41. Chapter 41
Chapter forty-one
I made sure I was showered and dressed before the sisters arrived later that evening. They both wrinkled their noses at my dress choice then disappeared. When they returned, they had a number of different diamond necklaces, bracelets, and a delicate silver chain with diamond teardrops hanging from it. The latter they looped around my waist. It was actually quite pretty the way it draped off my hips, and I had to admit the jewelry did elevate the look slightly.
Dey arrived shortly after the sisters completed their final touches, a flat black case clutched in his hand. “Your father wanted to be here for this moment, but I am afraid—”
“I know, I know,” I said, waving my hand and cutting him off. “Council. Duties. Blah blah blah. I get it. What’s in the box?”
Dey’s face lit up as he opened the case. “You would not be a proper princess without your tiara.”
I stared speechless at the beautiful creation nestled down into a velvet burgundy lining. The delicate twisting of silver and diamonds was nothing like my father’s ostentatious crown. This was far more understated—a thin band with only a single tier of small oval gems in the front. When my father said a tiara was being made, I had been terrified I would have to endure something akin to his own gaudy crown, but this was perfect.
Dey shifted nervously when I didn’t immediately take it from his hands. “Do you like it, Princess? I hope it pleases you.”
“It does,” I admitted, reaching to take it out of the box.
“Allow me,” Dey said, and I let him weave the ends of the tiara into my hair, surprised to find it weighed practically nothing.
Dey held out an arm, and I reluctantly accepted it as we stepped out into the hall.
I immediately pulled up short as we nearly crashed into Sin waiting outside my door. My heart skipped a beat as I took in his dinner attire. Gone was his standard black tunic, and in its place was a resplendent burgundy jacket secured tightly over his broad chest by a series of diamond buttons with a line of smaller stones stitched along the sleeves. Matching wine-colored breeches with black stitching up the sides and tall black leather boots that hugged his calves completed the look. The outfit, combined with his hair secured tightly at the nape of his neck, made him look regal in a way I had never seen before.
“Dreisin,” Dey said stiffly.
“Deylan,” Sin acknowledged, then switched to Rivellan knowing full well I could understand him. “King Verren is looking for you to discuss some Silver Court dietary restrictions that you didn’t relay to the kitchen. I will escort the princess to dinner.”
Dey frowned. “I told the kitchen all the necessary requirements.”
Sin shrugged. “Perhaps you missed one. I don’t know. Simply relaying the message.”
Dey looked torn, but I just waited. He was nothing if not predictable and would always rush to the king's side.
“Apologies,” he said, turning to me. “I am needed elsewhere. Would it be alright if Dreisin escorted you to dinner? I will join you shortly.”
Remembering that I was supposed to dislike Sin still, I gave Dey a frustrated look. “I guess.” I turned to Sin and glared. “Just keep your distance. You smell awful.”
A smirk crept onto Sin’s face. “Whatever the princess desires.”
Apparently satisfied that he wasn’t handing me over to anybody that might be competition, Dey released me and hurried off down the hall.
“You don’t smell awful,” I whispered, taking Sin’s arm. “You smell like heaven.”
“And you smell like I want to forget this dinner entirely and spend the night worshipping you in bed.”
Heat flared low inside me. “I don’t suppose that’s an option?”
“Tragically, no. All the competitors are required to be at the dinner. Later, however…” He nipped at my ear. “I would love to see you in nothing but that tiara.” His eyes dropped to the delicate silver chain that hung loosely around my hips. “Maybe leave that on as well.”
I allowed myself a second to imagine the scene he depicted playing out, but I tripped on the stupid heels I had finally deigned to wear, and it knocked me from my reverie. My grip on Sin’s arm was the only thing that saved me from eating palace floor.
“I didn’t realize that I literally knocked you off your feet,” he said smugly.
I scoffed. “Yeah, well, don’t let it go to your head.”
“It’s certainly going to one of my heads,” he replied in a voice so low that I nearly tripped again.
