Chapter 41
Aweek slid by. Between the arrow Kye had taken for me and the conversation I’d shared with Selena, I didn’t know how to feel about him. Nerves swarmed my belly as I passed his door, slipping soundlessly into my own, though I realized I’d taken to listening for the sound of his heart beating on the other side of the wall.
I’m not sure why.
The month of Taurennos drew to a close. Summer loomed on the horizon, and with it, a plethora of invitations to palace festivities. Balls thrown in the King’s honor, birthdays and anniversaries and special events, such as the blooming of the roses or the filling of the trees, lush and plump with ripe summer fruit.
No party compared to the summer solstice.
Selena commissioned a dress for me, which usually meant tight corsets stitched into my ribs, constricting my air all night. I cringed when she handed me the garment box, lighter and smaller than usual. But I was wrong.
Unlike the heavy gowns she normally dressed me in, the sheath of rippling blue was light and smooth, dense but not heavy. My eyes darted to hers, and she raised a brow. “I’ll help you into it.”
Ten minutes later, I gazed at my reflection for the first time in almost a month.
The skirt swept cleanly from my shoulders to the floor. No frills, no lace, just a pool of melted fabric. My arms left bare, the front of it boasted a narrow cut down the center of my chest—though the back plunged all the way down the small of my back. Cobalt blue, the royal color of Calder, claimed my body, and the liquidity of it transformed me into dark water.
I’d become the sea, deep and mysterious, hungry for secrets I’d never reveal.
Selena tamed my hair into wide, shining curls which she pinned over the crown of my head, leaving a few to drape over my shoulders before she excused herself to her rooms to get ready, promising to see me there.
Kye was to be my escort. Our engagement would be revealed tonight, and as I waited for him to knock on my door, I wrung my hands together, unable to decide if I was nervous because of the impending announcement and the thought of meeting the rest of the royal family. Or if the simple idea of seeing him again was what had filled me up with knots from the inside out.
I hadn’t seen him since he’d thrown me under him and covered me with his body.
Knuckles drummed on wood.
I shook errant hair from my face, straightened my shoulders, smoothed my skirt, and opened my door.
Aren stood on the other side.
Oh. The tension in my body loosened.
He stood in a dress uniform, his hastily secured wheat-blond braid a note in mischief. Green eyes went round at the sight of me, and his mouth curved in an appreciative smile. Holding out a hand, he sent a low whistle through the door. “Oh, he’ll be sorry he sent me when he sees you looking like that.”
I couldn’t help it. I smiled back at him.
The halls were abloom with floral aromas and scattered petals. The sconces had been extinguished, and hundreds of candle-lit lanterns lit our passage to the ballroom, where the doors flung open to the courtyard. Music called us from the outside, a sparkling dance floor waiting in the center, the stars heavy and twinkling from above. Nobles roamed in every direction, elegant and self-assured as they drifted in from every corner.
“Thirsty?” Aren asked, leading me to the edge of a wall on the outskirts. I wondered how he’d known I preferred to avoid attention until I realized we stood next to a raised dais. The royal family would be here soon.
“Yes,” I said, hopeful for the chance to study the room and gain my bearings.
He left me there, stalking off to a table laden with food and drink, not noticing the servant who swept by him with an almost empty tray of crystal flutes. The young woman stopped for me, offering the last drink, and I realized I recognized her ash-green eyes.
The secretary who had asked if I needed help outside Thaan’s office.
She remembered me in the same moment, her head tilting the smallest fraction as she took me in. Her dress wasn’t that of the other servants. Red-gold and lustrous, it matched the sheen of her hair, though it hadn’t been tailored for her body as mine had been, and I wondered if she’d borrowed it.
“Hello again,” she said, turning her empty tray vertical and resting it against her hip.
“Hello,” I echoed, suddenly curious of her role in the palace.
Her clever eyes followed mine to the hem of her sleeve, looser than what was in fashion.
“It’s not mine, if that’s what you’re wondering. It’s my mother’s dress.”
“It’s beautiful,” I said in honesty. The dress was stunning; it simply didn’t seem to fit her right.
She scoffed. “It’s older than I am. So, who are you, and why are you brave enough to stand here, where everyone pretends they want to stand, but no one actually does?”
