[WARNING! Unedited! Don't buy!]
The music deepened.
Not louder—just heavier.
The strings drew out something slow and predatory from the air. Candles trembled in their sconces, their flames thin and elongated like nervous fingers.
Selene did not move from her place near the pillar.
She watched.
Cassian danced with deliberate elegance. His movements were fluid, precise—each step calculated but never stiff. He guided Yuki with quiet assurance, his hand firm at her waist, his fingers cool against her bare skin.
Yuki, for all her stubbornness, was untrained in aristocratic rhythm. She faltered once.
Cassian steadied her.
He leaned close again, murmuring something.
Yuki's lips tightened.
Ah.
He was probing.
Testing.
Selene could almost imagine the conversation.
You have no scent.
You stand in a room of predators without fear.
What are you?
The question lingered unspoken but heavy.
Across the hall, Roger had entered.
Selene noticed him immediately.
