Bravado caught my eye. He was watching the crowd and trying to judge my expression. He mouthed the words, “Are you okay?” He started to move to the center of the room, and I had a feeling he was going to stop the performance.
I shook my head and plastered a fake smile on my face. I had to keep going. I couldn’t disappoint the troupe or the king. I needed to do my job. Bravado retreated to the side and gave me an encouraging nod.
It was time for the finale. I gripped the ends of the silks, securing them around my waist and body to form a safety knot. Slowly, I climbed higher and higher, gathering and wrapping myself into a cocoon of red silk. As I reached the hook in the ceiling, I had a moment of doubt at what I was going to attempt but pushed it aside. I trusted myself. I knew I did everything right. The flute solo was rising in pitch and was about to do a dramatic trill, and I counted . . . the moment the melody dropped, so did I.
A feminine scream ripped through the air as the silks disintegrated around me. I plummeted straight for the ground. I reached out for the silks, my safety line, but they were gone. Flower petals fell through my fingers, and I saw the white marble floor rush toward me.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Death came for me as a painful black cloud. One moment I was falling, the next, a hammer slammed into my body, and I gasped.
My chest constricted as I struggled to inhale as strong arms held me tight. My face was buried against a muscled chest, my eyes closed in disbelief. Someone had caught me. I still wasn’t sure how, except for their extraordinarily fast reflexes. The beating of their heart thudded loudly against my ear. I breathed in the familiar scent of airy pine and a hint of the never flowers, which instantly reminded me of the Northern Woods.
Percy!
He couldn’t be here, but yet . . . he was.
With gentleness, Percy let my feet touch the floor as he held onto my waist and spun, giving a bow to the crowd. He held my hand above my head, twirled me before the audience and then lowered me backward into a dip, my hair cascading down, my foot naturally rising into the air.
The crowd came to life with applause at the grand finale.
Bent over backward, I stared up at Percy in disbelief as he humored the crowd with his dashing smile. He was dressed all in black, his blonde hair pulled back. Easily, I counted the number of throwing knives he had in his vest, the slight bulge on his outer thigh concealing the hidden dagger, and the tenseness with which he held my hand. He had come prepared for war. It was Percy I was sensing, hiding from the audience.
“This time it seemed you fell into my lap,” he teased as his eyes scanned the room for danger.
“I sensed you,” I whispered out the side of my mouth.
He pulled me back up, his right hands firmly around my waist, his left waving at the crowd. “I knew the moment you did.”
I looked up toward the ceiling, at the hook with the missing silks. Red petals continued to fall around me like snow. One touched my cheek and it dissolved, and I felt the smattering of warm liquid.
I flung out my hand with a flourish and pointed to the petals, playing the crowd as if it was all part of the show. But I knew better—someone had tried to kill me and would have succeeded if it hadn’t been for Percy.
Percy stilled, his back tensing. I spun, following his gaze, and settled on the corner where the southern elves had gathered around their leader. It wasn’t Allrick that caught my attention, but Ardax, who stood at his side.
“What is Ardax doing with them?” I hissed.
“The same as I am,” he answered.
“What?”
Percy spun me, forcing me to refocus my attention as I had to bow before the twelve princesses and King Leonel. When I glanced up, Grace could not take her eyes off of me. There was desperation in the way she was trying to meet my gaze. Had she made the connection of how close we look even beneath my mask?
“I need to leave,” I whispered. Percy held my hand, and in the most unelf-like fashion, jumped and pranced out into the hall. As I tried to match his enthusiasm, I slipped on one of the rose petals and was disgusted to see it turn to liquid.
Blood?
Bravado filled in brilliantly as we made our hasty exit. He began a grand speech, calling attention to not only my aerial display, but the extreme death-defying feat that followed.
The crowd erupted into a grand display of clapping, whistles, and shouts.
“Encore!”
We slipped into the storage room, and I collapsed on the trunk. Immediately, my body betrayed me. I buried my face in my hands, trembled, and struggled to get my breathing under control. Great panicked gasps racked my body as I mentally processed what had just occurred. I had almost died.
Percy dropped to the floor in front of me, pulling me into his lap, placing my face against his chest.
“Honor, you’re safe. I’m here. You’re safe.”
“I-I can’t,” I gasped as the panic attack continued to grow and my lungs constricted, but it wasn’t just the breathing. I could feel my cursed magic grasping out in fear, reaching for Percy. I tried to shove him away, to keep us safe.
He wrapped his arms even tighter around me. “Don’t push me away. Not again.”
He refused to let me go. I tried, but Percy wasn’t going to let me win. Instead, I closed my eyes and visualized walls to try to control my curse. I could feel it reaching for Percy, as it was triggered by my fear.
Never had I felt fear like that. Even fighting a horde of goblins or being swallowed up by a giant wave in Ter Dell was something I could face because I had a weapon.
There was no weapon to fight this feeling that washed over me as Percy pressed his lips gently into my temple, leaving a soft kiss upon my brow.
How did one fight falling in love?
With each gentle kiss, he chased away my fears and darkness. My hands pressed against his chest, and I could feel the frantic beating of his heart as it matched mine.
My heart raced, my fear edged away, and I was able to put the monster back into its cage as I tried to hold on to this moment.
“Honor,” he breathed out my name.
Percy lifted my chin, wiped a tear from my face, and leaned in to claim my lips. I felt myself reaching up to meet his, and then Bravado, Sorek, and Humperstink came rushing into the room. I pulled away in surprise.
“What in the stars happened out there?” Bravado asked.
“The silks just . . . they disappeared,” Humperstink said. “The clasps are still secure.”
“Someone cast a transfiguration spell,” Sorek added. “In front of all those people.”
“You could have died,” Humperstink growled out.
“I think that was their intent,” Bravado said, looking at me. “Do you think it’s because someone knows who you are?”
I’d stepped away from Percy, putting as much distance between us as I could in the small space. “I don’t see how they could know. We worked hard to disguise my identity with face paint and masks, plus no one knows what I look like except you and—” My eyes rested on Percy’s black doublet, pants, and the intricate silver details that seemed familiar to what Ardax was wearing. “Percy, why are you dressed like the southern elves?” I asked, fearful of the answer.
Percy straightened his shoulders, and he looked me straight in the eye. “Because I am one.”