Chapter 19 – Neve
Chapter 19
NEVE
M y wings burned as I whipped around, blocking an attack from Sayyida. She howled in frustration as she soared by me, and Sian, my team member for the day, appeared to take her on.
I barked out a laugh at her frustration, but my relief was short-lived as Filip came at me next.
“Head in the game, Princess!” Filip’s wooden sword struck mine. “No one is here to protect you!”
I parried a second attack before retaliating with one of my own. “Nor you!”
He scoffed, performed a twirl in the air, and attacked again. “As if I need it. I feel great today.”
Admittedly, he’d been doing well. The difference between Filip in the middle of his magical growth spurts and Filip at his full strength was striking.
Sweat dripped down my face as we fought and flew. Below, Vale watched, assessing the teams. Today it was me, Sian, and Marit, against Sayyida, Filip, and Saga .
It had surprised me when the princess arrived with Sayyida. Saga claimed to want to learn more about self-defense with her friends, and her brother wasn’t about to deny her.
Truth be told, the practice wouldn’t hurt Saga. I was already better than her and Marit.
“Argh!” Filip grunted as I soared above him, wings straining with the effort to move fast, flipped, and hit his honey-brown wings from my inverted position.
From below, Vale clapped. “Ingenious, Neve! Filip, you’re out! Saga, you too!”
My heart leapt. Of those on the other team, only Sayyida remained. I spun in midair to find her, taking a moment to marvel at how much more dexterous my wings had gotten. Daily physical training and swordplay had enhanced my reflexes, which Vale had already deemed very good. And though we’d only been partaking in aerial training for two days, my wings were benefiting from the exercises.
Soon, I wouldn’t fear flying high in the air. I’d ride the winds like I’d been born to do.
For now, though, I soared toward Sian as he took on Sayyida, a wide grin on his face. The young Nava captain was bright red, revealing how hard she was battling the experienced warrior.
She was so focused on Sian that Sayyida didn’t even see me coming. Heart pounding, I lifted my wooden sword and brought it down as she jerked out of the way, twisted, and stabbed me in the arm.
“ Ow ! ”
“Out, Neve!” Vale called.
“Thought you had me, huh?” Sayyida laughed. “Not likely, Neve—hey!”
Sian finished her off by zooming over and giving a swat to her thigh. “Never turn your back on your strongest opponent.”
“Yeah, Sayyida,” I teased.
“Shove it,” she shot back as she dropped to the ground and marched off.
Sian and I followed, clapping our hands together in victory as our feet hit the floor. “You flew well, Princess Neve.”
“Thanks. I feel a lot stronger.” I shifted my wings so that they pressed down my back, into a resting position, and winced. “More sore too.”
“Have you taken to the mineral baths?”
I swallowed. As a slave, I’d washed in a bathhouse with natural mineral pools, and I’d heard Frostveil boasted something similar, but I hadn’t gone to them. Not after what had happened back in the Vampire Kingdom. The day I’d killed a vampire.
The day I’d risked my life for a new beginning.
“I’m not partial to them,” I lied. For now, I’d stick with Vale’s vast tub.
“Perhaps a sauna, then? I find those always help when I’ve overtrained.”
“The one in the city?” The only one I’d seen was the fancy one in Lordling Lane.
“We have one inside the palace,” Saga chimed in from behind. I twisted to find her skipping toward us. “I want to go too, Neve, so let’s do it! Sayyida will come too.”
“I will not,” Sayyida shouted. She stood with Filip, and the pair looked to be plotting how best to beat me and Sian next time. Sore losers, both of them.
“You will,” Saga muttered as she closed in. “We should go now.”
“You’re already done training?” Sian smirked. “You didn’t last very long.”
He wasn’t wrong. It was still early in the morning, and we usually trained until lunch.
“We have the theater tonight.” Saga’s hands landed on her slender hips. “And I bet Neve has to pick up her dress still.”
I did. Or at least, I had to send someone to do so for me.
“So, you see, Sian, we have time to sauna, eat, and then go to the shop before we have to get ready for the show,” Saga continued.
Sian chuckled. “Very well. I suppose it takes females a long time to get ready.”
“Nearly as long as you.” Vale strode our way. “Don’t pretend you don’t try to look pretty at the theater, Sian.”
The males began to verbally spar, and Saga turned toward me, rolling her eyes. “What do you say to a girls’ morning? We’ve seen each other most days but always with Vale. I don’t blame you since you’re a newlywed, but, well, I’d like some time alone with you and the girls!”
A smile grew on my face at being included, considered part of the group. “I’d love that.”
I lay back on the wooden bench as Saga poured water over hot black rocks.
“Good?” Saga turned back to the bench and lay down, allowing her towel to fall.
Though the sauna was open to anyone in the palace, when the royal family wished to use it, the Clawsguard cleared it out. We were alone, Saga, Sayyida, and I.
I’d been naked around slaves at the Blood Court. Both in the baths and in our bedroom. There wasn’t much privacy there. But since arriving in Winter’s Realm, I’d either had my own room, or Vale had granted me privacy whenever I wished.
