Hidden Hope (Hidden Saga Book 3) (17 page)

              “Well, you’re definitely addictive, but no. I know how I feel about you, Ryann. Whenever you’re around, I’m half out of my mind.”

              “That’s
exactly
what I’m talking about.”

              He looked out over the ballroom for a second, his eyes coming back to meet mine in a searching gaze. “I don’t see the problem. You’re saying we’re
too
attracted to each other? Isn’t that how people who are in love always feel?”

              “It’s how drug addicts feel. It’s how my mother feels about Davis.” At his scowl, I tried to explain. “Think about it logically for a minute—
if
our connection is completely fueled by glamour, then it’s no more real than Mom’s ‘love’ for Davis.”

              He harrumphed. “And I suppose what you feel for Lad is real.”

              “Felt.”

              After giving a wave and a fake smile to someone across the room, he returned his gaze to me, his lips pulling into a grim line. “Right—what I walked in on last night looked like real
ancient
history. If you’d rather be with him, just tell me.”

I closed my eyes and exhaled slowly, very aware of the boiling jealousy in Nox’s glamour-drunk heart. I was warring with myself, too. Maybe it was still the glamour at work, but part of me wanted to be wrong, still wanted to hang onto him in spite of my feelings for Lad. Nox felt like home base to me now—he had been my center, my safety this summer.

“This has nothing to do with Lad. I’m talking about you and me. After he introduced us tonight, Davis said that—”

“Oh, Ryann, there you are honey.”

Mom and Davis had found us. Well, we weren’t exactly hiding, but still, it was horrendous timing—I hadn’t been able to tell Nox what Davis had said about my Sway. Nox didn’t want to hear it, I didn’t really want to say it, but if he
was
being swayed by me, he needed to be aware of it—he deserved to know.

“Looks like you two are enjoying each other’s company,” Davis said with a satisfied smile.

Nox’s cool, calm demeanor made a miraculous comeback. “Yes, it’s lovely to meet your daughter. She’s not only beautiful but charming as well.”

Davis and Mom laughed, beaming like proud parents, and then Mom abruptly stopped laughing.

“Oh my goodness—I’ve just realized how I know you. You’re from Deep River. You’re the boy Ryann was dating there—the musician.” She glanced over at me for confirmation. “Ryann? What’s going on? This is Nox, right? Why is he here? How can he be a royal if he’s...”

Her expression was the portrait of confusion. But hers wasn’t the one I was concerned with. It was Davis’s face that scared me.

“If you’ll excuse me,” he glowered at Nox. “I’d like to have a word with my daughter.”

Nox shot me a worried glance. “Of course. I should go and mingle.”

Call if you need me.

I nodded, and he walked away, leaving me alone with my baffled mother and Davis, whose glower had become a murderous glare.

“You told me you were involved with
Lad
in Deep River.” I could tell from his penetrating scrutiny his suspicion of me had returned full-force. 

“I did. I was in love with him.”

“Your mother said—”

Again, I kept my response as honest as possible. “Yes, I spent some time with Nox. We went out a few times, mostly as friends. He went to my school. I didn’t know who he really was—he was pretending to be a human student. It never went very far. I could only see Lad,” I told him truthfully. “He had my heart completely.”

Directing his gaze across the ballroom to Nox, who was chatting with a group of beautiful women, Davis seemed to consider my words.

“I see. But I suspect Nox would have
liked
to have had it. Still...” His assessing gaze came back to me. “I find it odd you didn’t mention you already knew Nox when I introduced you two. Neither did he.” He paused for a moment before continuing. “I’ve thought better of our living arrangements. It turns out there’s not enough room in my house for all of us. And concerning our Boston travel plans, I think it’s best if your mother and I go together—just the two of us.”

“What? But—”

“And don’t try to follow us. If you happen to ‘show up’ there as you did here, there will be consequences. Come along Maria.”

He spun around and stormed away, dragging my bewildered Sway-brained mother with him.

Oh God, this night had gone horribly wrong. Davis was onto me, and Nox was angry with me. I had to find him. Scanning the ballroom floor where he’d been moments earlier, I searched the crowd, but he was nowhere in sight. I crossed the room in the direction I’d last seen him and turned a circle in the center of the dance floor.