Noble or servant, I wasn’t sure what exactly she was, but I hadn’t expected a brash question from either. This might be a long night. I tilted the sparkling volare into my mouth, its sweet, spicy flavor affording me a few seconds to decide what to say.
“Are you here with the royal family?” she asked flatly.
I lowered the glass, licking my lips as lady-like as I could. “I suppose.”
She smirked. “You either are or you aren’t. If you think you might be, then you are.”
“Alright. I am.”
The woman held out her hand for my empty flute. I handed it to her, but she didn’t leave. “Nikolaos’s fiancée. My sincere apologies.” She said, then laughed at the sudden surprise on my face. “You haven’t been in the palace long, have you?”
“No,” I answered, torn between wariness and amusement. Beyond Aren teasing Kye in the training yard, I hadn’t met anyone in the palace so willing to mock the crown, though something in the dryness of her humor made me immediately want to like her.
“Well. Marrying into the royal family is almost a fate worse than death, so I wish you luck. Have you met any of them yet?”
“Nikolaos and Hadrian—briefly.”
“Ah.” She stepped in line with me, covertly pointing her finger across the room at a tall man with light brown hair tarnished with silver at his temples. “The King’s polite enough if he likes you, but he’s as blunt as a dull hammer if he doesn’t. Either way, you can tell he isn’t interested when you speak to him. His eyes will roam over you as if you’re an insect.
“His daughter, Jonet…” She turned her finger toward the musicians, where a beautiful young woman stood in her own dress of stunning blue, stitched tight with a corset. “She has every aspect of her life so planned that if you aren’t inthe inner court circle, if you aren’t an asset to her social calendar, they don’t even let you near her.”
She didn’t specify who they were.
“Behind Jonet is the Queen, Lyrena. She’s the one who looks like she sucked on a lemon wedge and doused her mouth in salt directly after. The younger prince and princess are alright. Mallus and Breer. But they’re children, so they have time to become just as unbearable.”
I held in a laugh. Queen Lyrena was prim and tall, beautiful in a quiet sort of way, and definitely didn’t look as though she’d just sucked a lemon wedge, though the image was a welcome one in my head anyway.
“And your opinions of Hadrian and Nikolaos?”
“Boring as a piece of toast and mister unsatisfied.”
She smiled at my ensuing laugher. “Lady Diara of Pirou,” the young woman said, introducing herself, her brows raised as she waited for me to do the same.
“Lady Maren of Leihani.”
“Leihani,” Diara repeated, tasting the word as though trying to place it.
“The islands in the south,” I offered for her, my eyes catching Aren in the distance. Distracted by another uniformed man, he held two glasses in one hand, in no hurry to return to me.
I realized I didn’t mind.
“The fishing islands? I didn’t realize there was a lord there. No wonder you’re not familiar with court gossip.” Her eyes grew round at the sight of someone next to me, and I turned my head to find Selena, stunning in a dress of lavender silk.
“Hello, Lady Diara. Happy Solstice,” Selena said warmly, coming to a stop beside me.
“Happy Solstice,” Diara chirped, though her feet had shifted away. “I should be getting back to the kitchen.”
We watched her go, disappointment settling within me.
“Diara is living in something of a unique situation,” Selena said softly. “Her father is Bernard Verrata, Lord of Pirou. Diara grew up riding horses in the Golden Pirou Mountains, until six years ago, when her father made a poor business error, then went into debt to the crown to correct it, only to fail to repay.
“He’s delinquent on loans but is still considered the best horse breeder in Calder, so King Emilius preferred not to unseat him. They worked out a deal, and Diara and her older brother came to stay at the palace, working in the secretary’s offices and kitchens. As nobles, they’re educated, well read, and naturally connected to the inner circles of the court, which you may find is quite difficult.” She ruminated on a silent thought. “What did you think of her?”
“She’s…” I paused. What was she? Quirky? Funny? Yes, but there’d been something bitter about her.
Forced into the palace to pay off a debt she hadn’t been responsible for. Like me.
It must be humiliating for her. A noble treated as a servant.
“I like her,” I said, realizing it was true.
Selena smiled. “I like her, too.”
We spent a few minutes in silence. From across the room, Aren glanced at me, holding up a finger in a promise to return soon. I shrugged and waved him away, saving my nerves for when Kye appeared.
But he never did.