Tonight, it was an elegant venue, trendy and modern. The rough, ancient ground was covered with a sharp bamboo overlay that expanded across the length of the piazza with a busy dance floor in the middle. A sheer white tent, with open sides, positioned just over the dance floor glimmered from a brushed silver chandelier hung from the raised center.
A jazz band played soft, upbeat music on a stage set off the dance floor where several couples danced under the twilight sky. Cocktail tables encircled the inner boarders of the plaza, with delectable appetizer trays interspersed among them. The tables were covered with long, sheer, silver tablecloths and on each was an antique pewter pitcher turned into a vase with cascades of white lilies that dripped down the sides in a lavish arrangement. Hundreds of floating silver and white lanterns hung overhead, suspended magically at varying heights. More silver lanterns scattered the boarder of the plaza intending to light up the sky when the sun set on the long summer day.
I gasped at the unexpected beauty of the party and felt Kiran lean in closer, pressing his smiling lips against my hair in a perfect production of a future groom utterly content with the evening ahead.
On our arrival the gathered Immortals, intending to celebrate our upcoming nuptials, turned to us and began clapping out of joyful anticipation. I smiled at them, playing the part of the blushing bride. Kiran pulled me with him into the square and when the applause continued with more intensity, he looked at me, his turquoise eyes blazing.
“We didn't practice this,” he whispered, wrapping his arms around my waist and pulling me against his chest.
I wanted to demand an explanation before he tried anything that hadn't been previously discussed between us, but I couldn't vocalize my concerns against the hypnotic effect of his eyes. He smiled at me, a gentle smile that asked for my trust, before his hand slid up my bare back and he dipped me in his arms while simultaneously pressing his lips against mine in a fevered kiss meant for couples on the brink of eternal bliss.
The crowd broke out into exhaustive clapping, but I forgot about them. My mind fought against the heady, loss of senses his hand splayed across my bare skin induced. His lips moved against mine in an invitation for me to open my mouth completely and lose myself in the moment. I hesitated for a second, trying to find my equilibrium. My magic had already met his somewhere beyond my body and it was reacquainting itself with Kiran's electricity against my will.
Kiran drew me up closer to him and I knew it was a plea to cooperate in front of such a large crowd, so with an inexcusable sigh that sounded more like a gentle moan, I opened my mouth to his. In front of his father and the rest of the kingdom, Kiran publicly claimed me as his bride-to-be with an innocent kiss that when it was finished left me feeling guilty and compromised. But more so, I felt moved, as if I just lived through a religious experience not meant for anything less than angels. Never mind that my hands started to tremble and my breathing was drastically uneven.
When it was finished, when we stood together in front of the crowd, with my cheeks flamed red and the proud smirk across Kiran's face, I realized, pretending or not, I could never let that happen again.
In that moment I had forgotten my grandfather, and the war, and everything I was working for. In Kiran's arms, with his body pressed against mine, I had been pushed into another universe, where only we existed, where only a love that died months ago ruled our lives and our hearts.
I slipped my hand into Kiran's and pressed my body against his as though my actions were born of the natural inclination to never leave his side. He pulled me forward to greet his father, but not before he turned to give me an encouraging smile. His eyes flashed with terror and uncertainty, the acute knowledge that everything I feared and felt resonated inside him too.
I swallowed difficultly and then searched for courage. I just had to get through tonight. I just had to keep up the pretense of this for a little while longer.
I could figure the rest out tomorrow.
Chapter Thirteen
“You gave us quite the scare with your illness, Pprince,” the African Regent, a tall, thick man with pure midnight skin and forest green eyes, laughed. He looked over Kiran with a mixture of mistrust and fatherly concern.
“Yes, I'm told it was rather terrible. I hardly remember anything, to be honest,” Kiran smiled encouragingly at his loyal subject. The noble and dignitary were discussing the drastic decline in Kiran’s health after he and I broke up. I still didn't understand why he nearly died after I removed my magic from him, but nevertheless, I had broken into the London palace last April to finish the job the disease began and instead found myself saving him. “Except of course, Eden. I remember Eden.” Kiran turned his attention and the full force of his intense gaze on me. I let him pull me closer, our magics intertwining like clasped hands around us. “She was my savior,” he finished softly.
I cleared my throat, desperately trying not to let Kiran sweep me away with his pretend sweetness. I felt foolish and naive from the effect his attention had on me tonight. We had circled the crowd for hours, his hands never leaving me, his magic never untangling from mine and his eyes always searching mine out to make sure I felt the force of his love. A love that didn't exist.
I grew angry just thinking about my immature feelings. Why couldn't I remember his sins against me, or my meaningful, albeit difficult, long-distance relationship with Jericho? Even Kiran's magic was irritating tonight. As happy as my own seemed to be locked away in the folds of his electricity, his magic felt different from what I remembered. It was lighter more full of life, and frustratingly more alluring than it ever had been before.
“I think your father would like to speak to you,” I lied. Suddenly, I needed a break. I needed to separate myself from him for just a little while and breathe.
“Are you sure?” he asked, catching my deception.
“Yes, absolutely. He probably just wants to speak to you for a few minutes,” I explained. I hoped he would take the hint. I tried pleading silently with my eyes and when he still seemed reluctant to leave, I leaned forward kissing him on the cheek. “I'll explain later,” I whispered in a slightly panicked voice.