A Court of Distrust and Darkness

Celebration

Keres's point of view:

    I knew Nyx wasn't conventional. Not only because he shared lineage and personality traits with his sister but also for other reasons. For one, he appeared in my home on a whim to ask me for an alliance. A house that great lengths were taken to ensure it remained hidden. While that doesn't make him unconventional, it was the fact that when he did find this safehouse, instead of requesting a meeting through traditional means, he decided to just casually stroll inside to talk, having never met me before that moment. That was what led me to believe that Nyx was unconventional. For all he knew, I could have been a lunatic or had the house as a trap for unknowing assassins.

    While several more slight actions and comments added to this conclusion, what sealed the notion that Nyx was unusual, especially for a High Lord heir, was when he pulled me to the dance floor. Because only Nyx would have the bright idea to drag me into full view of every court's highest officials to discuss a diplomatic meeting of the highest secrecy. It was such a shocking and blunt question that even my shadows were shocked, stilling on my arms as if stunned. It had taken me a moment to think of a response, mostly because I had no interest in dancing, but his face had looked almost sweet as he offered.

  What possessed me to accept and, at worst, tell him I was leading, I wouldn't know. It could be false confidence or my own way of not letting the side down to show some weakness. It was a slight weakness, but having no clue how to dance was still a weakness in the realm of balls and politics of high lords.

As a child, I had no genuine interest in the activity. I had never bothered to ask anyone to teach me in my youth, and I wasn't going to demean myself to ask someone now. But as Nyx's hand gently grazed my bare back, and we walked out in front of every High Lord, I wished I had more instructions than merely watching others. I heard startled gasps and a flood of whispers throughout the room as I turned to face Nyx and took his hands to await the music.

My silver and blue kebaya shone like the moon next to Nyx's black suit. The vision of darkness was only amplified as my shadows swirled at our legs. I hoped their swirling forms of darkness would prevent anyone from seeing my missteps as we danced. As I looked down, I realized no one would notice any mistakes. Nyx had combined his power with my shadows at our feet, making us appear as if we were dancing through the night sky. I had to admit, it was a brilliant way to distract the audience.

    My confidence was soon disrupted as the music started to play, and we started on our slow movements. Most eyes were trained on us originally. I saw many confused or awed faces in the crowd during our brief spinning movements. At one point, I went to make a mistake that would have been all but obvious when Nyx broke the steps of the dance and spun me. The movement was so quick I involuntarily broke into a smile, and Nyx's smug expression made me roll my eyes. To anyone watching, it was just a silly move an admirer had made to make his dance partner laugh. Over time the crowd became distracted from our movements, and their gasps and whispers were directed elsewhere.

  I was confused about why eyes weren't trained on us for a moment, but I realized why as Nyx turned us in a new direction. Asteria, in a wine-colored gown, was gracefully twirling around my cousin. Samuel, hard to believe, was keeping up with Asteria's elaborate routine. The spins and twirls were beautiful, and the look of adoration on my cousin's face was hard to miss. I watched Asteria leap and twirl, which I had previously thought possible only with someone with wings.  I pulled my astonished gaze back toward Nyx, who was surprisingly quiet. Nyx met my gaze from where he had caught a glimpse of his sister. He smirked with apparent amusement at my astonishment. His grin was almost playful as he asked, "Didn't know she could dance?" I shook my head before saying, "I knew she was graceful. Anyone who had faced her in combat would. But I didn't imagine her as a dancer."