“You’re awful.”
“And you love it.”
He definitely wasn’t wrong, that was for sure.
“So, who are the Diamond Court competitors? Anyone I know?” I asked, shifting the topic to something less likely to ruin my panties.
“You know Camden and Ramset, of course.”
I was a bit embarrassed by the high-pitched squeak that erupted out of me, but I hadn’t seen the twins in days. “Cam and Ram will be there?”
Sin chuckled. “Do I need to be jealous?” he asked, sliding his hand to my low back.
“I don’t know,” I said, tapping my chin as if deep in thought. “They are pretty attractive. All that smooth, gorgeous brown skin. Now that you mention it…”
We dipped into the stairwell, and Sin pressed me back against the stone wall. Hidden from prying eyes, he leaned in and kissed me roughly, his tongue pressing against my lips. Not a request, but a demand that I open to him.
I did so without hesitation, reveling in the taste of him.
After a second he pulled back and growled, “Don’t make me murder my two best generals, Rain. It’s so hard to find skilled warriors these days.”
I leaned my back against the wall, threw a hand up to my forehead, and let out an overly dramatic sigh. “Fine. I suppose I’ll just have to make do with you.”
Sin pressed his body tighter against mine. “You are playing with fire, Rain.”
I met his gaze head on. “Then it’s a good thing I’m fireproof.”
Sin laughed, hearty and unrestrained. It was the most perfect sound I’d ever heard. “You should do that more often,” I said, running my thumb over the laugh lines in the corner of his eyes. I hadn’t even noticed them, his face was so often a perfectly constructed mask showing no emotion.
“I never had much reason to before you,” he replied quietly, his hand sliding down my low back to pull me away from the wall.
We continued toward the formal dining hall at the back of the castle, and Sin told me about the other Diamond Court competitors.
Cam’s air partner was a female named Lindyn who Sin suspected Cam also had a small crush on. Ram’s fire partner was a young male named Kinyx who had apparently only manifested his magic a few years prior. When I asked why my father would choose someone so inexperienced, Sin only muttered something about Verren wanting to punish Kinyx’s father.
I already knew Sin’s water partner Peywyn, but I didn’t recognize either terriservian—a mother-daughter duo named Koasha and Jaelin that had served Sin loyally for decades. There was a hint of worry when he spoke about them competing, and I asked why.
“Harpyn,” Sin answered, a muscle ticking in his jaw.
“Who or what is a Harpyn?” I asked as we rounded a corner, and the soft hum of conversation started to reach our ears.
Sin clenched his fist where it lay against my back. “Harpyn is the Silver Court terriservian,” he gritted out. “He is deadly, unhinged, and utterly without conscience. He and I have… history. He’ll go after Koasha and Jaelin to punish me.”
I stopped Sin in the hallway and grabbed his arm, forcing him to look at me. “These games aren’t dangerous, are they?” It occurred to me that I never actually asked what would happen tomorrow.
“Yes and no,” he said cautiously. “It is against the rules to kill another competitor, and doing so results in immediate disqualification. Beyond that… I wasn’t alive for the last Elemental Games, but I’ve heard they can be brutal.”
Worry clutched my chest in a tighter vice than any panic attack ever managed. “You’ll be okay though, right? This isn’t an 'accidents happen' sort of situation, is it?”
“I love that you’re worried about me, Fea Remia, but you don’t need to be. I’ve seen the other aquiservians fight. They are no match for my skills.”
I poked his chest. “Pretty cocky there, Sin.”
He whispered into my ear, “I told you before, it’s not cocky if it’s true.”
Too soon, we arrived at the formal dining room that was filled with courtiers and competitors. There had to be over fifty people in the room already, and I squeezed Sin’s hand to control my breathing.
“I’m right here,” he said discreetly while the guard announced our presence. “I’ll stay with you for as long as I can, but you’re going to need to release me before people start asking questions. You can handle this, Rain. I have faith in you.” He squeezed my hand in return, then let it fall to my side.
