Chapter 163 Chapter 163

Chapter 163 Chapter 163
Amber

“You got it right this time?” Damian asked.
I was failing. The red streaks and the scarred face of Mira kept swapping places in my head every time his fingers traced another slow finger over my skin. 
The dance had turned into something else entirely. It was still formally correct enough for the watching eyes, yet under the surface it was pure, deliberate seduction. 
Every shift of his hand left sparks racing across my skin. I could feel the controlled strength in his body, the way he held himself in check even while he made it nearly impossible for me to think about anything except the heat of his palm and the low sound of his voice.
“I…think…so” I rasped.
He spun me out with sudden power. 
The world blurred, the crimson skirt flaring high against my thighs, and cool air kissing the spots on my skin his hand had just been. 
“Good”
Then he reeled me back in just as effortlessly. My hands ended up twisted lightly behind me for a moment, caught in his larger ones. 
The position forced my chest forward against him before he released them to settle at my waist again. The contact never fully broke as his thigh slid between mine on the next step and I bit my lower lip hard to keep from a moan escaping my mouth.
Damian looked entirely too pleased with that reaction and continued to guide the movement of my hips until I was moving exactly the way he wanted.
“Thanks but I don’t need your help”
“Oh really?” he murmured against my ear, the teasing tone unmistakable and so damn hot, it could power the academy. 
“Interesting timing. Considering how you’re looking at me right now.”
I frowned, cheeks burning, and my body feeling suddenly too warm despite the cold night air. “I am looking like I want to kill you. Besides, how do you even know all this about them?”
I tried to steer the conversation in another direction.
In response, he pushed me outward in a controlled spin that made the slit of the dress open wider. 
His hands settled at the small of my back this time, fingers splayed low enough that his thumbs could stroke the upper curve of my ass through the fabric while we swayed. 
The touch was maddeningly light and it took my entire willpower to not lean into him.
“They all came to me,” he stated as if the answer were obvious. “So it wasn’t that hard to learn what I needed.”
My eyes flared wide as a sharp and unwanted pang of jealousy tore through my heart. It was impossible to fully hide and I felt the need to stab and bury them all into the forest during the hunt which was unusual for me because I wasn’t the violent type.
I tried to keep my voice casual and light as though the answer didn’t matter in the slightest.
“Why?”
He heard the undercurrent anyway. 
A low, wicked sound that might have been a laugh brushed the sensitive skin just below my ear. His hand on my back pressed harder, bringing my hips fully against his and I felt my body tense in anticipation. 
This was not what I was supposed to be doing, certainly not when the entire academy was watching.
I felt the unmistakable evidence of restraint and desire held tightly in check in his coiled muscles and a soft, helpless sound escaped my throat before I could stop it.
“They wanted to take your place,” he murmured, voice pure like dark, velvety silk.
My immediate thought was that they wanted what we had, this fire and hunger and the mere thought of any other girl getting to kiss him made me red with anger.
I swallowed hard. The music swelled around us. His thumb traced a slow, deliberate circle against the bare skin of my collarbone where the dress left me exposed, and I had to pull my legs closer. Heat had gathered between my legs, and every brush of his body was only making it worse.
“In the Hunt, right?” I pretended that it was a casual question.
Damian’s smile turned properly wicked then as his lips curled up in a slow, agonizing fashion, edged with something that made my stomach drop and tighten at the same time. 
He didn’t answer directly. Instead he turned us again, one hand sliding up the open back of my dress until his fingers rested against the bare skin between my shoulder blades. 
The other stayed low, guiding my hips in a slow, rolling motion that matched the deepening rhythm of the music.
This was not a dance anymore. This was him seducing me, baiting me and teasing me while pretending to dance.
The dance had become openly sensual now.
“Aren’t you dying to know?” he whispered, his breath fanning my ear. 
Goddess help me, I was and he knew it.
We kept dancing and the other pairs moved around us in their own orbits. Can you try answering my earlier question again?
“Lira is left-handed  with blades,” I forced out between careful, shaky steps. “Talia is reckless, dual daggers. Mira…heavy hitter, scar. Elara loves to trap and wears silver earrings.”
“Good girl.”
Those two words spoken low and rough against my ear nearly undid me completely. A full-body shiver ran through me that had nothing to do with the wind.
He turned me once more so we were face to face, bodies so close that every breath made my chest brush his. 
His silver eyes were dark, and one of his hands rose to brush a stray strand of hair from my cheek, the touch lingering far longer than necessary.
“You’re doing better than most would,” he whispered low, voice threaded with dark approval. “Half the hunters out there couldn’t recite their own faction list while being touched like this.”
“So you accept that you’re doing it on purpose?”
“Obviously.” His gaze dropped to my mouth, stayed there for a heartbeat too long, then returned to my eyes with barely masked hunger. 
“You’re beautiful when you’re trying so hard to concentrate. It makes me want to see how far I can push before you forget the names entirely.”
I glared, but he merely watched me like a curious bird.
“Survive the Hunt, first” he reminded me. “Make it through. Then you can ask me every question you want.” His hand flexed hard at my waist. “And I’ll answer with my hands, mouth or whatever way you want it.”
I sucked in a breath, his words raising goosebumps on every inch of bare skin he had left sensitive and wanting.
I kept my eyes on him and tried hard not to think about how much I needed the hunt to be over already.