Page 35

Keahi

Malia’s eyes widen drastically as she looks up at me.

My lips quirk up into a resulting grin, and I start to dance only for her to snap out of her state of surprise and try to pull away from me.

I hold her closer and slide one of my hands into hers so I can lead properly. Her eyes narrow.

"You look ravishing tonight.

Like a real princess," I tell her, and even though I say it aloud to tease her, it most certainly is the truth.

Her dress is a dark blue, almost black in color, and it hugs her in all the right places. The modest V accentuates her collar bones and shows just the swell of her breasts, the corsage hugs her waist tightly, and the skirt flares out slightly at her hips to fall to the ground airily. Her straight black hair falls right above her shoulders, framing her face, and there’s some sort of dark make up around her eyes that makes the blue in them pop. She’s magnificent, like the picture of dark elegance and mystique.

It took all my self-control to watch and wait as she danced with that other man when all I wanted to do was rip his slimy hand off her.

I could see from where I was waiting that he practically undressed her with his eyes instead of appreciating the sight she was fully dressed.

She seemed about as impressed with it as me.

Not that I blame him for trying.

She captured my attention as soon as I entered the hall even with hundreds of women standing between us, but we’re undercover so I had to wait until he left.

Catch no unnecessary attention, I was told in the beginning of the night.

"You have three seconds to get away from me before I kill you where you stand," Malia warns me, her eyes cold and her voice lethal.

"That seems a little contradictory since you saved my life the last time I saw you, don’t you think?"

"Three," she hisses, squeezing my hand painfully since I haven’t let her pull it away.

"Easy, easy now.

You wouldn’t want the others to know you are dancing with the enemy, would you?" I grin down at her, flashing my teeth if only to aggravate her.

There’s a part of me that likes seeing this violence in her eyes. The fire. I’ll take it over the cool detachedness she showed when she paralyzed me any day. It’s a glimpse of the girl I used to know.

"I can kill you before any of them notice." I bet she could.

But she won’t.

"You can if you want this to end in a bloodbath.

Do you really think I came alone?" Her eyes twitch toward the band where kids were playing the last time I checked, and my chest does something funny again.

It’s that foolish hope that she might not have completely changed. That she still has enough of a heart to care about others, even if I’m not one of them. It would be a step up from any other Shadow Handler.

"What are you doing here?" she asks through gritted teeth.

"I missed you, what else?" Her jaw clenches and her eyes dart away from me.

As if the sight of me was enough to make her blood boil.

It probably is.

"Oh, come on, I know you’ve missed me too."

Her burning eyes snap to mine, displaying an entire inferno for me to take pleasure in.

"Just to make sure you don’t get any wrong ideas; the only reason I saved you was so I could be the one to end your life eventually.

You are only still alive because I am not done with you yet."

I merely chuckle at her theatrics and change the subject to something I’ve been curious about.

"What happened to your water, by the way? It doesn’t look like it used to."

There’s a twitch in her jaw, the slightest narrow of her eyes as if the question bothered her more than she was trying to let on.

It makes it all the more unconvincing when the faintest hint of a cruel smile tugs on her lips.

"I’m one of them now, right? The Dark Fraction. It only seemed right my power portrayed that," she says mockingly. I twirl her, ignoring her words entirely since they’re clearly a lie. But then why? And why lie?

When she stands in front of me again, I see that the small flap of fabric over her shoulder has moved a little, revealing the smallest sign of a purplish scar.

Confusion ripples through me, and before I know it, I’ve abandoned our dance to pull her sleeve further away.

The skin around the scar itself is red and puffy, but before I can wonder why she’d let an injury infect to that point, she pushes me away and lays the fabric back in place.

"Why wouldn’t you heal that?" I demand, the words spilling out before my head can catch up.

Her only answer comes in the form of a raised eyebrow, making me realize I’m acting like I care.

I shake my head and set my grin back in place. What she does is not my problem.

"People are looking, Princess.

How about you try to smile?" I tease her before pulling her closer.

"How about we take this outside? I will smile as soon as I wiped yours off your face."

"Feisty," I murmur.

"Why are you here?" she repeats, serious once more.

"We are not here to fight if that’s what you’re worried about.

Why are you here? Looking for a husband?" I ask, and judging by the twist in my gut some part of me wouldn’t find it too amusing if she was.

If my reaction to her dancing with Prince Charming was any indication, I’d say seeing her walk down the aisle was not one of my top priorities anytime soon.

"Why, jealous?" Her eyes light up at the question, and it reminds me of that time four years ago when I bumped into her after breaking up with Eteri.

Is she teasing me now? Or sniffing blood? An insistent weakness of mine.

I keep my quiet since no retort comes to my mind, and her lips tip into a smirk.

She pulls herself closer to me, so her head is next to my ear.

She must be wearing high heels because she can reach it without pulling me down too far.

"If you want me, just say it." I feel her warm breath on my neck and have to suppress a shudder.

I am suddenly much more aware of our proximity and clench my fists in her dress as yet another brain-numbing déjà vu clouds my judgement.

She leans back just enough to look into my eyes through her lashes before pulling herself up a little, so our lips are only inches apart.

Skies, she’s beautiful.

I hate it.

It’s doing weird things to me and I’m forgetting myself.

"If you want me, just take me." I freeze.

She is playing with me.

But her eyes look like she wants this as much as my body suddenly seems to. She is the enemy, a traitor! The rational part of me screams. Still, there is a much stronger urge inside me.

Before I can act, Malia pulls back and walks away from me as crowds of people peel off the dancefloor.

The music has stopped without my realizing it.

I stand dumbfounded in the middle of the room, my skin buzzing until a soft voice rips me out of it.

"Could I have this dance?" I look to my right and find girl in a beautiful red dress smiling softly as she fiddles with the top layer of tulle fanning over her hips.

Not knowing what else to do, I agree.

We start to dance but my focus stays elsewhere.

I should be trying to catch names and find out anything of importance about the Fraction, but it’s Malia I’m thinking about.

I can’t believe I almost fell for her trick and leaned in.

She is one of them! What is wrong with me?

Another song ends and I slip away from the dancefloor.

I lean against the wall near a few older adults and look ahead.

Malia is dancing with another guy, and I hate to see her actually smiling at him. As my gaze burns into her, I wonder if she still feels my eyes on her.

"Keahi?" a voice calls from my earpiece.

"Yeah?" I whisper.

"We’re leaving, we’ve heard enough." I leave the mansion after one last lingering look at the girl in the midnight blue dress.

Outside one of my colleagues fills me in about what they heard.

Apparently, some of the adults were talking about an attack on our academy.

They’re going for the kids.

I rush home and take a shower to calm down.

I wish I could wash the thoughts about Malia away like the sweat and dirt on my skin, but that’s not how it works.

You are only still alive because I am not done with you.

It’s a threat, and yet it invokes anticipation within me.

She’s not done with me? Good, because I sure as shit am not done with her.

Bring it on, Princess.