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“His Majesty, King Raphael, First of His Name, Chosen of Anagenni, Ruler of the Vampire Kingdom of the West, and Lady Samara, the king’s Chosen, have arrived!”

All eyes were on us at once, then quickly cast down as everyone bowed low.

For Raphael, of course.

He stepped forward, as was his right, and I followed along, helpless.

The room itself rose to a peak at the top. A grand chandelier, the size of my bed, hung from a massive chain, with crystals and candles that filled the space with light. It was a feat of engineering it held up. Parts of the mountain were cut away to reveal the outside world. A glimpse at the three red eclipses.

If I’d thought the last ball had prepared me for a crowd, I was sorely mistaken. The ballroom was larger than the other one, but it was even more filled with vampires and humans alike. There were many, many humans. Not just the ones who disguised themselves wistfully as vampires.

No, when I looked at them… I saw myself.

It took everything in me not to pull from Raphael’s grip and run. “It seems I’ve complied with the dress code.”

I ran a sweaty palm over the red full silk of my skirt. The humans were easy to identify—each of us wore red. Sleeveless dresses, vests with no undershirts. Pulse points exposed nearly everywhere. The fashion was ornate on humans and vampires alike, with the others cloaked in darker shades of gray and black.

Many wore black, but only Raphael was fully cloaked in the color—save the red jewels embroidered into his tunic.

“It is… symbolic,” Raphael said carefully. His voice was quiet, but in a room full of vampire hearing, I doubted there was such thing as a private conversation.

Symbolic of the blood they would spill? Mypoisonedblood.

On some silent signal, the bows came to an end. Everyone watched us.

Oh gods, now?“Is this the part where you drink from me?”Why had I refused to let Thea tell me any more of what was expected?

Raphael adjusted and moved so he was directly in front of me without relinquishing our interlinked arms. His large frame blocked my view from the others.

“Now is the part where we dance.”

He didn’t break eye contact while he gestured to the band, and a fresh song started. I could hardly hear the first notes over the invisible cotton that clogged my ears.

He bent towards me, his breath caressing the shell of my ear. “They’ll stop staring once we start dancing.”

“I don’t know the steps,” I hissed under my breath.

This close, I could nearly feel the rumble of his low laughter. “Just move. I’ll do the rest.”

So I moved, needing no further convincing if it meant three hundred pairs of eyes would go elsewhere in the room. I swayed slightly, imitating what I recalled from the dances I’d observed in another life. It was more swaying and shuffling than anything as elegant as a waltz, but Raphael was true to his word. His hand slid into mine, lifting our palms while his other hand dipped lower, burning into my side while mine naturally moved to his bicep. I looked around as the others began to dance, and tried to mimic the movements to better fit the style of the Vampire Kingdom.

“You’re thinking too hard,” he mused.

“I’m trying to not step on your feet.” The quip was out before I realized the irony. I was concerned about stepping on his feet… as if I didn’t plan far greater harm.

I faltered in my shuffle-dance, but Raphael rescued me.

“Don’t worry about them, little viper. They don’t matter.” The chandelier light caught the brutal iron of his crown as he moved easily in his improvised steps. “Only this matters. What you feel in this moment, what you’re doing.”

I tried to let them fade to the background, but my thoughts were now caught in another swirl. That was why Raphael resorted to another tactic—distracting me.

“Tell me your opinion of the music.”

Now that we had settled into a rhythm, I let the notes entrance me. I’d spotted the small orchestra on the edge of the room when we’d arrived. The acoustics of the ballroom were excellent, the volume not distracting, but loud enough to drown out the worst of my thoughts. Dozens of instruments came together in a harmony that thrummed over my skin and made me want to move, even if my steps were still uncertain.

“They’re skilled,” I conceded.

“But do you like them?” he pressed.