“Like?”
His eyes flicked between mine, his thumb still steadily grazing my ribs. “Like the fact that whatever Angel magic was woven into the enchantment that kept the corpses awake wastransferred to her when the one bit her. And how”—he dropped his voice—“since much of our magic is Goddess-given from our mothers line, and there were ancient spells within that bite, many facets of hers are not working.”
Ancient Angel magic often warred with Godly magic. Nerves for Mora—and for Lancaster, too—had me fidgeting.
“Is she all right?” I asked.
“She is vulnerable, especially facing a God and creatures of another realm. She insists she was fine against the gorgons despite the fact that her glamours aren’t as infallible as they once were, but I told her she should return to Vercuella tonight before a Godly war strikes. She refuses.”
My gaze flicked to Mora where she was speaking amicably with a group of Seawatchers. On the surface, she appeared fine, but?—
There.
A slight roll of her shoulders and a barely perceptible wince. If the physical wound still pained her, I could only imagine how it was tampering with her magic.
“I’m guessing she’s choosing to stay here?” I asked as we spun about the room.
Lancaster’s jaw tightened. “Vehemently.”
“She loves you. She wouldn’t want to leave you behind.” Just as I couldn’t fathom abandoning my friends amid these unknown battles. Funny how whether you were human, warrior, or fae, love manifested all the same.
“And it is because I love her that I need her to go,” Lancaster swore, voice low. His fingers curled into my back as if he was trying to grab on to me. To root himself. And he sounded so utterly vulnerable when he admitted that weakness.
It was difficult to reconcile these pieces of the male with the one I’d thought I’d known. The one I’d judged based on thehistory of his people—a people who only hunted mine because we were bred to do the same.
But there was more to Lancaster than I’d originally known, and I’d slowly been gathering these new facets of him. Like a diamond under the light, each angle refracted a new color.
And I thought I might like every shade.
Beneath the burly surface, there was a male who cared deeply for his family and who wanted nothing more than a taste of freedom his Hunter instincts had denied him. It was as alluring as this dress made me feel, the hum in my chest crescendoing just as the music did. My heart thundered, my whole body vibrating with the need to say something to him. To tell him—something—anything—to get these thoughts and unexpected admirations out of my mind and hopefully appease the insistent thrum my chest had become.
But the music ended. And Lancaster took a step back, effectively ending those sacred moments of vulnerability. My entire body chilled, the string in my chest crying out as if looking for something to latch on to.
Entirely unaffected, he nodded, turning away.
And desperate, I called after him, “Why did you want to dance with me?”
Lancaster looked over his shoulder, searching my expression. By the Gods, did I wish I knew what he was looking for. In that moment, if it was at all within my power, I would have found it just to absolve this unfamiliar, needy feeling within me and heal the vulnerability he’d withered beneath moments ago.
But his expression faltered. “I supposed I missed your company.”
And then, he left.
Chapter Sixty
Ophelia
“Finally,”Esmond said as he joined me at the edge of the dance floor where I was still watching Santorina and Lancaster.
“I think he’s a bit jealous of your friendship with Rina,” I told the Bodymelder.
He chuckled, tucking his hands into his pockets. “Good. Santorina deserves someone who is willing to fight for her.”
And with the way Santorina’s and Lancaster’s frames unknowingly melted into one another, with the flush of her cheeks and his stare locked on hers, I knew he would. Even if neither of them would admit it yet.
“Magic and attraction can do wondrous things,” Esmond muttered.
My attention snapped to him. “You think there’s magic involved?”
