20. Chapter 20
20
Chapter 20
Violet
Calum spent the night and woke me up before he left. It was always before daylight before anyone else would be up.
I usually had no problem going back to sleep, but I couldn’t today. I lay there for a few hours tossing and turning, dreading what the day entailed. Having to put on a facade of the meek, less than Violet that I was supposed to be.
Not the one that was fucking the groom.
Please tell me you’ll look better .
I couldn’t get her out of my mind. I knew what she wanted. I knew she wanted me to look more like someone she would be out with. A female from the Night Realm. Someone worthy of being with her.
At first, I felt pity for her being forced to marry someone that loved another. Sitting in my room alone for weeks after Calum left to come to the Night Realm allowed my mind to run wild with thoughts. I had thought about her more than I’d like to admit. I thought about how she was probably trying everything she could to make Calum fall for her. How she probably went to bed every night wondering why she wasn’t enough for him. Or why she couldn’t have been betrothed to someone who loved her.
Then after arriving at the Night Realm and finding out what happened, the pity disappeared and was replaced with jealousy. Even if the attention she was getting was just a show. But to know she’d felt his lips, his touch. I felt nothing but hate towards her. And on top of it, she was a bitch. So the hatred seemed to run deeper.
I didn’t have many clothing options to wear today. I had my dresses I brought with me and the dresses I got with Bronwen, which were far too fancy for daytime shopping. My only other options were Bronwen’s outfits I had borrowed and worn.
Part of me wanted to just put on one of my dresses, tie my hair back in a ribbon, and throw on a pair of slippers, which was definitely what Nathara wouldn’t want, but I knew I should try to blend in and draw less attention to myself by looking like I belonged here.
After contemplating my options for far too long, I went with the outfit I wore on my first day in the city.
We took two carriages to the city. Lilian and Celine said they had some things they needed to do after shopping while Nathara wanted to return to the castle immediately. She said she wanted to be back with Calum as soon as she could.
When it came time to board the carriages, I debated which carriage would be the lesser of two evils.
Celine seemed like the better choice. The evil I knew. But throwing Lilian in the mix just gave me a bad feeling.
Nathara, whom I should consider my biggest enemy, didn’t scare me as much. She was horrid, but I had what she wanted so badly, which made me feel superior, even if she didn’t know it.
“I like your necklace,” I said, gesturing to the small pendant around Nathara’s neck. It was a small gray stone set in gold that hung right above her breast line. We had ridden in silence the majority of the time, but I could feel her staring at me.
I knew leaving her alone with her thoughts could be far worse than making small talk with her about something I didn’t even care about.
“It was a gift from Celine,” she said as she grabbed the pendant between her fingers. “She had it sent right after her husband’s death as sort of a start to the engagement.”
Of course she had this engagement in motion the moment she saw the opportunity.
“That’s nice of her,” I said as I gritted my teeth.
The bridal shop was right above the shop where Bronwen got her custom dresses. I hadn’t even noticed there was a second floor in the building until now. We went up a small staircase that was tucked in the back right corner of the shop that had nothing to indicate we were going to a separate part of the seamstress’s shop.
On the left wall of the second floor were floor-to-ceiling mirrors and a small podium for the bride-to-be to stand on to get a full view of the dress. Small, cushioned chairs sat in a half circle around the podium so the bride’s entourage could sit and gawk at the bride as she showed off the dress.
Bridal gowns lined the wall opposite of the staircase. The room was busting at the seams with white dresses. Probably because most ladies of the Night Realm chose to wear dark colors, even on their wedding days.
Dresses also lined the right wall, but there was also a small opening that seemed to lead to a separate room.
I followed Nathara to the podium and sunk deep into my chair, wishing it would swallow me whole.
Other than the glances Celine gave me every now and then, just to rub it in, they had all but forgotten I was even with them.
I blocked out their voices as soon as Nathara brought up picking out lingerie for her wedding night.
I kept glancing at the doorway that was tucked between two rods which were overflowing with dresses. I felt like my eyes were playing tricks on me because I thought I could see a dress similar to the one I almost put on this morning, which was tan. I knew I had to be mistaken because there was no way a Night Realm seamstress would make a dress like that, let alone have it in her shop to sell.
The curiosity at what could be in that room was eating me alive. I quietly got up from my chair and walked towards the door. No one even looked my way as they were too concerned with watching Nathara twirl in a sparkly ball gown-style dress with a sweetheart neckline.
