Page 20 of The Kraken Bride

A murmur moved through the spectators, subtle but immediate as Sebastian’s hand settled at the small of my back.

I didn’t mean to, but I gasped at the moment of contact. His touch was an unexpected brand that seared my skin. A light but unmistakable caress, and a reminder as much as a signal. Like it or not, we were now a team. But my dragon stretched and calculated, wanting… more.

Bending closer, Sebastian whispered, “You are used to keeping others at a distance, Ice Queen, even your partners on stage, but today you must pull me in close.”

Excitement sparked, and there was no snuffing it out.

Worse, he wasn’t done dropping truth bombs. “Everyone is watching you. Can you feel their gazes?” His warm breath fanned the side of my neck, firing up nerve endings I hadn’t known I possessed. “They’re wondering if you’re the reason I’m participating in the game for the first time in decades. Speculating how long before I have you in my bed.”

“Or I take you to mine,” I teased before I could think better of it. Then his words hit me, and I groaned. “Why would you tell me this? Do you want me too nervous to play?”

“Nei, Brona.” His fingers flexed on me. “I want you to win despite it. And do not think anyone will hand us the victory because I am king. I taught my people better than that. We must earn it.”

Laughter floated up behind us, along with a few competitive jabs among competitors. No one dared trash-talk the king and his chosen partner.

“I hope you’re ready,” Bjarki called, striking the coral rod again. “Tideweave begins on the third pulse.”

The floor answered him, flashing a bright light. Once. Twice.

I inhaled. Trust the training.

With the third pulse, the light surged outward in concentric rings, mimicking waves, flowing beneath our feet. I kept my attention half on it, half on the people around me. The rhythm started slow. Deceptively so. An attempt to lull the unwary, but the vibrations running through my bones told a different story.

A tempest brewed.

I let my body take over, years of rehearsals flooding to the surface, allowing me to keep count with muscle rather than a musical beat. When the floor altered, one ring rising above the rest, I was right there, Sebastian with me.

One couple didn’t make it before the glow ebbed and swelled. The rings spun, some clockwise, still more counterclockwise. I followed the tide, gliding from one to the other, growing more aware of Sebastian on every pass. With anyone else, I would have led, not him. He seemed to know what I would do, before I did it, and never, not once, did he break contact.

More and more, my body trusted him to steer. When he spun me, I added a low backward arch, just for show, and he grinned with a slow satisfaction I wanted to see again and again and again.

“I knew you would excel at this, Brona.”

His praise went straight to my head.

Focus. Balance. A delicate spiral of light bloomed briefly between two pulses. I pivoted, skirt flaring, and brushed my fingertips through the sparkling upshot as it peaked.

Without missing a beat, the king shifted with me. For one fleeting moment, his hand firmed at my back. Not just physical but ethereal, thin dark ribbons seeping from his skin to wrap around my waist and hold me tight, somehow as tangible as his flesh and blood. Those ribbons didn’t feel like a weapon to me. They felt like being held by him, and all that awareness pulled tighter, deeper. I almost missed my next step.

Sebastian hauled me even closer, keeping the beat for us both.

Our gazes met briefly. A millisecond when we were the only two people in existence. Him, ferocity made flesh. Me, hope on fire. My whole body ignited, embers crackling beneath my pores.

The crest vanished, and a wave of approval passed through the crowd.

The game. Right.

The next peak came faster, the rhythm tightening. A couple stumbled, their laughter brittle as they stepped aside. My confidence soared.

Sebastian’s voice brushed my ear. “Perhaps we should play every day of your stay, hmm?”

“Are you sure you could survive it?” I teased, caught up in the moment. I moved, never too fast but always precise.

The floor surged, then stalled, a trick meant to throw off our timing. I adjusted mid-step, trusting the count I’d already committed to. Sebastian adjusted with me… ja! We succeeded where two others failed.

The tide quickened, the lights beneath our feet brightening, the rhythm growing erratic, testing instead of guiding. I felt Sebastian’s awareness hone, the hand on my back becoming an anchor.

For the first time, I realized he wasn’t watching the floor. He was watching me.