Chapter 165 Chapter 165

Chapter 165 Chapter 165
Amber

Damian had already switched partners again. 
Another girl with short blonde hair and a dress cut even lower had claimed him. I didn’t even bother trying to remember what her name was.
She was talking animatedly, smiling up at him like he was the only person on the grounds. He listened to her attentively, dancing with her that made her smile like she was having the time of her life.
A third girl hovered nearby, clearly waiting her turn. 
Soren chuckled low in his throat, the sound vibrating faintly through the space between us.
“Your face is doing something very entertaining right now.”
I forced my gaze back to him. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Sure you don’t.” He guided me through a slow turn. “You’re watching him the way a wolf watches something it already claimed. It’s almost impressive.”
“I’m not watching anyone.”
“And I’m the picture of selfless charity.” His tone stayed light, but his eyes were sharper now. 
“Relax. I’m not here to steal you. I already made my point earlier.”
I frowned. “What point?”
He didn’t answer immediately. Instead he led me through another circle, the music wrapping around us. 
When he finally spoke, his voice had dropped even lower, sounding more deliberate.
“The horn.”
My attention snapped fully to him. “What about it?”
He had given me a cryptic answer then and now he suddenly wanted to talk about it?
“You asked why I gave it to you.” He spun me once slowly, then brought me back. 
“And you told me that you  want him to know he owes you a favor if push comes to shove.”
He nodded at that. “That was true. But…” He took a deliberate pause and added, “...it just wasn’t the whole truth.”
“Then what’s the whole truth?” the question tumbled out of my mouth too hastily.
Damn, the heirs and their habit of keeping secrets!
Soren’s smile didn’t reach his eyes this time. 
“Some debts are older than this academy. Some favors get called in when the blood starts running.”
“That explains everything” I deadpanned.
“I like having options. You happened to be a convenient way to place one on the board.”
The answer only raised more questions. I stared up at him, trying to decode the hidden meaning behind those words.
“That doesn’t make sense. Why did you choose me? Why not go to him directly?”
“Because…” he let out an exasperated sigh like he was speaking to a toddler.
“... directly is boring.” 
I gave him a look and he merely shrugged one shoulder. 
“And because you were already standing in the middle of something bigger than you realize. The horn is a reminder for him…as well as for anyone else who might be watching. Consider it a small insurance policy.”
“Insurance against what?” I probed on.
“Against the possibility that the Mad King’s heir decides the rules don’t apply to him when things get ugly.” 
Soren’s gaze flicked past me again, toward Damian. “Or against the possibility that someone else decides to use you as leverage. Either way, I prefer to be owed rather than owing.”
None of it clarified anything. Every answer only twisted the knot of confusion tighter. 
I opened my mouth to push harder and get some answer that made sense from him but then Soren moved without warning.
One second we were dancing at a polite distance. 
The next his arm locked around my waist and hauled me flush against him, hard enough that the air left my lungs in a startled gasp. 
My body slammed into the solid plane of his chest. The sudden contact was shocking and my senses exploded because of the combination of heat, muscle, the faint scent of expensive cologne and night air. 
My hands came up instinctively against his shoulders to put some distance between us.
“What are you…” I began but then he lowered his head, mouth close enough to my ear that his breath warmed my skin. 
The words were soft, meant only for me.
“I’m showing you that.”
He angled us deliberately, turning my body just enough that I had a clear line of sight across the stage. 
Damian had been surrounded by girls and distracted but he was no longer looking at the girl in his arms. 
He was looking at us. 
Or rather, at me. 
I saw the way his eyes fell on Soren’s arm on my waist where he held me. 
His silver eyes had gone molten with something raw and furious, the careful mask stripped away for a single, blazing second. The intensity of that stare made something coil low in my stomach.
Soren’s voice remained a low murmur against my ear though I could hear the faint amusement in it. 
Soren had his back to Damian yet his words sounded confident.
“He isn’t as unaffected as he shows.”
I blinked, processing that line and just a second later, before it got too obvious, Soren straightened as if nothing had happened, the easy smile sliding back into place. 
He pretended he was still holding me in the frame of the dance.
“I…”
He reached up with his free hand, taking his time to raise it very slowly, bringing it closer to my face and then very deliberately tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear. 
I blinked rapidly, unsure what he was doing or why.
His fingers lingered for half a second longer than necessary, then he dusted off my shoulder for some imaginary dust and smiled at me.
“Still watching, isn’t he?”
I blinked, confusion and residual shock tangling together. 
My heart was still racing from the sudden pull. When I glanced back toward Damian, the murderous anger had already vanished. The indifferent mask was firmly in place again. 
He refocused on the girl in front of him as if the last few seconds had never occurred.
“Not really”
I wondered, briefly and unsteadily, whether I had imagined the whole thing.
Soren released me with a polite incline of his head to look at Damian who was talking to whoever had managed to catch his attention.
“Hunt starts at dawn so try not to die, please. I’d rather prefer that my favor stay useful.”
Before I could demand anything else, he stepped back into the crowd of dancers and disappeared among the moving bodies. The conversation was over but the mystery had gotten deeper for me.