or you’ll be out on the streets that fast.” She snapped her fingers. “Understood?” Kevi asked, her tone leaving no room for argument.

“Yes, Kevi,” the girls answered in unison. A few bowed out of habit again.

“Stop that!” Kevi reprimanded. “Act like she’s one of us until we return to this room.” The question of why swam in their eyes, but Kevi’s hand landed on my back reassuringly. “Ignore them. Your explanations are your own.”

Hmm.Maybe I shouldn’t have given up the bangle. I could have merely ordered her to comply. I just hated using my authority to crush others. Kevi, however, would become a boulder if given the chance, crushing without a single thought to those who wound up beneath her.

The lead dancer led the girls down a narrow set of stairs. At the bottom, she nudged me. “Stay near this staircase. If anything looks amiss, you run up it and find someplace to hide. If there’s trouble, my girls and I will stay out of it,” she warned.

I nodded. “I will.”

She winked, playfully clapping my arm. “Then let’s see exactly how well you dance, Atena Noor.” Kevi slid from among the women and sauntered onto an empty area of the floor. She made her way to the musicians and bent to speak with them, a broad, flirtatious smile on her crimson lips. Kevi was the only dancer who didn’t bother with a veil. She laughed with them for a few more moments before striding away to bow before her Aten.

He gave her an approving once-over. Bile rose in my throat.

The women swayed into the room, each bowing before him, then spreading out to cover more of the empty space left just for them. I didn’t budge from my shadowed hiding place near the stairs. He knew my eyes.

I couldn’t get too close or he would know.

I didn’t see Zuul lurking anywhere, but knew better than to think he would leave the room or Father’s side.

A current of startlingly cool air made the skin on my arms pebble a moment before someone came to stand beside me. He was a head taller than I was, with neatly cropped hair the blue-black shades I imagined the fabled night sky hoarded. “Are you injured?” he asked, his crystalline blue eyes twinkling like I envisioned the stars might.

“I’m sorry?” I asked, already having forgotten his question.

“Are you injured?” he asked again, his lips quirking into a smile. His voice was deep and raspy, unexpected. “Why are you not out there with them?” he asked, nodding to the other dancers.

“I will be. I… I’m new.” His presence made me feel off-kilter, like the world had somehow tilted and everything lay sideways. Maybe the earth was fine, and I was off-balance.

“Ah, I see.” His nose was perfectly straight, and I wondered if he could tell mine had been broken. His jaw was square and strong, his posture rigid and confident as he looked out over the room.

I noticed with a start that the blissful chill… came from him.

Dressed in a dark blue tunic and pants that showcased the muscles beneath the material, I wondered how he managed to produce such frost.

He was distracting me, I realized as Kevi began to speak. I reluctantly tore my eyes away from him as she bowed to the gathered crowd before explaining to the Luminans that the dances we were about to perform were more than just entertainment. In Helios, every dance told a story; its words were movement and strength, flesh and fire.

I glanced to the empty seat beside my father.

“Are you looking for him, too?” the cool stranger asked.

My eyes found his again. “Are you here to see the Lumin? Aren’t you from Lumina? Don’t you know what he looks like?”

“I do,” he said with another smile.

My mouth fell open. “Are you one of his guards?”

“Something like that,” he agreed.

“Where is he?”

The dark stranger stood up straighter and looked perfectly uncomfortable. Had he lost his bravado?

“Is he old?” I blurted as the drumbeat began.

“Old?” He chuckled.

“I know nothing about him other than what rumors course through Helios.”

“What rumors?”

My face heated. “I don’t want to repeat them.”

He laughed and folded his arms over his chest. “That’s likely wise.”

“I should go,” I said, looking back to the dancers as the drumbeat began.

He slowly reached for my wrist, his brows furrowing. His fingers were like ice and he took in a sharp breath when my heat flared into him, but he didn’t let go. “Are these sun diamonds? The Aten brought some to the Lumin as a gift this afternoon just after he arrived. I thought only the Aten and Atenas could bear to wear them? The Lumin had to wear gloves just to handle them…”

My heart pounded and I hastily pulled my wrist away. “I have to join the others,” I stammered, scurrying onto the floor as a sensual rhythm filled the room. My mind spun. I didn’t know Father had met with the Lumin this afternoon, or that his guard paid him so much attention. Not that Zuul didn’t do the same for Father. Still, this could be troublesome if he saw the stones again.