Right. I could do this. I didn’t have to make a speech or anything. All I had to do was smile and nod for a few hours.
Inside the banquet hall, two lengthy tables filled the center of the room. Since nobody was seated yet, Sin pulled me off to the side where I could partially hide behind a thick column. Servants weaved through the crowd handing out glasses of Cevisa, and it took all my willpower not to snag one.
We stood there for a while, waiting for the kings to arrive and begin the dinner. Sin pointed out a few of the other competitors, but the most interesting were the two Silver Court casters that maintained their head to toe black garb.
“What’s with the strange outfits?” I asked, gesturing toward them.
He glanced over to the bizarre couple. “The Silver Court is built into the side of a mountain,” he explained. “There is a community of people with homes deep underground that live somewhat apart from the rest of the court. It’s been said they have their own city down there, and their religion touts that living below ground brings them closer to the Source so their magic is more pure. Centuries of living beneath the castle has made them sensitive to any kind of light, so they only ever come out after dark. This is most likely the first time that Tenyn and Tenebra have even seen the sun.”
“So they're like vampires?” I asked, finding myself intrigued by this unique subculture of Rivellans. “Cool.”
Sin chuckled. “Not quite. They don’t drink blood or turn into bats, but they do have the whole pale skin, nightwalker thing down.” He paused, considering. “They must be incredibly powerful and want something very badly from their king if they agreed to come here.”
“Well now, if it isn’t the king's traitorous Cennux.”
The gravelly voice that floated over my shoulder sounded like the speaker chewed nails and smoked a pack a day. Beside me, Sin stiffened.
We both turned slowly, and I was greeted by the sneering face of the bloated, over-confident prick that had blown me a kiss earlier.
He swallowed an entire flute of Cevisa, then licked his lips at me. “And who is this pretty little princess? Surely you learned your lesson after the last one, Dreisin.”
I looked to Sin as if requesting a translation when all I really wanted to do was ask him what the hell this overbearing gym bro was talking about.
Sin didn’t even spare me a glance. He snagged a glass from a passing servant and threw it back in one gulp, mimicking Harpyn.
“I’m just a temporary escort,” Sin replied in Rivellan, not bothering to include me in this little conversation. “I could care less about her.”
“So callous to speak that way in front of a princess,” Harpyn said, his eyes sliding leisurely down my body. “Especially one as beautiful as this.”
I tucked my hands behind my back to press my nails into the skin of my palms. If I had to act like I was clueless, I at least needed something to distract me from kicking this guy squarely in the balls.
“She doesn’t understand Rivellan, Harp,” Sin said, angling his body as if the other male didn’t even deserve his full attention. “Don’t tell me news of Verren’s lost daughter didn’t make it to your desolate little rock?”
“Oh, I heard all about his little half-human world jumper. I just never imagined she would be so… delicious.”
I couldn’t help cringing at his words, but he probably took it as a reaction to him fluttering his tongue at me.
“Classy,” Sin replied, grabbing another flute.
“Or better yet,” Harpyn said, taking a step closer to me. “How about I take her to my room so she can see what it’s like to be with someone from the Silver Court. I’ve never been with a half-human before, but I bet her pussy still tastes as sweet.”
I didn’t even have a chance to react. One second Harpyn was all up in my space, practically choking me with his disgusting sweaty musk, and the next he was slammed up against the column with a thin cord of water cutting into his throat. Sin’s glass, now empty save for the smear of golden syrup at the bottom, nearly hit the floor, but I reflexively caught it before it shattered and drew unwanted attention in our direction.
The bulky terriservian looked neither upset nor worried about his current predicament. He looked… pleased.
Behind us, I heard a shrill cackle and saw the other Silver Court caster giggling his ass off like a demented hyena.
Sin edged closer to Harpyn, and the cold fury in his eyes twisted something in the pit of my stomach.
