Page 239 of Cursed Evermore

I'd dreamt of this several times from the minute I'd heard we were going to a ball. Now it was happening, and I couldn't even enjoy it.

Power radiated from Wolfe's body, his shadows peeking out at the edges of his form, responding to emotions he was fightingto control. “What did he say to you?” he rasped, his lips close to my ear.

I glanced up and gazed into his eyes. My lips parted, but I froze up and no words came when I saw the darkness clouding Wolfe's eyes.

I should tell him.

Ishoulddo it. It should be easy. Dreynthor had been the first person to be truly horrid to me since I'd been in the magical realm. That said a lot considering I didn't come here on my own accord.

But everything in Wolfe's eyes silenced me, made me think. He looked like he was about to kill. I'd seen that same look in his eyes before when the Ruskiel took me. Not when he killed her. When she actuallytookme.

I wouldn't be presumptuous. I wouldn't allow my fascination with this man to get the better of me and think I held any part of his heart. But deep down I knew if I told him what Dreynthor said, he'd be enraged.

I didn't know everything that was going on in the background, but I felt that sort of reaction over a lowly half-mage like me would not go down well for him.

“It's okay.” Finally, I found my voice. Though the words trembled as they fell from my lips, I managed to speak. “It's nothing.”

His jaw clenched, and his grip on my waist tightened. “Don't.” The word came out sharp and final. His eyes searched my face, a storm building within them. “Elariya, you're trembling, and I can see the pain in your eyes. That bastard said something to hurt you, and you're going to tell me what it was.”

“It's okay, Wolfe. Let's just dance.”

He cupped my face and moved closer, surprising me. The gesture was surely too forward in front of all these people. Especially his uncle.

His thumb traced gently across my jaw, a stark contrast to the firmness in his expression.

“Look at me.” His voice was softer now but no less intense. “Whatever he said to you, it wasn't nothing. I've been watching you both for the past ten minutes, and you look like you've seen a ghost. Now, tell me what he said.”

The firmness in his gaze intensified, and I knew I had to give him something.

“He just said...” I thought of a tamer version of the truth. “He said I shouldn't get too comfortable with you. And... I wouldn't be important enough to you.” I did well but felt I let Dreynthor off too easily with a mercy he didn't deserve.

Wolfe seemed to know. He looked at me, and it was like he saw straight through my watered-down answer. Then he glanced to his left, and his eyes found Dreynthor's in the royal circle on the balcony.

Wolfe stared him down for a few moments, and Dreynthor did the same. When Wolfe forced his gaze back to me, my throat went dry the moment I saw that his eyes were completely black, covered in smoke and midnight.

I felt that thing again. That thing that didn't quite fit in with his magical aura. It was darker, hellish even.

The tension in his features was so potent it rippled off him in waves. The only thing I could think to do to calm him down was dance. I swayed more to the music, guiding him to move with me.

He did. It took a moment before the darkness cleared from his eyes and the silvery-blue I loved returned.

“Elariya.”

“Yes.”

“You are important to me,” Wolfe murmured, his voice rough with emotion.

“I know you need me for?—”

“You. Just you.” His heartfelt words whispered over my skin, sending shivers down my spine.

My heart stumbled, then began racing so fast I thought it might burst.

You. Just you.

The words echoed through every fiber of my being, knocking the air from my lungs and warming my soul. I felt raw and exposed, like he'd just reached inside my chest and cradled my heart in his hands. No one had ever made me feel like I mattered just for existing.

Wolfe pulled me closer into his embrace, and we moved together as one. Magic hummed between us, alive where we touched. The ballroom became a blur of golden light around us. Soon, I found myself lost in the sanctuary of whatever this beautiful, terrifying thing was becoming between us.