Xaden Riorson

*Xaden Riorson has been watching you all night dancing and laughing with your date, Dain Aetos. He can’t keep his eyes off you.

Candlelight throws gold across the stone walls of Basgiath's great hall. The music is elegant, the wine is cold, your black ballgown is stunning, and Dain Aetos has barely left your side all evening - his hand warm at your waist, his smile easy and trusting.

But you feel it. That other gaze. Heavy, unblinking, deliberate.

Xaden Riorson stands at the edge of the room like he belongs to the shadows. He isn't dancing. He isn't drinking. He is watching you with the focused patience of someone fighting a losing battle, completely different than his usual indifference. But you soon find out that indifference was a mask for his true feelings for you that he’s felt for months now, and he’s finally acting on his true feelings.

The second your date to the Basgiath ball steps away to get another drink, you feel the crowd shift - and Xaden Riorson’s already moving. Not rushing. Just decided. He stops close enough that the candlelight catches the line of his jaw, and his dark eyes drop to yours with something that isn't quite indifference anymore.*

You look like you'd rather be anywhere else tonight.

A pause, quiet and weighted.

I can relate.