“Sin, stop,” I said, trying to pull him toward me, though his focus never left the male turning blue in front of him.
“Cennux Dreisin, now is not the time,” a smooth yet firm male voice said.
The blond who stepped up to Sin was dressed in the crisp white uniform of the Gold Court, and he strongly reminded me of Dey with his unblemished good looks and charming smile.
“Back off, Vankin. This is between me and him,” Sin snarled, and I started to worry that he might actually kill the Silver Court asshole.
“You know what happens if you are caught injuring a fellow competitor before the games,” Vankin said. “You’re my only real competition, Dreisin, don’t get yourself disqualified.” The golden male gave me a pointed look and tilted his head toward Sin.
I placed a hand on Sin’s shoulder and said, louder this time, “Sin, stop.”
Slowly, so incredibly slowly, Sin turned his head to look at me.
“He’s not worth it,” I said in English.
I doubted Harpyn had more than a few seconds left, but the grin still hadn’t left his face. He didn’t even struggle. Unhinged was an understatement.
Something softened in Sin’s eyes as he stared at me, and with the slightest twitch of his hand, the water dropped away from Harpyn’s neck.
Vankin’s hand flicked out, and the falling water reversed course to slip back into Sin’s glass. I nodded my thanks to the water caster and pulled Sin away, leaving Harpyn gasping for breath while Vankin tried to see if he was all right. Harpyn just shoved Vankin away from him and blew me another kiss before wandering off.
Once I had Sin away from the others, I whispered furiously, “What the hell was that all about?”
“Nothing,” he said, turning away from me, and the small action cut me deeper than any words could.
“Please don’t shut me out, Sin. I thought we were past that.”
Sin flagged down a servant and snagged a glass of Cevisa, drained it, and followed it up with a second. Then a third.
“So you’d rather stand here and get drunk than talk to me? Thanks, Sin. Way to make a girl feel special.” Ice was warmer than the look he gave me, and I felt like I was staring at the old Sin. Closed off, detached, and absent of all affection.
“I told you I had secrets, Rain,” he said gruffly.
“Yeah, well, I get a feeling that this isn't one you’re forced to keep but that you’re choosing to keep. Am I wrong?”
His eyes shifted away in confirmation.
“You almost murdered him, Sin.”
“He insulted you.”
“This wasn’t about me and you know it,” I argued. “What did he mean when he said you should have learned your lesson after the last one?”
When he refused to meet my gaze, I grabbed his face and roughly pulled it back to mine. “Tell me,” I demanded.
“Don’t, Rain. Don’t go there. What’s between me and Harpyn has nothing to do with you.”
“Nothing to do with me?” I released his face and threw up my hands in exasperation. “You know, there’s an awful lot about you that supposedly has nothing to do with me, and I'm starting to wonder if maybe you aren’t the best person to be making that call. Come find me if you ever decide to let me in.”
I found Cam and Ram on the other side of the hall, but only had a few minutes to wish them luck in the games before Dey arrived and whisked me off to my seat near the head of the table.
My father made an elaborate speech in which he introduced me and told everyone about his arduous search and what a joy it was that the lost princess had been returned home. Thankfully, I had to do no more than give a little wave.
He proceeded to drone on about the games with lots of pomp and circumstance. It started out fairly interesting with him describing the origins of the games—a chance for the courts to vent aggression so that they may live in harmony—and ended with their purpose today. Every hundred years the courts all came together to discuss the health of all Rivella, deal with any mutual threats, and ensure that the throne was being turned over to the next generation. Apparently when you can live for centuries it becomes dangerous for one ruler to remain in power too long, so they enacted a law that no king could reign for more than a hundred years. Maybe that’s why my father was so desperate for me to separate the lines. His only legitimate heir was trapped in a magical coma.
When his speech descended into swaggering bravado about how proud he was of the Diamond Court casters, I found myself tuning out and my thoughts drifted back to Sin. I couldn’t stop thinking about what Harpyn had said. The only logical conclusion was that Sin had been with a princess or someone of royal standing in the past, but if it was old news, then why did he feel the need to hide it?
