The Girl with the Fire Heart
Chapter 26

Of course it had to be Valentina. Damon watches distantly as Elliot whispers with the butler to replace out why the two of them hadn't been seated while sorting through the memories he has with the man, trying to figure out how he could have missed such a crucial detail.

Elliot looks away from the butler and over to Damon gesturing for him and Valentina to follow him to table one where a few seats remain open. Damon spends the entire walk over to the head table thinking through every moment, tossing every conversation around in his mind, hoping for something he isn’t quite sure he has a name for.

By the time the four of them arrive at the table, Damon is sure that he was never told the name of the girl Elliot had left behind. Damon steps away from Valentina to pull out her chair and help her into her seat. Once she settles, she looks back up at him and smiles, thanking him silently.

Damon allows warmth to flood his expression, ensuring his face still remains neutral to those all too content to watch them like a spectacle. He sits down, schooling his features once more, and allowing those sitting at the table to talk around him. A few times Ava engages Valentina in conversation, while Damon sits stoically.

Dinner is served, toasts are made, and most of the night goes off without a hitch. When the orchestra begins to pick up, playing music that has all the guests on their feet and on the dance floor, Damon and Valentina relax a little, knowing they are no longer on display, at least for the moment.

Elliot watches Valentina and Damon closely, keenly aware that his wife is watching him just the same. Not wanting to sit at the table any longer, he turns to Ava and asks her to dance. Together they walk to the dance floor and join the rest of the dancing couples as they glide across the floor in pre-practiced dances.

At some point, Elliot sees Valentina and Damon join the throng of people on the dance floor and watch as some of the dancing couples move away from them, unsure of what to expect from the only two people who have rare elements for hearts. When the music changes, most every couple on the dance floor switches partners. Elliot, however, keeps dancing with Ava and Damon keeps dancing with Valentina.

Elliot suddenly gets an idea. He keeps an eye on the dancing couple from the corner of his eye, making sure he works him and Ava towards them so that the two men could swap dance partners during the next music change. All too quickly, the change comes and the two men switch dance partners like years of training have taught them.

Elliot pulls Valentina close to his chest, discreetly inhaling her scent when she settles in his arms.

Damon looks down at his dance partner, seeing Ava stare up at him unabashedly intrigued to be up close and personal with him. He hadn’t realized how close Elliot had gotten to them until it was too late and they had swapped partners. The crowd dancing around the two couples slowly disperses until the four individuals are the only people on the dance floor and they are once more the main event of the night.

“So tell me,” Ava says. “How come I didn’t know you and my husband were friends?”

“You should ask your husband,” Damon replies.

“I’m asking you,” she says.

“We were friends a long time ago. When my family and I moved to the country, we kept in contact but it was sporadic at best and nonexistent at worst. Our friendship had been built on our proximity to one another and when that faded, so did our friendship. So to answer your question, you didn’t know because we aren’t friends, at least not anymore,” Damon says through a sigh.

Ava goes quiet at his response. While speaking, Damon barely looked at her. Now that she is quiet, he looks down at her to see her looking at him contemplatively, as if he said something entirely perplexing. After a long moment, she finally speaks.

“So why come? You must have known it would be our son’s ceremony you were attending. Why come if the two of you are no longer friends?” she asks.

“Duty goes beyond desire. I was born into this life. I know what it demands of people of my birthright. So it was my responsibility to be here, no matter how much I wished to stay away,” he says.

“Why not leave now then? I could go with you, leave behind this life and birthright as you call it,” she questions. Damon sees a spark of intrigue at her own idea flash behind her eyes.

“You would leave your son behind?” Damon asks, shock and disappointment leaking into his eyes.

“Of course not! He could join us, travel to a distant land where no one would have to know where we are or who we used to be,” she says.

“As enticing as the idea may be to disappear, I won’t be the one to go with you. I have no interest in whisking you away from whatever life you have with your husband. Even more so, I have no interest in you at all. I came here with Valentina, someone who I intend to spend the rest of my life with, and that is a covenant I do not plan on breaking, not now and especially not once it is made officially. You would do well to remember that for yourself,” Damon looks pointedly at her husband when he says this.

Ava sighs before saying, “You truly are as admirable as my husband says you are.”

Damon looks down at her in shock. He didn’t realize that Elliot had spoken so fondly of him to a woman he didn't even know. After all these years of silence and distance, he had assumed his old friend would have forgotten their youthful years together. His chest aches with the realization that those years seemed to matter more than he thought. He looks over to where he and Valentina are dancing, and for a brief moment he can see the young man Elliot used to be.

The moment ends, however, when he sees Valentina's face.