Page 104 of Satanic Shadow

I try to listen, but he’s sealed me out.

I stand here, kind of confused. “So…?”

He still doesn’t look at me. “So?”

“You said you were here to practice.”

He blinks a few times then rubs a hand down his face, which is filled with exhaustion. “Right.”

When he turns, I watch him stride towards the dresser again and start playing music from a small wooden box. Chords strike on a piano, a soft voice in a different language fills the room, and then violins join in a beautiful symphony.

“You look tired,” I say.

“Observant as ever, mortal.”

“Are you not sleeping well?”

He frowns. “I sleep in a cell—what the fuck do you think?”

Good point. Although he better not snap at me like that again. But he looks different than usual—moodier.

“What happens down there?” I ask, sure he’ll snap at me some more. “You hadn’t healed yourself last night. You had a lot of bruising and cuts on you.” I nod to his neck. “Especially there.”

“Why do you care?”

I sigh. “Would it kill you to go a day without being such an asshole to me?”

“Yes.” He runs his hand through his hair, messing it, yet still looking as dashing as ever. “Put heels on.”

I cross my arms. “Excuse me?”

“I assume you will be wearing heels to the ball?”

Another good point.

Once I fasten a pair of stilettos, I walk to stand in front of him. He still towers over me. “How tall are you? I’m not considered short—I was taller than most of the kids in my year, but you’re a skyscraper compared to me.”

Instead of answering me, he goes for the one piece of information he took from that. “A skyscraper?”

I stare at him for a long moment, then my shoulders slump and I shake my head. “Never mind.” I take his hand and place it on my hip. “Do you know the steps?”

“I’ve done this dance a thousand times. It’s me here to teach you.”

“How noble of you.”

He leads us silently through the routine as he takes my other hand in his and pulls me around the room. “Probably the nicest thing you’ve said about me,” he says, spinning me and capturing my hip again.

“Don’t get used to it.”

He dips me abruptly, and I yelp as my head nearly hits the floor. I gape at him as he smirks while tugging me back to stand straight. “Asshole.”

He chuckles. “That’s better.”

There’s a constant electrical current between us. It’s… comfortable, not something I need more or less of. My chest brushes against his as he pulls me closer, and I feel his breath on my cheek before he dips me again.

I swallow as his eyes clash with mine, holding my gaze. “Do we need to end the dance the same way we did before? Do we need to kiss?”

“No,” he replies as he guides us in carefully coordinated steps. “I think that was just to help form a bond of sorts, so partners are more at ease with their pairing.”