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Wait. What were you going to ask me?
He started to speak, then bit his lip. Later, when we re alone.
She watched him stride back toward the clearing and confer with the other drummer.
Kara ran past, dragging one of her Wolf-brothers, a lanky young blond man. Spirit Dance! She spotted
Sura. No excuses, get up there.
The crowd at the edge of the clearing parted, and Dravek came for her. Sura looked down into her
empty meloxa mug, unable to meet his eyes.
His shadow blotted out the light from the closest torch. Please do this for me, he said in a low voice.
She looked up at him. He bowed and offered his hand. His eyes were tinged with anticipation, as if this
dance were one last gift the world had offered them.
Sura stood slowly, untangling her legs from the bench. She took his hand as casually as possible, and
they walked back to the clearing together. The music s beat was slow, as Etarek had promised.
Dravek led her as far from the others as possible. The dance could last a while. Kara has a lot of
Wolf-brothers.
Sura breathed in deep as she laid a hand on his shoulder. He wrapped his arm around her waist.
The bonfire snapped and flared. She looked at it. Did we do that?
Shh. Let s start before people get suspicious.
They began to move together, and Sura s mind turned from desire to embarrassment. Sorry I m a bad
dancer.
I m glad. Now we have a reason to look awkward.
She glanced up at him and saw the corner of his mouth tug into a smile. She struggled for words to break
the tension.
Your wife is very nice.
Dravek threw back his head and laughed. The sound of it made her want to hug him. To others they must
have looked like friends.
What s so funny?
The tone of your voice when you said that. I don t have to have a Deer s powers to hear your real
meaning.
She is nice.
Yes, Kara s wonderful. She s perfect. She s everything a man could want in a thousand lifetimes. He
looked past Sura s face, his eyes going far away. I ve made a horrible mistake.
Her heart leaped. No, you haven t. It s normal to have second thoughts.
I ll never deserve her.
Because of what we ve done? It s in the past. You ll go away with her and forget about me, and in a
few weeks you ll wonder why you ever felt this way.
He nodded, but didn t look convinced.
She regarded the red ribbon wound around his left arm and imagined it stretching over his skin later as his
muscles strained and pulled against the binding in a frenzy of passion.
Her own skin tingled and burned. He drew in a hiss and loosened his grip on her hand. She looked up at
him and saw that he had followed her gaze to the ribbon.
She knew she shouldn t ask. Are you happy?
He hesitated. It s not important.
It is to me.
His step faltered, and he let out a heavy sigh. See these dark circles under my eyes? I ve barely slept
since I met you.
Doubt you ll sleep tonight, either. She cursed her voice s bitter tinge.
I almost broke the engagement.
Her breath caught. Why didn t you?
And then what? Run away with you? Where would we go?
You tell me, if you ve lost so much sleep over it.
Tiros. He looked away, then back, into her eyes. I thought we d go to Tiros, to Vara. Explain it all to
her. Maybe we re not the first Snakes to feel this way. Maybe she could help us.
Maybe. Sura matched his gaze, while inside she begged her meloxa-weakened self-control to hold out
until the end of the song.
I had it all figured out, he whispered. Until I thought how Kara would feel when I told her. I couldn t
cause her pain. Maybe I m a coward. But I ll sacrifice my happiness for hers.
Sura snorted, the spell of his eyes broken by the absurdity of his words. You really believe you re being
noble and selfless, don t you? You want to know what s going to happen? One day she ll realize you ll
never be completely hers, and it ll hurt her that much more. If you d given her up, she could ve found
someone who would really love her.
I do love her, he hissed. I had no doubts about marrying her until I met you. And we ll be happy once
we leave Kalindos.
I don t believe that. I think even before me, you wondered if you could be faithful forever. She cut off
his protest. I also think that in a few years, maybe sooner, you ll meet someone else you can t get out of
your head. And maybe next time there ll be nowhere to run.
His dark eyes flashed with anger. Why are you saying these things?
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