The Bound (Ascension #2)(91)

Dean smiled sweetly, and she could feel the tension blooming between them. She could distinctly remember the feel of his lips on her cheek all those weeks ago, and he hadn’t made a move since then. This was the closest they had been since he had asked to court her.

He must think her Byern modesty precluded kissing. Just when she thought that she was going to have to show him that it didn’t, he pulled back and stood.

“I have duties the rest of the afternoon, but I wanted to see you before I left.” He brought her hand up to his lips and kissed her, his eyes boring into her all the while. “Until tonight.”

Then, he turned and left her room.

Cyrene flopped back onto the bed and let loose an exasperated sigh. What have I gotten myself into?



Cyrene stared at her reflection in the mirror. She was to meet Dean at the entrance to the ball any minute now. She touched the pearls at her neck once more. They meant something. She knew they did. Maybe everything. And none of the trepidation that she had first felt with him lingered within her.

She hadn’t found Matilde and Vera, but her magic hadn’t acted up either. Dean’s presence seemed to have a calming effect on her. Something that she noted happily.

But it did sour her mood that she had fled home and everything she loved for a mission that she couldn’t possibly accomplish. Even if she had found Dean in the process.

Cyrene felt a slight tug in her stomach as a someone approached her room from down the hallway, and a smile tugged at her features.

“You’re here!” Cyrene said when the door opened. Cyrene didn’t have to turn around to know it was Avoca who stood behind her.

“Happy Eos, Cyrene,” Avoca said with a small smile. “We’re all in position for the party.”

“Good. Let’s hope we fare better at this ball.”

Avoca nodded. “I think we will.”

Cyrene stepped down from the pedestal in front of the mirror and motioned for Avoca to follow her out of the room. They walked through the corridors on the way to the Eos ball. “Are you going to tell me what’s happening with Ahlvie and Ceis’f?”

Avoca’s smile froze. “Nothing is happening with either of them.”

“And Dean didn’t give me a family heirloom to wear to the party,” Cyrene said sarcastically.

“He’s openly courting you, Cyrene. You know he wants to be with you.”

“And Ahlvie and Ceis’f feel the same with you. Have you decided what you will do?” Cyrene reached for her hand.

“No. I can’t be with Ceis’f, and I will outlive Ahlvie,” she whispered. Avoca squeezed her hand, as if that was the end of the discussion, and then melted away.

Cyrene could feel a slight tug on their bond and wished her good luck.

Cyrene couldn’t worry more about Avoca’s issues, for she was approaching the rather large royal Ellison family. She took a deep breath and then proceeded down the hallway to meet Dean.

Everyone was milling around and chatting before they were to be announced to the holiday ball. Nearly all the daughters were married, and they had brought their husbands and children to the ceremony. Brigette didn’t have a date, but Cyrene noted with displeasure that Alise was on Robard’s arm. Therese and Tifani both had dates whom Cyrene didn’t recognize.

Dean intercepted Cyrene before she had made it all the way to the ground. “You’re stunning,” he murmured. He drew her into him for a heated embrace. He fingered the pearls around her neck. “They go perfectly with the gown.”

She smiled and stared up into his handsome face, basking in his affection. She had chosen an ice-blue gown, so light that it was almost the color of snow. She had almost chosen Byern gold but decided at the last minute that it might not seem proper. She still proudly displayed her Affiliate pin. She couldn’t hide who she was, but she didn’t have to flaunt it. And Dean didn’t care either way.

“We’ll be first,” Dean said, shuffling them to the front of the line.

Cyrene saw there were a few well-placed stares at the necklace around her throat, but Dean didn’t stop to let anyone ask any questions.

“First?” she squeaked.

“We go in reverse birth order.”

“I see.”

Dean loosely wrapped an arm around her waist, drawing her toward him. “I’ll be right here the whole time.”

They approached the double doors to a large ballroom, and an announcer hit a solid cane to the ground twice to gain the crowd’s attention.

“Prince Dean Ellison of Eleysia, accompanied tonight by Affiliate Cyrene Strohm of Byern,” the man cried for everyone to hear.

Cyrene’s mouth went dry, and she froze. She couldn’t go out there. Everyone in attendance would judge her for being an Affiliate. They would all hate her for it. She had never backed down from anything, but with the new knowledge that the world despised the one thing she had always wanted in life—to become an Affiliate—she was wary of what that meant for her future.

“I can’t,” she whispered to Dean in panic.

He smiled down at her, as if nothing was amiss. “You can.”

“No.”

“I want to show you to the world, Cyrene,” he breathed. “Show the world you are mine.”

“Dean…”

“And nothing will change that.”