Page 268 of Spring Guardians & Songbirds

Sliding off her mouth and grabbing her chin, I angled her face to the ground. “Spit.”

She raised a brow and then swallowed. Fucking swallowed, licking her lips as she did so.

Fuck.

Her grin was victorious. “So?”

I hooked my hands under her shoulders and lifted her up on my lap. “I forgot the question.”

She giggled, running the tip of her tongue over her lip. “Never done that before.” My brows rose when her cheeks flushed red. She quickly added, “But I know how to adapt well in sticky situations.”

That made me laugh. With my thumb, I rubbed a bit of the smudged lipstick that had bled in the corners of her lips and then kissed her. “Are you real?” I asked, still feeling too anxious that this was a reverie created by my mind.

“If you think about it, if this wasn’t real,” she said, slinging her arms around my neck. “It would mean that you imagined silencing me.”

“I like making you scream too.”

She sighed. “Later. Let's go back to the ball. I promised Thora I’d return with you.”

“Love,” I said carefully. “You told me you loved me, sucked me, my cock is still out for that matter, and now you want to take me dancing?”

She shrugged and reached to put me in my britches before buttoning my fly. “Could have gone worse. I could have made you dance first.” She stood, brushed a hand over her hair and gave me a beaming smile. “How do I look?”

“Magnificent.”

She held my hand tight while tugging me between the horde of people filling every space of the ballroom celebrating the claim of Myrdur.

“I brought him,” she said to Thora who jumped upright from her seat.

“Did she threaten you?” Nia asked, amused, sipping her drink. Her smile began to wear off the more she looked at me. “Oh.”

Thora’s expression turned worried as she threw jerky glances between us. “What? What is it? What did you see? Did she really threaten him?” She stopped and narrowed her forest green eyes on me and then nodded to herself. “Oh.”

“Oh what?”

She tapped a finger to the corner of my lip. “Nice colour. Goes well with your skin tone.”

“It does,” Albius said, slowly making his way to us along with Alastair. He had a sombre smile on his face, but sadness in his shadows. He bowed to the two of us. “Less so than the colour of love you both wear. I still remember him hiding behind trees to spy on you.”

“You knew?” Snow asked, eyes wide.

The old man chuckled. “Who do you think let him in Arynth to spy on you when you came over?”

Snow gaped a little. I liked how she found it hard to believe that we’d met long ago. “At the meeting in Arynth, you knew he was the Night King since then? Is that why you never said anything?”

He nodded. “I suppose it worked well that I did not meddle with fate.”

Alastair laughed, patting his shoulder. “You did well, Albius. You did very well. The young fight what they feel so hard, but they feel so fiercely.” The old man extended a hand to Nia. “Come, little hen, give your old papa a dance. Though you will have to be on your own two feet, I don’t know if I can carry you the same as when you were little.”

Nia grinned bright and took his hand. “You can still spin me, papa.”

My brother stalked from the balcony where he was quietly watching us from and dragged Thora to the dance floor. Both glaring at each other, words spoken through clenched teeth as they slowly spun to the soft sound of music.

He’d not said a word at me. Not one. Not after our conversation after Lake Astrid. Not after I’d told him all the truth.

“Dance with me?” I asked Snow and she gave me a bright nod.

She was tightly pressed to me as I swayed the both of us slowly despite the cheery jig and the jumping people surrounding us. Her golden eyes dazzled, amazed as they landed on everyone in the room. The more she looked, the brighter her smile became, the louder her heartbeat.