I couldn’t worry about it now. I had to focus and follow the dance and not make another mistake.

The scents of herb smoke and incense combined to form a heady fragrance. The air grew hazy and the dance began slowly… then built. A dam inside me broke and I was nothing more than bone and music, muscle and rhythm. With my body I told the story of our people, the story of Sol. I was veiled and free and danced like I’d never dared before, like each step, sway, and bend might be my last. When the song was done, panting and covered in a sheen of earned sweat, I looked back to the dark little corner, wondering if the Lumin’s guard still lingered in the shadows, hoping he might have seen me and had enjoyed watching.

I wouldn’t be the first woman to use her form as a weapon.

My hopes were dashed when I found that the corner lay empty. I swiveled my head to find that the seat beside my father, the Lumin’s seat, was not.

My stomach dropped and I felt sick when I saw the familiar man who occupied the chair. I clutched my midsection and rushed to the stairwell, tripping over a silken skirt panel as I scurried up it. Kevi noticed and rushed after me.

The music began again without the two of us. My absence might not attract unwanted attention, but Kevi’s certainly would. She led the dancers.

“Atena?” she whispered as she caught me in the hall outside her room. She hurriedly unlocked her door and pushed me inside. With shaking hands, I tore off the outfit and shrugged back into my plain dress, stooping to pick the garment pieces off the floor. Kevi stilled my hands. “Are you okay? Are we in danger?”

“No,” I choked. “I just thought it wise to leave before our luck ran out. Mine always does.”

Her thick brows kissed. “Are you sure?”

“I give you my word, Kevi. Father is none the wiser. My nerves just got the best of me.” I tried to laugh. “My heart is beating out of my chest.”

She relaxed a fraction, clutching my arms. “I imagine you’ve not had a true chance to just be a girl.”

“No,” I admitted. “I haven’t. What I did just now was terrifying. It was the most frightening and daring thing I’ve ever done.” And possibly the most foolish.

At that, she chuckled. “If you’re sure you’re okay, I should return. Someone will come looking for me.”

I nodded. “I’ll return to my rooms. Thank you, Kevi.”

She jangled the bangles on her wrist, mine included, and winked. “The pleasure was all mine.”

Citali was waiting at the seventh-floor landing when I emerged. She pushed off the wall she leaned against. “Where did you go?” she asked, her eyes narrowed suspiciously.

“I found a hidden staircase and wanted to get a closer look,” I lied. “Not that it worked. The dancing girls blocked my view.”

She grinned. “That’s too bad.”

“Did you see him?”

One perfect brow rose. “Of course I did.”

“What did he look like?” My heart drummed like I was still dancing, because I knew exactly what he looked like. Beyond that, I knew the gruff sound of his voice, the strength concealed by his clothing, his cool, clean scent. I knew the frost he radiated, the soft touch of his hand.

“You’ll find out soon enough,” she teased, striding back to her room and disappearing behind it, but not before tossing a cruel smirk over her shoulder.

I took the key out of my pocket and unlocked my room, letting the dark and gold surround me. It was comforting somehow. Not pristine and white and perfect, but a truer reflection of my heart and all its shadows.

I sank onto the soft bed and tucked my knees into my body, hugging them tightly. The man I thought was the Lumin’s guard wasn’t that at all. The man with the star-shimmer eyes was the Lumin.

More to the point, he knew who I was, and that I’d disguised myself to see him.

He knew my voice and my eyes, the shape of the diamonds my mother clamped onto me as a child and which couldn’t be removed. He felt my heat and saw me dance.

My head fell onto my knees.

I wished I could plead to Sol, asking her to intervene and forbid him from telling Father what he knew, but there was too much distance between us. Besides that, I wasn’t sure she’d help me even if I held her in my hands.

I just had to hope the Lumin – a perfect stranger – kept my secret.