The Crown of Gilded Bones (Blood and..

skinned man also danced alone, his body moving with fluid
grace. Couples spun around each other, and others danced
so close to one another it was difficult to tell where one
body ended and the other began. I spied Kieran with the
dark-haired female. With her golden-brown arms twined
around his neck, they were one of the couples who danced
so close that tongues would’ve been wagging in Masadonia.
Kieran lifted the female, spinning her as she threw her head
back and laughed.
“What do you see?” Delano prodded.
Dragging my gaze from them, I looked up at him.
“They’re having fun.”
He smiled. “You can do that, right?”
I peeked over to where Casteel sat on the plush blanket,
one arm resting on a bent knee as he watched us. A tiny
part of me wasn’t sure I knew how to have fun, but I…I’d
had fun today. I’d had fun when Tawny and I had snuck out
together to visit the lake. I hadn’t been thinking about
having fun those times. I was just…living. And that was the
key, wasn’t it? To not overthink and to just live.
I looked up at Delano. “I can.”
“I know.” His smile widened, and then he started to
move, taking small, swaying steps to our left and then the
right. I followed him.
His steps were far surer, while mine were rigid, and I
was sure I looked foolish, my arms stiff and cockeyed as I
clutched his hand. Others moved faster around us, but as
we continued dancing in our little circle, I realized that each
of his steps was in tune with the steady beat of the drum.
My muscles loosened, as did my grip on his hand. Delano
stepped back, lifting our connected arms. The skirt of my
gown billowed around my legs as he spun me. The hum in
my chest sparked as my hair lifted from my shoulders when
he turned me again. A quiet laugh escaped me, and then a
louder one as he raised our arms once more and spun