Page 37 of Daman

The beauty of it awed me. Marble floors, tall windows that showed the snowy trees and white sky, and more greenery, mistletoe, and candles. The guests stopped talking and looked up at us.

It was time for our first dance.

“We don’t have to do this,” Warrin said. “Tradition or not, I’m sure the guests would understand if we skipped it.”

“No. It’s fine.”

“Very well.”

The orchestra played classical music as Warrin led me down the grand staircase. He slid our palms together with one hand and rested the other on my waist. I held on to his shoulder, and we began a slow dance. His rigid stance and stiff muscles made it a bit awkward.

“You’re not much of a dancer, are you?” I asked. We never practiced the first dance leading up to the wedding—more than likely my fault for giving him the cold shoulder. I hadn’t known he was horrible at it.

His blush deepened. “Forgive me. It’s never been a specialty of mine. I’m much more comfortable on a battlefield.”

“Allow me to lead.”

I guided him in front of the music ensemble, our bodies slowly spinning and gliding across the ballroom floor. After a minute or so, he relaxed a bit and even looked as if he were enjoying it. I was too.

Had I expected to actually have fun on my wedding day? Hell no. But something about Warrin smoothed my bitter edge.

The rest of the guests joined in minutes later, and after the song ended, we made our way over to a table beside the window. Warrin had sipped wine during the earlier toast, but he refused it as we sat down. He requested water.

“You don’t drink?”

Warrin shook his head. “It clouds the mind.” He softly smiled and looked at the tabletop.

His bashfulness tugged at my heart. He was a strong warrior. Lethal. Yet, his smiles were shy and flooded my chest with warmth.

“Are you fantasizing about fucking him once this is over?”Bellamy telepathically asked.

I glared over at the table across from ours where he sat with Gray and Raiden. Castor and Kyo were dancing. And somehow, Simon had convinced Galen to dance too. My giant of a brother towered over everyone on the ballroom floor.

“None of your business.”

“I can sense arousal, remember?”Bellamy’s smirk widened.“And you were totally thinking about banging him. Admit it.”

“I’m not admitting to shit.”

“Wanna know a secret?”he asked.“He was thinking about you too.”

My stomach flipped, and a pang hit my heart.

Warrin watched the couples gliding across the floor, his passive expression giving nothing away. To some, he might’ve looked bored. However, beneath the table, he pressed his thumb into the center of his palm. He’d done the same thing while speaking to me in my room the day before.

“I get the feeling you’re in for a wild night with him,”Bellamy said.“Time to ride that dragon like there’s no tomorrow.”

“Shut up, Bell.”

Bellamy laughed and pulled Gray out of his seat. The two of them joined the other dancers while Raiden eyed the wedding cake. Alastair stood with Nikolai and nodded to me when our gazes met from across the room. I cut my eyes at him and looked away, still mad about our conversation from earlier.

He didn’t try to talk to me, which was a good thing because I would’ve told him to go fuck himself.

Two men strolled into the ballroom, and many of the women smiled and started gushing to each other. By the shade of their hair and keen resemblance to Nikolai, they had to be the other two princes.

“Uncle,” the tallest of them said to Warrin, clasping his hand. “Apologies for missing the ceremony. We returned as fast as we could.”

Warrin nodded to him. “No need to apologize, Prince Feliks. You had more pressing matters to attend to.”