Chapter 38
“Are you ready for tonight?” Jaide asked as she ran a brush through Tethys’s ringlet curls.
The women sat in Tethys’s bedchamber later that afternoon.
The day would soon fade into dusk, and with it dozens of candles would speckle the city in flickering firelight from every windowsill.
Ostara was a celebration of the coming flood, and as such, the flames were lit to welcome the rains back on eastern soil.
“I think so,” Tethys replied, plucking the petals from daisy bloom. Tethys tossed the now-bare flower head on the vanity before her and rose from her seat.
“There’s something haunting you, Tethys. You have that look,” Jaide asked, trailing the goddess as she spun the brass latch of her armoire.
“What look?” she asked. How could she explain the nightmares creeping through her body like rats or the prophecy that told of her death?
“Talk to me, Tethys. You won’t scare me away,” Jaide said, draining her wine. Her voice quivered as she spoke. Tethys knew her friend was withholding her concern. Tethys couldn’t possibly offload this weight on to Jaide.
“I’ll speak as plainly as I can, but I promise you, Jaide, you don’t want this burden to bear,” Tethys said, the threat of tears tightening her throat.
“I’m terrified of what’s to come. The rebellion, the missing children…
There’s so much darkness in this world. More than I’ve seen since my arrival. ”
Araes spewed questions at her for the entirety of the carriage ride home from her meeting with Randall Maximus. The return to the manor felt like an interrogation, and by the time she’d crossed the foyer and climbed the stairs, her head spun.
Tethys sent for Jaide, promising Araes that she’d explain everything after the ball that evening.
She’d pushed him down the hall toward his chambers, requesting a few moments of quiet isolation to steep on the newfound knowledge.
Now Jaide was the one who fell silent. Her lady-in-waiting bit her lip and lowered herself to the settee.
“We’ll figure it out. Together. You’re an immortal, or have you forgotten?” Jaide smirked. “You doubt your own power.”
“While you flatter me, let us not forget that yes, I am an immortal, but alas, here I remain powerless. Wasted potential, I believe is what my father described it as.” Tethys gazed out the window, watching the gardeners below clip freshly sprouted daffodils and tulips.
Sometimes she wished, more than anything, to live out the simple life of a city green thumb.
She wondered if, in another life, she’d have a cottage somewhere on the outskirts of the city.
Maybe she’d marry someone who loved her endlessly.
Maybe there’d be a couple of children, one with golden hair, muddying the freshly cleaned kitchen tiles.
It didn’t matter, though. That life was a daydream, farther than the edge of their world.
But still, she watched those gardeners as they rolled twine around the harvested blooms and carried on about their day.
A subtle cough from her closest friend brought her plummeting back to the frigid reality she was prisoner to.
“Let us discuss lighter things,” Jaide suggested, offering a refilled chalice to her. Tethys took the crystalline glass and drained it before finding a seat on the settee.
“And what lighter things shall we speak of?” Tethys asked, grinning as the wine numbed the dagger-like thoughts assaulting her mind.
“Well, for starters, you can enlighten me on what exactly is occurring between you and Lieutenant Lusty Eyes.” Jaide, beneath loose locks of midnight curls, threw her a pointed look. A slight curl at the corner of her thin lips made Tethys snort, and she reached for the wine decanter once more.
“I’m not certain I know what you’re talking about,” the goddess said, her cheeks heating at the memories of Araes’s lips against hers.
“The blush on your skin suggests otherwise,” Jaide snorted. Her eyes wrinkled with concern, but the lady-in-waiting blinked it away. That would be a conversation for another day.
“Jaide, don’t fret. It was just a one-time occurrence,” Tethys said reassuringly.
“Right...” Jaide curled her lip. Tethys took a sip from her glass, laughing off her friend’s apparent disapproval.
“Can you help with my dress?” Tethys asked, pivoting the conversation before it danced dangerously close to things she wasn’t yet sure she was ready to unleash into the world. Feelings she hadn’t yet explored or reflected upon.
“Absolutely. It’s in the wardrobe, right?” Jaide set her glass down with a clink and popped to her feet. Grinning, she unfurled the smooth, shimmering material from its hanger and helped Tethys into it.
The gown, Tethys decided, needed to make a bigger statement than the ball itself, and so she sent Arissa on a mission to seek out a dressmaker with a certain type of reputation.
The rarest of golden silk, woven and dyed in a southern, cliffside village, caressed the delicacies of her silhouette like a lover’s touch.
Golden clasps, adorned with citrine and pink quartz, rested on each shoulder like armor, securing the flowing material in place.
The neckline of delicate drapery plunged to just below her navel, leaving little to the imagination.
“My lady…” Jaide sucked in a breath as she took in the sheer feminine beauty of the dress.
“I know. Isn’t it perfect?” Tethys grinned.
“Well if you weren’t turning heads already, you absolutely will be now,” she said, clasping her hands together.
“If my siblings attend, I assure you, Jaide, they won’t be turned in my direction,” Tethys said, smoothing her skirts in place.
“I’ll help you get dressed, then we should summon Lieutenant Lusty Eyes.
I’m sure the time he’s left me unguarded has already driven him near insane,” Tethys said, a devilish grin spreading across her lips.
“I’m surprised he hasn’t splintered through the door already. But let’s enjoy a final drink first. Alone time with my dearest friend is a rarity these days,” Jaide replied, giggling and pouring them both a final round.