Skye escorted Kris Montoya back to where her
parents and sister stood watching and discussing. As he released her hand, he
bowed and thanked her for the splendid dance. He then turned to Kukri, and with
an additional slight bow, asked her, "Would you allow me the supreme honor
of escorting you to the floor?"
Her eyes met his, and it took all of his strength
not to melt into a puddle on the floor. She reached out to his offered hand,
and Skye could swear he felt a warm glow where she touched. Struggling to keep
his cool composure, he led her to the floor. Each step felt as though it was
taking ages, that he was going too slowly, even though he knew he could not go
any faster without his walk being describable as brisk. His nerves made him
feel hyper aware, time was slowing down, noises were louder, images were
sharper, and her warm hand in his was a fire blazing into an inferno. The
breathing helped, but he could swear sweat droplets would be breaking out on
his forehead soon. As they reached an open place to begin, he turned, looked
back into the depthless pools that were her eyes, wrapped his arm around her
waist, pulled her towards himself, and began to dance before he could lose his
nerve and turn into a twitching mass on the ground.
Skye would not have believed two women who looked
so similar could feel so different if he had not felt for himself. Both were
amazing dancers. That could not be denied. Kris had been a willow branch, stiff
but yielding wherever the wind blows her; never breaking, yet always returning
to where she began. Kukri was water in his hands. Wherever he led she didn't
follow, she flowed. She offered no resistance, she almost seemed to move before
he directed her; but he wasn't certain if he could stop her if he tried. If he
let go and walked away, he wasn't certain she would stop to see where he had
gone. Her movement said she would continue the dance alone if she must. Perhaps
she would flow to wherever he had gone. Perhaps she would continue until he
returned. Dancing with Kris was to dance with a partner who complimented his
movements. Dancing with Kukri was almost to become one with his partner. While
there was little visible difference in their figures standing still, the feel
of their backs as they moved was almost as if they were entirely different
creatures. Kris was wiry muscle. Her body was a coiled spring like Skye’s own.
Kukri was softer, her subtle curves more passively flowing. She did not lack
her sister’s strength; it was just dormant and relaxed.
They danced faster and more complex maneuvers.
They flowed through movements he never would have thought possible to guide his
partner through with one hand. She read from his body sequences he never would
have normally tried with a woman he had not practiced intimately with even with
the use of both hands. They didn't talk, at least not with words. There was no
need. In the spinning, twirling, entwining, and leaping they communicated in
ways that verbal language cannot capture. Other couples stopped dancing. They
just stood back and watched, slowly forming a larger and larger open floor in
which Skye and Kukri could freely sing their kinesthetic duet. Skye lost track
of how long they danced. He thought the song had changed a few times, but there
was nothing real in his mind except his wondrous partner.
How long didn't matter to him though, what
mattered was that as one they reached a crescendo of movement and stopped,
clutching one another in a panting embrace. After a few moments of applause
from those around Kukri pulled back her face from where it was buried in his
chest against his sling and gazed up into his eyes. The soft brown pools had
shed tears that now dripped down her face. She reached up, gripped the hair at
the nape of his neck, pulled his head down, stole a sudden sweet kiss, and ran
away.
Kukri did not walk away, she did not just briskly
leave the dance floor, she ran as if there was some kind of creature chasing
her and she dared not look back lest it catch her. Needless to say, Skye was
confused. Just a moment ago they had been moving as one. He had been certain
that in those moments had known her better than he had ever known anyone in his
life. At this moment, he didn't have any clue whatsoever as to what had just
happened. Maybe men really were as stupid as they were made out to be, or maybe
women were just crazy, but Skye felt he had as much chance of understanding
this most recent event of his life as he had of defeating an entire nest of
silver scale drakes alone and unarmed.
Couples filled the dance floor back in, and a few
men gave Skye hearty pats on the back as he stood there dumbfounded. In a daze
he looked for a familiar face, someone to cement him in what was real. Up on a
balcony he saw his sister Evangeline conversing with a small crowd of women,
and despite her earlier protestations he did notice a champagne flute in her
hand. Oh well, she had more than earned a drink tonight. Quite frankly, if she
wanted to start a scandal with someone else’s manpet, she had earned that too
as far as Skye was concerned. Right now he wasn't sure whether that would be a
bad thing. It might even distract his attention from the girl who had addled
his brain. His sister’s drunken indiscretions were at least a problem he could
understand.
