In pairs, the apprentices and the daughters of Sion descended the steps and spread out to stand over a symbol on the circular dance floor. Carved into the dark stone were golden astrology symbols. It wasn’t just the twelve symbols of birth months, but they were arranged like a clock in a circle. Soft music flowed as if by a spell, and a bell toned somewhere in the temple ruins.
Willa began to move with her partner, as did Risa and hers, and I froze, not understanding what was happening. But my partner grasped my hand and pulled me after him into a dance. I tensed, knowing that I would immediately give myself away if I didn’t get ahold of my nerves. Why didn’t Grace tell me there would be dancing? I wouldn’t have agreed to the charade if I’d have known.
I stumbled over a misstep, and my escort caught me easily. His hand wrapped around my waist as he lifted me off the floor and swung me around for the intricate dance move without missing a beat.
“Thanks,” I whispered.
His eyes flickered to me briefly before focusing over my shoulder. I had hoped the song would end soon, but just as the music faded out, it picked up again with another rhythm and verse. We must have danced over a candle mark and we weren’t given a break.
My heart started to race and my breathing picked up as the exertion caught up with me. I tried to slip away and stop dancing, but my escort gripped my back.
“No, don’t. You can’t stop.”
“I need a break,” I whispered.
“You stop, you die.”
Adrenaline kicked in, and I looked right into my escort’s face. That’s when I noticed the tenseness in his jaw, the muscle that kept clenching and unclenching from stress. I looked toward my fake sisters and saw that all of them were just as exhausted and showing signs of weariness, but they had a determined look in their eye.
I shouldn’t have spoken up. I should have already known the consequences. Grace had warned me. Whatever you do, don’t stop. I focused on the other dancers and the markings on the floor. After only a few numbers, we shouldn’t have been this exhausted. I had trained to run miles without stopping, and I’d never gotten this tired this fast.
Something else was at work here.
That’s when I saw it. The golden glow on the floor. As each princess passed over the symbol as they danced, there was a flicker of magic trailing from them, sinking deep into the floor. I frowned. We were dancing over the sacred hollow, but there was a spell circle in place.
It was a magic circle, and the pattern we were dancing in was a magic sigil. With each turn or spin on the symbols, we were activating and powering up the spell using our own life energy.
Just as I made the connection, we passed over another symbol. My escort spun me and I felt it, a pull on my heart, and my body grew slightly weaker. Even my escort showed signs of the spell affecting him.
“How much longer?” I whispered.
“We dance until dawn.”
“Are you sure it’s not dawn yet?” I muttered weakly and smiled up at him, trying to charm him, but knowing my lessons on wooing were woefully lacking.
“You’re different from before,” he whispered.
“How so?” I turned my face away and watched the other escorts and their partners.
“You won’t stop talking.” I immediately my lips pressed together. I’d given myself away. “I’m sure you noticed that very few of the others are talking. They don’t have the energy for it, and you have never spoken a single word before. It’s like you’re a different person.”
I needed to run, to get away, but I wasn’t sure how without revealing myself. I had no idea how to get back to the portrait and into the sitting room.
My escort tightened his grip around my waist, pulling me close. His other hand that held mine released and slowly reached for my chin and lifted my gaze to meet his. I could feel my body tremble in fear at having failed.
I cast my eyes downward, unwilling to look at him and admit I wasn’t who I was pretending to be.
“But you were always different from the others, Honor,” he whispered so softly I could barely hear. My eyes shot up to meet his, and my lips parted in shock. “I told you, no matter what disguise you wear, I will always know you.”
I tried to stop in the middle of the dance and pull away, but he wouldn’t let me.
“I warned you before, you can’t stop,” he growled.
How had I not seen it? I felt a fool, that he recognized me, but I hadn’t recognized him.
“Percy?” I whispered.
“We don’t use names here,” he hushed. He was watching the other escorts carefully to see if anyone had overheard me. None had. In fact, most of the dancers had started to slow. Many of the princesses had collapsed into the arms of their escorts, who were doing their best to keep them up and moving.
“What are you doing here?”
He was silent.
As we passed another symbol, I felt the familiar tug again, and the draining feeling overwhelmed me. The fear of harming others overtook my need for information.
“I have to get out of here,” I whispered frantically. “I really can’t take much more of this.”
“We’re almost done,” he said, trying to soothe me. “Then we’ll be released from the spell.”
“I don’t think I have that much time.” I gasped as I felt the familiar pangs as I unconsciously started to reach outward for magic. “I’m scared someone will die,” I whispered.
“I’ll protect you.”
“But who will protect you?” I gasped as a shock of pain ripped through my stomach, and I seized up as I fought the urge. My body froze as I could feel my body temperature drop, and goosebumps ran up my arms. This was going to be bad. Very bad. What would happen if I started to siphon from a room full of sorcerers?
“Honor, what’s wrong?” he whispered as I buckled and he caught me, holding me upright.
I shivered, and he pulled me close. I rested my cheek on his shoulder, tucking into the crook of his neck. There was no hiding that Percy had picked me up and my feet no longer even touched the floor as we danced.
I could barely keep my eyes open as I struggled to lock away the desire within me. I would never harm Percy. I would die before I harmed him. As we danced, his sleeve slipped down, revealing a dark triangle tattoo mark upon his wrist. The one he had always hidden from me.
My blood ran cold.
It was the symbol of Allemar’s apprentice.
“You’re one of them?” I pushed at his chest, but he wouldn’t release me. He’d said if I stopped dancing, I’d be killed. But if I didn’t stop dancing, I would kill Percy—by accident or on purpose, I didn’t know which.
“If you don’t release me, I will kill you,” I warned, my anger seething.
“You’ve already threatened to kill me.”
“I mean it.” I grimaced as my stomach dropped, and the stabbing pain began. Soon a desirous hunger would be released, and I could accidentally kill any of those with me. As I closed my eyes, I saw the golden light of his soul. It was so bright, his magic, and I wanted it. Tears of remorse and anger flowed as I struggled to get my curse under control.
I could feel myself reaching for the light, wanting to possess it—then snuff it out for its betrayal.