Dreams Made Flesh

an appearance at a party and hasn't asked me to dance," Rainier continued. "But that's all right. I'm content just to flirt with you."
    I'll see you in Hell first.
    Rainier gave him an amused glance before focusing on Jaenelle again. "Would you mind telling your lover that I'm allowed to flirt with you?"
    "Of course you're allowed to flirt with me," Jaenelle said, her voice filled with laughter. "After all, you never mean it." She paused. "On the other hand, if you were flirting with Daemon…"
    "Pointless," Rainier said, grinning, "since it's so obvious that he's taken. But…" Releasing Jaenelle's hand, he smiled at Daemon. "May I have this dance?"
    Hot fury. Cold rage. Suddenly it was easy to slip into the game. He'd assumed the person behind the rumors was female…an assumption he shouldn't have made.
    "If my Lady has no objections," Daemon crooned. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Lucivar and Surreal entering the ballroom. As soon as he moved away, they'd stay close to Jaenelle.
    "Do you mind?" Rainier asked, glancing at Jaenelle.
    She looked baffled. "No, I don't mind."
    "Shall we?" Smiling, Rainier offered an arm.
    Daemon didn't take the arm…too much temptation to rip it off…but he turned and matched his stride to the Warlord Prince beside him until they reached the dance floor.
    The music started. A waltz. He wondered if Rainier had arranged that.
    "Who leads?" he asked.
    "I asked, so I lead."
    The man could dance. Daemon heard startled gasps, noticed other couples stumble to a halt and move out of the way. But those were distant things. His focus…and his temper…were fixed on Rainier.
    "Before you decide in favor of killing me, I should mention that I'm Second Circle," Rainier said.
    That statement almost threw him off balance. It was possible. Jaenelle's court had been so informal, he'd never met anyone beyond her First Circle. "You mean you were Second Circle. The Dark Court no longer exists."
    "Hmm.Yes. I'm no longer Second Circle just like you're no longer the Consort."
    They whirled around the dance floor, perfectly matched, studying each other.
    "I'll think you'll find, Prince Sadi, that those who serve Jaenelle don't give a damn that there's no longer formally a court. The Dark Court still exists because she still exists. We still serve…and you're still the Consort."
    "What's your game, Rainier?"
    "Figured I'd better help you two by providing a distraction. You're doing a lousy imitation of a quarreling couple. You're having too much fun. I'm thinking you're trying to draw out whoever started those rumors. So this should catch someone's interest."
    The man had a point. They certainly had the attention of everyone in the room. "How did you end up in the Second Circle?"
    Rainier grinned. "I was the coven's dance instructor. The fifth or sixth one the High Lord hired. I wasn't much older than the girls and had no credentials except a knowledge of, and love for, dancing, but he told me if I could last the hour with them I had the position."
    "And you lasted the hour."
    Rainier nodded. "The Heart of the Realm was in that room. If the personalities and power of the coven didn't scare the shit out of a man, there was no better place to be. There's still no better place to be."
    He had a feeling Rainier was more than a dance instructor, but the man wasn't a rival, and a skilled ally could prove useful right now. "Do you know court dances?"
    "I adore court dances."
    "My lead." Daemon sent a psychic command to the head musician. When the music changed, he and Rainier broke the steps of one dance and flowed into the other as smoothly as if they'd been partners for years. Hand to hand. Turning. Circling. Gliding. Watching each other. Restrained sensuality swelling to the point of bursting. He saw the hint of fear in Rainier's green eyes as the web of desire he was spinning through the dance became a snare for the unwary.
    "Mother Night," Rainier whispered hoarsely. "You must be a mean bastard when you want to hurt someone."
    Daemon smiled a cruel, knowing smile, and crooned, "But you'd let me hurt you, wouldn't you?"
    The sudden tremble in Rainier's hand was answer enough.
    As the dance ended, Daemon leaned in, trapping their hands between their bodies, bringing lips close to lips. "That's why they called me the Sadist."
    Something was scraping his temper, some feeling in the room that reminded him too much of the Terreillean courts, something that had him teetering a heartbeat away from the