Spotting the top of a dark head of hair in the distance, I made my way through the party room toward the front of the house. It was him. He was standing at the foot of the grand staircase, looking up. I almost called out his name, but then I caught a glimpse of what he was staring at.

Vancia stood at the top of the stairs, looking out over the ballroom, searching the crowd without noticing the solitary figure gazing up at her. She wore a pale pink, beaded, floor-length gown that could only be described as a princess dress. She looked more gorgeous than I’d ever seen her, which was saying a lot.

Nox didn’t move. I tiptoed to the side and slipped behind one of the large columns that anchored the room. From this angle, I could see his face.

He was enrapt, mesmerized. Though I wasn’t completely sure I wanted to know the answer, I extended my emotional glamour toward him and read his feelings.

Just as I’d thought, he was overcome by her beauty. Maybe seeing his childhood playmate looking so much like a woman—the kind of woman men dreamed about—was overwhelming for him. There was wonder. There was also desire.

Unable to take it anymore, I turned away. And I
knew
. If I weren’t in the picture, Nox and Vancia
would
be together. And he’d be happy with her. She’d already admitted to me she wanted nothing in the world more than to be with him.

The worst part was their attraction was completely genuine—no glamour involved. What he and I shared couldn’t compete.

I stumbled back into the ballroom and grabbed a crystal flute of something bubbly from a passing waiter’s tray. Draining it in a few swallows, I chased him down and took another glass. It was going to be a long night. 

Clearly my glamour gift was
not
alcohol tolerance.

I woke up in the back seat of a moving vehicle, dizzy, disoriented, and once I spotted Nox’s bemused expression, mortified. We were in a limo. I had no memory of how I’d gotten there.

“Oh God. Tell me I didn’t fall asleep at your party.”

“You fell asleep at my party.” He laughed, the usually melodic sound ringing in my ears. “I would have hoped you’d find the Dark Court a bit more interesting.”

“I am
so
sorry. Did I do anything embarrassing?”

“Not unless you consider stripping and dancing on the DJ booth embarrassing.”

My eyes bulging in horror, I sucked in a painfully large breath.

“Just kidding. Apparently you wandered off to a dark corner by yourself and passed out on a sofa. I went looking for you—nearly searched the whole house before I found you curled up there. You looked like a little girl playing dress up with your fancy gown and makeup, sleeping during a rave.”

At my humiliated groan, he pulled me to his side and kissed the top of my head. “Don’t worry about it. There were so many people I had to talk to, it would have been hard for me to spend time with you anyway. It’s really no big deal. You may not feel so hot in the morning, though.”

He leaned forward and took a bottle of soda from the bar, then reached into a tiny cabinet and extracted a small white packet. Tearing it open, he emptied two white capsules into my hand. “Take these.”

I followed his instructions, my head spinning from the motion of tilting it back to swallow.

Nox studied my face. “You look green. How much champagne did you drink?”

“All of it?”

“Come here.” He pulled my head to his chest. “Close your eyes again and sleep. That’s the only thing that’ll help at this point.”

I didn’t think I could fall asleep again. My brain was buzzing with questions. Where was Vancia? What had happened between them after I’d passed out? Why wasn’t she riding with us?

But I didn’t ask any of it. Instead, I closed my eyes and breathed deeply of Nox’s amazing citrusy clean scent. I focused on the solid feel of his chest against my face, the sound of his rapid heartbeat, and the comforting rhythm of the air moving in and out of his lungs. It kept my mind off the nausea. It was also likely the last time I’d ever be so close to him.

If he did take my advice and start loading up on the saol water, our time together would likely end. My glamour would no longer affect him. Then we’d really know whether Vancia and Nox were soul mates as I suspected.

Obviously I would let him go. I’d step back and let them each be with the eternal partner they were born to love and bond with. I supposed there was still a chance he’d feel the same way about me
without
the glamour. Only time—and a healthy dose of saol water—would tell.

I must have dozed off after all because the next time I stirred, I was alone, lying on something soft. Well, not completely alone—there were voices nearby—male voices. I struggled to lift my eyelids, but they were made of triple-reinforced steel. I gave up and instead strained to hear the conversation.