He trod up the stairs, hardly looking where he
was going, politely bowing and excusing himself automatically as he moved
through the crowd. Soon he had reached his sisters perch, her back now to the
railing she leaned against as she regaled those around her with some story or
another Skye wasn't certain he would recognize even if he paid attention,
although his name was occasionally mentioned in it. When she reached the end
and looked around to see how many had properly appreciated her witty retelling
she saw Skye and exclaimed with delight, "Here is my blessed baby brother
now! You did wonderfully as ever down there. As I was just telling these
Ladies, you are blessed kinesthetically to a point of being a credit to your gender.
With the softness of mind and harshness of temperament God cursed your kind
with for the original sin of the slaying Abel, she was merciful enough to give
you something to make you all still worthy of the spark of life. This boy is
certainly worth keeping around Ladies. Remember also, a man dancing exquisitely
doesn't just indicate he will do well in the arena, it also indicates skills in
other more private venues." She winked at her audience and nodded to
emphasize the little insinuation she had made.
It seemed no one thought the display after the
dancing stopped worthy of comment. Maybe they couldn't see what had happened
from this angle. Maybe with the exertion of dancing he had imagined it. Skye
remembered the soft insistent press of her lips against his. He couldn't have
imagined that, could he? Either way, Evangeline quickly moved into introducing the
gathered women to Skye. Most of them were representatives of some small local
stable or another. One was an individual who wanted to purchase a man with a
fighting pedigree for her own personal use. Three were investors who were there
to make sure the stables they were backing made good decisions. Skye wondered
if any of them were among the investors for the Grigori stable. Then there were
the representatives from two competing intercontenintal mega stables; Horde and
Legion.
Both mega stables had facilities in most major
cities around Ishtar. Their gladiators won few major titles, their business
philosophies tended towards the idea that maximum profit could be made by
buying as many cheap gladiators as they could and planning for mediocre
results. Once in a while they would try buying a highly appraised fighter in
the hopes of building renown for the entire stable, but not often. Some said that when they bid on more
prestigious gladiators it was just to drive prices up for the other stables so
the little ones could afford to bid on fewer of the other men. Even if a mega
stable accidentally purchased an expensive one, it didn't cut that far into
their budget; and if the guy did well, they still came out ahead.
Mega stables were not buyers he wanted interested
in him. Mega stables were where low class gladiators spent their lives and
has-beens went from the day they were forgotten until the day they died. The
best case scenario when bought by a mega stable is to be resold to an individual
as a private manpet. That wasn't a bad life, but it wasn't what he had in mind.
There was no good way to "accidentally" alienate the mega stable
representatives without possibly driving off the other buyers and investors
gathered around, though. The other stables represented might be rather good. As
far as the one stable he had allowed his hopes to rise about; one daughter
seemed indifferent to him and the other seemed neurotic. Kukri was beautiful,
graceful, sensuous, brilliant, and possibly his soul mate if such a thing
existed; but seemed most definitely neurotic. Hopefully the mega stable
representatives were just enjoying his sister’s stories and had no interest in
bidding on him. The gleam in their eyes when they looked at him; however, gave
him definite doubts that they were there for his sister’s company, and made him
quite aware of the alcohol Evangeline was now on her second glass of since he
arrived on the balcony. "How many glasses did she have before I
returned?" He wondered to his own dark thoughts.
Too many of his paranoid fantasies from before
the ball were coming to life. He had made a fool of himself on the dance floor
whether anyone else had noticed or not. His sister was well on her way to
sauced. The mega stable buzzards, while not obese, were definitely formidable
women, and they were circling. Soon his cosmetics would be tasted and from
there his life would end. One of the matriarchs was responding to Evangeline's
comments about how much value is added by his certificate of virginity with a
"joke" about how lucky it was that there was so little time for him
to lose it "accidentally" before the auction. How did that provide a
segue into the "face diaper incident" story? "That's the
predestined path that my life needs to follow in order to ensure my total
destruction," He thought, "That's how."
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