I stopped as soon as I stepped through the doorway to take in the sight before me.
To the left of the doorway were dresses made of shades of deep greens, reds, and browns which then flowed into a section of pastels and florals, to various hues of blues.
As my gaze continued around the room going from blues to reds and yellows. I understood why this floor wasn’t on display. These dresses weren’t like the Night Realm dresses that filled the room below. They weren’t Night Realm dresses at all.
These dresses represented each of the other realms.
To see all of the realms coming together, even in something as simple as the dresses in a room, was enchanting. Each section was so different and yet they complemented the others so beautifully.
I started on the left side, which seemed to be dresses inspired by Forest Realm fashion, and made my way around.
I stopped at the Sun Realm dresses because I had never seen a dress like the ones before me.
Even though I was never allowed at Celine’s parties and balls, I would sometimes sneak into them and hide between the tall curtains, just to observe the different fae in attendance.
While most of the time, it was only fae from our realm, some of the bigger celebrations brought in guests from the outside.
I had seen dresses from every other realm except for the Sun Realm. When the Sun Realm fell and the fae fled to other realms, they assimilated and took on the persona of a fae from that realm. They left behind any trace of their old lives, including the fashion.
It was such a pity, as there was a certain fire in these designs that I didn’t see in the other dresses.
Bright, bold colors with sleeveless tops and high slits on the leg. Some were covered in orange and yellow jewels that looked like flames of a fire when the light hit them. I knew the fae who wore dresses like these had personalities that fit the fashion.
Kind of like Bron—
“Calum already can’t keep his hands off of me. Just imagine how he will be after he sees me in this dress!” Nathara’s voice echoed into the room I was in, and I shot my eyes to the doorway to see what she had chosen.
“Be careful, Vi, your face looks like you could kill her. She might begin to suspect something.”
I jumped at her voice, not realizing anyone was behind me, as I was lost in the details of the dresses before me.
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
Bronwen was the last person I expected to run into while shopping with this forced company. Well, Adar would be the very last, but she was a close second.
“I’m just,” she paused as she ran her fingers down the fabric of a Mountain Realm dress before turning up her nose at it, “shopping.”
I gave her a knowing look. It was no coincidence that she just happened to be here while I was here . . . without protection .
A few guards came with us, but I know who they were here for, and who would be the last fae they’d protect if danger came near.
“Did you really think he would let you come alone?” she asked as she walked past me to pick up an Ocean Realm dress.
“Why does he care, Bronwen?” She didn’t have to say his name for me to know who she was talking about.
“Ask him,” she mumbled as she held the dress to her body and looked down at herself.
Yeah. That’s not happening.
After the initial shock of seeing her faded I thought about her words.
She might begin to suspect something .
That . . . that bastard said he wouldn’t tell anyone.
I wanted to say something to her. But I couldn’t with the three in the next room. Even though they were probably too focused on Nathara picking her dress, they could still hear us if they wanted to.
“Would you like to return to the castle with me? I’m sure your company wouldn’t mind.”
I looked back at the doorway to see Celine and Lilian standing around Nathara as the seamstress placed a veil on her head.
I simply nodded in response.
“He told you about me and Calum?” I asked as I crossed my arms. We were already out of the city and riding down the long path that took us back to the castle when I finally interrupted Bronwen’s nonstop talking about how ugly Nathara’s dress was.
She scrunched her eyebrows at my question before a look of horror came across her face. “No. But you just did.”
“But you said—”
Bronwen cut me off. “I said that more as a joke.” She let out a sigh. “But I’m not surprised.”
“What do you mean?”
“Imagine having someone that looks like you locked away in your home, with no contact with the outside world, just available at your beck and call. I don’t know of a male who wouldn’t jump on you and keep you all to themselves.”
“It’s not like that,” I said, taken aback by her words.
“Isn’t it though?” She leaned forward. “Have you been given the chance to be with another? To even see what else is out there? You don’t have to answer because I already know.”
“He loves me.”
“I’m sure he tells you that.”
Bronwen’s words hurt me. I knew I didn’t have to explain our relationship to anyone, but she was the only friend I had ever made.
I didn’t know what to say after she said that because one thing I had learned was that Bronwen had her opinions, and no one could change them.