My seat at the king’s table unfortunately gave me a prime view of him at the opposite table. He sat beside Peywyn, who spent the entire meal making doe eyes at an olive-skinned Gold Court female named Elona, oblivious to her partner's suffering. I didn’t know if it was the alcohol or the altercation with Harpyn, but Sin barely looked up from his meal the whole night.
Dey tried to be a pleasant dinner companion keeping up the conversation by telling me about some of the other competitors. Apparently the Silver Court was notorious for vicious casters that fought dirty. Jacksyn and his oddly devoted partner Harlix—the bikini clad female—were two of the worst he had heard of and borderline insane on top of it. Thinking back to Harpyn, I wondered how anyone could be worse than him. Their aeriservians, two brothers named Farlix and Forwyn, were the least awful Dey had said, but their egos were so huge that they would likely do anything to win.
The Silver Court sounded like it churned out some real gems, and I made a mental note to remove it from my list of places to visit one day.
The Gold Court was better, Dey had said. More honorable and noble for the most part. They held their own qualifiers to determine who would represent their court, though there were rumors that Vankin had cheated somehow to ensure his lover, Bartyn, would be the other aquiservian champion.
The Gold Court igniservians were a father-daughter duo named Direff and Sarla. Direff was the Gold Court’s Cennux and Sarla was his second. A tiny flicker of sadness hit me, and I hoped Sarla realized how lucky she was to have such a good relationship with her father.
It was the Gold Court aeriservians I found most intriguing. Both Glorn and Nema were nearly 200 years old. Glorn had stereotypical old white wizard vibes, while Nema radiated sweet elderly grandma. I didn’t know how they could possibly stand up against the skills of the younger casters, but I kind of hoped they did well.
After an hour or so of small talk, my father rose to give his closing speech.
“Tomorrow the Elemental Games will begin after the King’s Council has come to a close. I want to remind all of our guests from the Silver and Gold Courts, as well as my own people, that these games are meant to foster goodwill and bring us all together as Rivellans. So do remember the rules this evening. There will be no violence before the games, and no competitor may opt out at this point. You all are committed. Each of our fighters have been assigned a room in the east wing on the third level. Guards from all three courts will be stationed in the hallway to ensure everyone stays in their chambers and has a good night's sleep. Make your courts proud tomorrow. Make all of Rivella proud.” He raised his glass. “Honor to Rivella. Honor to the Source.”
“Honor to Rivella. Honor to the Source,” everyone else intoned with raised classes.
Well, shit. I had no idea where Sin and I stood, but it sounded like I wasn’t going to find out tonight.
When the competitors filed out, I allowed Dey to escort me back to my room, my thoughts too focused on Sin to figure out an excuse to avoid him.
“Good night,” I said, giving him my best fake smile when we arrived at my door.
“Wait, Princess.” He grabbed my elbow before I could fully escape. When I looked down at his grip, he released me.
“What do you want, Dey?” I asked, exhausted from the longest day of faking smiles and playing dumb whenever someone spoke in Rivellan.
He shifted awkwardly, then asked, “Is there something going on between you and Dreisin?”
Well that was the last thing I expected.
I pinched the bridge of my nose. “No, Dey, why would you even ask?”
He gave me a boyish grin. “I am just making sure that I do not have any competition.”
I pushed into my room. “Well, you can rest easy because there is no competition.”
I wasn’t lying either. Sin had already won my heart.
“All right then. Good night, Princess,” he said softly. “I will see you tomorrow for the competitor’s breakfast.”
I shut the door behind me and slumped to the floor, absently petting Jenni and Opal as they happily greeted me. Crap. Another formal gathering to attend. Tomorrow was the games, the banquet, the ball, and now we needed to add a formal breakfast? I banged my against the door a couple times.
There was no way I was going to survive it all.