The voices were low, but the tone of the exchange was tense. It was Nox and Lad, and they seemed to be arguing.

“... you allowed her to drink that much. Why didn’t you watch out for her?”

“I tried, but I was busy. I have to keep up the act around the Court—they’re not supposed to know that I know her well. Besides, she’s a big girl. She doesn’t need a protector.”

“There’s your problem right there. You should
want
to protect her, whether she needs it or not. You shouldn’t let anything stand in the way of taking care of her—not even her.”

“And there’s
your
problem. Maybe she wants to make her own choices, not have someone make them for her the way you did when you sent her away.”

“You should be thanking the gods every day that I
did
. It’s the
only
reason you ever had a chance with her.”

There was some sort of low curse, and then quiet. The argument must have gone internal. I struggled again to open my eyes and managed only a crack. I was on the couch in the cottage. Nox and Lad must have been just on the other side of it near the kitchen.

Using all my strength, I fought to push myself to my elbows, but managed only an inch or two before the guys were arguing aloud again and my brain was spinning.

“It doesn’t matter how I got her,” Nox was saying. “She’s mine now. And you need to get that through your thick head. You’re used to getting everything you want because you’re the
heir
, the prince. But this time, I win.”

“It’s not over yet,” Lad muttered. “She still cares for me. She could still come back to me—unless that is, you keep her trapped with your glamour.”

There was an extended pause. When he spoke again, Nox’s voice was steely, but there was something fragile at the edges of his words, as if he wasn’t completely convinced of their rightness. “I would never do that. Her feelings for me have nothing to do with glamour. They’re real.”

“Keep telling yourself that. Or better yet—drink the saol water and let’s find out who she
really
loves.”

This was getting out of hand. They were talking about me as if I were a bone and they were two stray dogs, snarling and pulling it between them. I had to stop it before the fangs came out.

I gripped the sofa back and hoisted my three-hundred-pound head, pulling myself to a sitting position. “Guys,” I said, my voice having all the strength and stability of a sheet of wax paper. No response.

Digging deeper, I managed slightly more volume. “Hey—what’s going on?”

Both their heads snapped in my direction. Both rushed over to the couch.

“Ryann? You’re awake,” Lad said, sounding worried.

“Are you all right sweetheart? Want a drink?” Nox asked. “I’m sorry we woke you. Want me to carry you to your bed?”

Lad glared. “I’ll take care of her—you’ve done
enough
. I’m sure you need to get back to your guests, anyway. Thank you for bringing her home.”

“It’s not
your
home,” Nox muttered.

He scooped me in his arms. Carrying me down the hall to my room, he pressed a kiss into my temple as we passed Lad. My eyes drifted open in time to catch Lad watching his fiercest rival carry me away. His eyes—those incredible green eyes I’d loved my whole life it seemed—followed me down the hall.

Nauseated by the sight and the rocking motion of Nox’s gait, I closed my eyes again and rested my head against his shoulder. The softness of the bedding materialized under me and Nox’s warm arms and body were gone. But not far away. His weight depressed the edge of the mattress, and I felt the gentle stroke of his fingers on my cheek.

Forcing my heavy eyelids to part, I looked up at him. He was smiling.

“Hi beautiful.”

“No. I bet I look a mess right now.”

“You’re stunning. You were the prettiest girl there.”

Remembering the way he had stared at Vancia, I shook my head, which was a mistake. Waves of motion sickness swamped my stomach and brain. “I don’t fit in your world. Those people—all that money and fame. Vancia fits there. She fits you.”

His finger lay across my lips, stopping my slurred words. “Hush. You’re talking nonsense. She and I are just good friends.”

“No. The water. You have to…”

I felt the warm press of his lips on my forehead. “Go to sleep sweet girl. We’ll talk in the morning.”

              “Nox… drink it. You’ll see.”

His voice was a warm hum of amusement. “Okay, babe. If it’ll make you happy. Do you need a drink?”

My eyelids drifted shut again, unable to stay open any longer. “I am
never
drinking again.”

His breath was warm on my face as he leaned in close. “You’re wrong, you know,” he whispered. “I’ll always want you.” He left a soft kiss on my cheek and was gone.