@linalunalake ;; cont.
Lestat felt the shift the moment the first drum hit—Florence didn’t simply play music; she summoned something. And Evalina, glittering and barefoot, was already answering the call like a creature born of the same wild cathedral. He watched her for a heartbeat too long, the lights catching in her freckles like embers, her skirt brushing the grass as if she were coaxing the earth itself to dance with her. Then she turned that incandescent smile on him, hands lifted, palms open, the invitation unmistakable.
A slow, delighted grin curved his mouth.
Lestat laughed—bright, delighted, startled by her joy in a way that pulled him forward before he’d even decided to move. Evalina’s glitter caught the amber lights like sparks shaken from a fire, and for a moment he simply watched her spin, barefoot in the grass, skirt whispering around her ankles as if the music itself had chosen her as its vessel.Of course she would find him here. Of course she would call to him like that.He stepped into her orbit with the easy, feline confidence of someone who had lived a thousand nights like this and still found himself charmed by the newness of it. The crowd parted around him without quite knowing why, as though the air itself made room.
"Dance with you?"he echoed, voice low but warm, the words shaped by a smile he didn’t bother to hide. "Ma chérie, you only had to lift your hands."He took them—lightly, reverently, as though she were offering him something precious rather than simply an invitation—and let the beat roll through him. The drums from the stage thrummed against his ribs, and he leaned in just enough for her to hear him over the swell of Howl. "You look like you belong to this song" he said, eyes bright with mischief and admiration. "And I’d be a fool not to follow where you lead."Then he spun her—gentle, playfully—letting her skirt flare, letting her laughter rise, stepping into the dance as though he’d been waiting for her to summon him all along.
