As though nothing else existed but his dark tousled hair, smooth olive skin, and deeply brown, almost black eyes that made my head swirl.
“My name is Aurelia,” I said, my voice surprisingly sure, extending my hand with a strange rush of calm.
I had no idea where it came from. No idea how I’d found myself slipping so easily into the role of a young and sophisticated Roman aristocrat. And yet, there I was—my gaze lowered shyly, my lips curving flirtatiously, a puff of air rounding my cheeks, as I waited to feel the brush of his palm, the brief sweep of his lips on my hand—the standard greeting of the time. It was as though I really was Aurelia, and at that moment, I preferred her to me.
“Aurelia, this is Dacian,” Messalina informed me, her eyes flashing knowingly. “As you well know, Dacian is the son of a senator,” she added, carefully stating her words, clearly wanting me to get the significance. Dacian was important, someone I should at least pretend to know.
“Strange we have not met before,” Dacian said, his voice as perplexed as his face, as though he truly was struggling to make sense of it.
I shrugged, my shoulders rising and falling as I cast my gaze to the side, amazed by the amount of cool I displayed, though it wasn’t long before it began ebbing away and I was cast out of the role Messalina insisted I play.
I wasn’t used to being around boys that cute—and Dacian definitely fell into the category o
f Seriously Cute. I mean, I’d known him for less than a minute and he’d already claimed the top spot on my “Top 5 Cutest Boys Ever” list—the one that included living people, ghosts, and celebrities (and this despite the fact that his outfit pretty much resembled a dress).
Aurelia shined at that sort of thing, Riley didn’t. But as much as I wanted to be Aurelia again, she was drowned out by the warning that blared in my head, an annoyingly cautious voice shouting: Do not get distracted! Your name is not Aurelia, and Dacian is not on your agenda, no matter how cute he may be. You are here to find Theocoles and cross him over—that’s it!
The voice was loud—a lot louder than I wanted it to be. And yet, it didn’t stand a chance against Messalina’s when she clasped my hand in hers, instantly silencing my thoughts when she said, “Forgive me Aurelia, but I must attend to my aunt for a moment. I trust you’ll be fine in Dacian’s care? I think I’m quite fit to vouch for his good and noble character.” Then turning to Dacian, her voice light and flirtatious, she added, “And I trust you will not make me regret the praise I just heaped upon you? I trust you will be on your best behavior and act like the perfect gentleman I know you to be—at least while you’re in the company of Aurelia?”
I turned toward her, my eyes begging her to stay. My suddenly coy, calm demeanor giving way to a full-blown panic at the thought of being alone with him. I may have looked older than my years, but that was just surface. Inside I was still me. I was still skinny, scrawny, quaking in my shoes, little Riley Bloom. There was no getting around it—I was in over my head.
But if Messalina saw my pleading look, she chose to ignore it. And all I could do was watch in horror as she spun on her heel and made for the other side of the room, heading toward the space where, just a moment before, Theocoles stood.
I mumbled some flimsy excuse—moved to follow her—but I was too slow, and she was too fast, and in the end it was all I could do to keep an eye on her whereabouts.
My gaze anxiously trailing the swishy red hem of her dress, her stream of dark hair—keeping close tabs, carefully retracing each and every step, until Dacian caught up, grasped my arm lightly, and said, “Please don’t leave—not when we’ve only just met, and I have so much still to learn about you! Where is it you come from? Why is it I’ve never seen or heard of you?”
My gaze only shifted for a second—less than a second, I swear—but that’s all it took for me to lose sight of her. In what little time it took for me to switch my gaze from Dacian’s smiling face to the space Messalina had just occupied, she was gone. And there was no doubt in my mind that she’d ditched me on purpose.
8
Dacian stared at me, waiting for a reply, but instead of answering, I ran. Leaving him to stand there, gazing after my shiny, blue dress as I sped across the room, retracing the steps Messalina had taken until I reached the spot where she’d vanished from sight.
I surveyed the area, hands on my hips, head swiveling from side to side. Seeking out all the possible routes she could’ve taken, while replaying her words in my mind.
She’d said she’d gone to check in with her aunt, but I immediately disregarded that, it just didn’t ring true. This had something to do with Theocoles, of that I was sure.
Though I had no idea where to find him, no idea which way to go when the options were endless. Every opening of every room seemed to feed off into another, and another, and yet another, until Messalina’s world began to resemble a complex labyrinth. A complex labyrinth intended to trick me, confuse me, as I’m sure it did all the other Soul Catchers before me.
Dacian called out my name, my new name, his voice cutting through the peals of laughter and party noise, as he worked his way through the crowd in hot pursuit of me. Face stricken, gaze anxious, worried he’d somehow offended me.
With only seconds to spare before he caught up, I shut my eyes tightly and forced everything into silence except my own inner voice, aware of it prodding: The stairs—find the stairs that lead down! Words no louder than a whisper, yet powerful all the same.
But before I could make a move, Dacian was standing before me. His voice as relieved as his face when he said, “There you are, Aurelia!” He bowed low, allowing a glimpse of his tousled brown hair, before he faced me again and his dark eyes landed on mine. “I hope I have not offended you in some way?” His face breaking into a hopeful grin made even more irresistible by the dimples that sprang up at either side of his cheeks.
And at that moment, he was so unbelievably cute I couldn’t come up with one good reason to leave. Suddenly, for the first time in a long time, everything I’d ever wanted was well within reach.
I was a teen.
A beautiful teen just like my sister.
And also like my sister, cute boys were now making their way across rooms—willing to look like fools just to be near me.
I was the star of my very own fairy tale.
It was too good to resist.
So I didn’t.