Crescent (Book 1)

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I see Ceth before he spots me. His dark suit is etched with lilac thread tonight, but when he turns to look at me, his eyes all but widen. They roam over every inch of fabric that already feels too sheer. His grin is back, but something even more horrible has taken residence in his eyes: Lust. It makes me want to crawl out of my skin..

"Don't you look inviting?" he whistles. I hold my ground, raising a brow as his shimmering crown and then flipping my hair over my shoulder. Just one more day, I remind myself. I take his hand, and we walk down the carpeted steps, side-by-side. Every eye finds its way to us, and Ceth releases the dampener on his power. Now it's a soft thrum next to me. Somehow, I feel my own power- whatever has bonded me with the others these past few nights- ripple through me too. I can feel the strength- the gift of what has been given to me coursing through my blood.

Rhiannon smiles from behind her lipstick-stained glass of wine, bowing her chin as if she notices it too.

"You owe me a dance, love," Ceth tugs me forward as we swim into the lapping crowd. He takes long strides toward the dance floor, and I struggle to keep up. The music changes to something lively, and Ceth has me spinning wildly, dress flaring around me in a sigh of tulle and lilac. He pulls me close enough that his lips brush the curve of my shoulder, and I bite my tongue to keep from reeling at the touch. "You look ravishing in this dress. Don't care for the color though." Of course he doesn't. It isn't red. "I should rip this off you."

I silently curse the gods above as his hold tightens. What good is a blade if you can't use it? I smile half-heartedly at him. "I bet you think all the girls think you're charming, don't you?"

That only makes him laugh. Couples orbit us like planets around the sun. Everyone is smiling, laughing, drunkenly waltzing about. Ceth dips me backwards with an arm wrapped loosely around my back. "Is charming the best you can come up with?" he brushes his lips against my neck, canines sharpening against my pulse.

I offer a smile, flashing my teeth as he lifts me back onto my feet. "Believe me, I have far more creative words for you, but being on my best behavior maddeningly limits my vocabulary."

No one else notices the way he stalls, but his grip tightens to the point of pain. He smiles wickedly. "Clever, clever girl."

I turn my head, searching the crowd for something else to focus on as the party roars around us. Tonight leaves my head with an even stronger headache. Being so near him- near the other Lords and Ladies- every night has clearly taken its toll. The power that has slowly been trickling into me is growing.

"You didn't tell me the gala would bind me to this place," I say suddenly.

Again, he reveals nothing, but his movements are rigid. "I told you about the rite weeks ago."

My nails dig into his shoulders. "That's not what I mean."

"You were bound the moment you became my fiancée."

"You hid this from me."

Ceth halts and a couple behind us collides with my back. "I am the lord of this castle and the keeper of this realm," he says, scowling down at me in one of his few moments of unmasked temper. "I own this world and the people within it. I own you. You play by my rules." As the song ends, Ceth releases me. I mutter my apologies to the people who ran into us, but he's already disappeared into the crowd, leaving me fumbling around by myself for most of the night.

Tonight's decor is like a thousand sunsets brought to life. Streaks of orange, blue, and purple adorn the walls, and I can't help but look around in wonder at the beauty of it. Shades of lavender paired with sun-soft yellow light the ballroom in the most gorgeous display imaginable. Through it, I spot Nic chatting with a group below the stairs. Audelia and Thayer listen in on a debate on the other side of the hall, and even still, my eyes look for Gabriel.

You are no one's pawn. My head jerks when I feel Ajax's hand on my back, guiding me toward the stairs once it's time. Ceth mysteriously appears at the top of the stairs, beckoning me toward him. He raises our clasped hands when I approach him, and we take center-stage. Except Gabriel joins us this time. The scars on my wrists are twinkling stars as Ceth raises my arm to the crowd. The ceremony begins. He holds a candle in his opposite hand, tendrils of wax slowly dripping from flame to floor.

I feel cold. But it has little to do with the temperature. Ceth has something else planned... and it's clear I won't know what until it's happening. Gabriel's eyes flicker over the scene curiously.

The plate atop the podium is light with a new flame. Blood bubbles beneath the flickering light and wax like that of a candle dribbles off the plate, drip, drip, dripping onto the marbled floors. "Donum," Ceth speaks to the crowd. "A gift. Ad lucem."

The crowd whispers back. "Alligatus es nobis."

Ceth reaches for my blade. He rips it from its sheath and slices open my palm before I've even seen him move. Magic and pain hit me in an all-too-dizzying wave. At first, a black puddle pools in my hand where red should be. The black of death. My blood dribbles over the flame, sizzling over the sides as he slices his hand, baring his blood to the crowd. Our hands clasp together, blood mixing, and another wave smacks into me. Magic hits me with the might of a hammer, stealing air from my lungs, from my blood. My knees buckle, and all the flames in the room flicker out in unison. Ceth yanks me against him in the dark. "Stand up," he growls.

Though it nauseates me to the point of pain, I prop myself upright before the light returns and the crowd looks up at us again. The ocean of people below us clap, I think. I feel paralyzed- like I don't have control over my body. Ceth is the picture of regality and grace as we continue.

Gabriel bleeds. I wince as his blood hits the podium. Move, I urge myself once it's finished, but I no longer have control of my limbs. Ceth helps me stagger down the stairs, his hands holding me upright. The party clambers on, and once the magic and the nausea ease, I try to make Ceth look at me. But he refuses.

A piece of me is missing, leaving a gaping hole in its wake. He's taken something from me. And when my strength and mind return to me, I make a vow: Whatever he's taken from me, I will get it back.