The Scarlet Assassin

Chapter Twenty-Three

Sienna's.

That was the name of the place we stumbled into not thirty minutes into our stroll. The music pouring out of the open doors could be heard down the street. It had drawn us to the small tavern where people sat with their families and friends.

We found a round table toward the back where the performers were playing up-beat music either native to their village or to Targaryen. Either way, it was nothing I'd heard before.

A dance space was cleared out into a semi-circle around the stage, but few people were participating. Instead, most of the noise was coming from the chatter that encircled each table, and soon, ours was included in that mix.

The waitress, a curvy woman with long black hair, who took our order began flirting with Carter who blushed deeply in response and began stumbling over words. I swore his hand shook while he grasped his water. We teased him for it, made snide comments, but it all stopped when the songs changed. Sophie gasped. Her face lit up.

"I know this one!" She exclaimed, jumping to her feet and dragging a protesting Rafe with her.

"Come on Rafe, dance for us!" Ace jeered, cupping her hands around her mouth to make sure he heard her.

"Hey, I got a few coins in my pockets if you wanna give me a special dance!" Sorin added. Scowling, Rafe turned and flipped them off as Sophie continued pulling him to the center. They snickered, and for once, got along.

Sophie finally stopped walking and faced Rafe with a beam on her face. She said a few words to him and began dancing. Matching the tempo of the upbeat music, she spun and grasped the air around her thighs as if swaying an invisible skirt of a dress with her.

Rafe tilted his head back and laughed, but immediately grabbed her hands and danced with her.

I'd never seen him so... happy, I realized. As he twirled Sophie, as she giggled and continued complaining about his dancing being improper, as they danced to the foreign music, I saw him smile. He held her close, protectively, never letting her go too far from his reach. They laughed at each other, their foreheads touching every so often.

It hit me then, so swiftly and silently and deadly. They loved each other... but then again maybe love wasn't the correct word. It didn't seem strong enough.

Sometime into the night, Carter asked Ace to dance (possibly to get out of dancing with the waitress who kept bending down in front of him to inconspicuously show her cleavage). Ace had looked at him with a raised brow and laughed in a near mocking tone but accepted anyway.

Together, they did a popular dance in Ravaryn never mind the music wasn't the same. They didn't seem to care. They were smiling and laughing and having a grand time with Sophie and Rafe. More people had begun to join in -couples, fathers and daughters, mothers and sons, friends- until practically everyone was on the dancefloor.

Everyone but Sorin and I.

Glancing up, I found Sorin was staring at them, frowning. Everything was awkward between us. We had barely said two words to each other since that near-kiss two nights ago.

But the others were having fun, and I found something fiery inside me that wanted more than anything to join them, to smile and twirl carelessly, yet I didn't say anything. That was until I caught Sorin glancing at me, but something different happened when I met his gaze. He didn't turn away.

"You left your hair down," he said. I thought that was it, but he ended up adding, "It looks nice." I gave him a slight tug of my lips, not quite into a smile.

"I was rushing, so I didn't put it up." He gazed at the curls.

"It reminds me of when we were younger." It didn't take me long to understand what he meant. The castle.