Too much privacy, I sometimes thought, though he was following the letter of our agreement. No way I could be upset about that, even if my body disagreed with me.
In the sauna, however, we were free to drop the towels and relax in the way nature intended.
“So, Neve, which gown are you going to wear tonight?” Saga asked, her blue eyes closed as she breathed deeply in and out.
“I’m not sure.” I wiggled my bare toes and stretched out on the hot wood.
During the days when there’d been no Courting Festival events, Saga’s personal dressmaker had come to the castle to take my measurements. I’d given her an idea of what I liked, the colors, cuts, and fabrics. She’d claimed she had a few gowns in the works that matched what I liked. With a few embellishments fit for a princess, she could have them done by today.
Vale had been ecstatic. Every time I wore crimson, Roar’s colors, he frowned, though he hadn’t actually said anything.
Truth be told, I was pleased to have a new wardrobe too.
“One of the royal blue gowns,” I said, weighing my options.
At least half of the dresses I’d ordered were royal blue, but I’d chosen gold and shades of white, the other Aaberg hues, as well as variations of purple and a lighter blue—my preference. Vale had given me far more flexibility than Roar, who had curated my closet.
I shrugged. “House colors.”
“ Gross ,” Sayyida sang. “Don’t be such a suck-up, Neve.”
Saga cracked her eyes open and pointed a finger at Sayyida. “As if you don’t wear Virtoris blue and black every chance you get! Don’t be hard on Neve for trying to get in my parents’ good graces. I think royal blue will look very nice on you, Neve.”
“I can’t help it if Virtoris blue goes with my eyes,” Sayyida mumbled.
“You sound like Sian.” I laughed when Sayyida scowled at the mention of the male who’d beaten her. “Oh, get over it, Sayyida. Sian is a great warrior. And you can’t win every time.”
Sayyida sat up. “I beat my brother every time.”
“When there’s no magic involved,” Saga corrected .
“But at swords. Or any other weapon.”
“Well, perhaps one day you’ll beat Sian too.” I offered a rowan branch. “If he keeps working with you, you’ll be more likely to do so.”
Sayyida cocked her head. “You’re right.” She paused. “You’re not the middle child, are you?”
My eyebrows knitted together. “What?”
“Well, you’re good at negotiating and that makes me think of a lot of middle children I know.”
Saga laughed. “You’re a middle child, Sayyida. And you’re not very good at negotiating, just fighting to get your own way.”
“ Anyway ,” Sayyida said loudly, ignoring the princess. “Then I realized that I know so little about your family. Aside from your father, Fates rest his soul. Do you have siblings?”
I swallowed down the hot air. The matter of my family, or lack thereof, was coming up more often. I supposed it was only natural. People were curious about me, the female who had been engaged to a warden and then wed a prince. Although I should have taken it as a sign that people were trying to get to know me, it always made my heart ache.
Once, I’d had a family. Once, someone had known my true name—not the one my slave master, Lord Aldéric, had given me. Once, I’d been loved and belonged to others.
A sob ripped out of me.
An alarmed expression crossed Saga’s face. “Neve? What’s wrong? ”
I forced down the lump in my throat and gave myself a shake, determined to rid my body of the sorrow. Of the cold somehow seeping into me despite being in a hot, dry sauna. “Nothing. It’s nothing.”
“Afterworld burn me. It’s not nothing.” Sayyida shifted to sit up and her black curls cascaded down her back. “What did I say?”
She looked so earnest, so like she cared, that I wanted to tell her everything. The actual truth.
It wasn’t the first time I’d considered this. Since Saga had learned who I was, the idea had drifted in and out of my mind, fleeting but present.
“She won’t say anything,” Saga whispered, which only made Sayyida’s stormy gray-blue eyes widen.
She picked up her towel, wrapped it around her, and came closer. “I won’t say a thing. Saga knows I will take secrets to the afterworld.”
Sayyida might be a sore loser and rowdy, but she’d always shown she was a true friend.
Perhaps telling Sayyida was smart. She had access to many ships, knew the crews, and when and where they were sailing. One day, when there wasn’t so much attention on me and Vale, perhaps Sayyida would help me stow away on one. Then I could put distance between me and the Vampire Kingdom, and Vale would be free to find and wed his soulmate.
Something in my chest pinched. I curled inward at the pain but forced myself to straighten out. As much as I didn’t like the idea of leaving Vale, we had a deal. And I couldn’t force him to continue to be with me when he wanted to find his soulmate.
“I’m here,” Saga whispered and placed her hand on mine. “If you want to tell, I’m here.”
I took her hand and met Sayyida’s eye. “There’s lots about me that you don’t know.”
Sayyida shrugged. “Isn’t that the same with everyone?”
“Not to this degree.” I took a deep breath and told her everything.
Ignoring one of the Clawsguard’s assurances that ‘he’d get it,’ Sayyida opened the door to the dressmaker’s shop for Saga and me, her eyes still wide with wonder. They’d looked that way since I’d told her my story. Who I really was and what I needed to do.
Things were still sinking in for her, which I found understandable. I often couldn’t believe my own circumstances, and I’d lived through every minute of them.
“Guards, remain out here,” Saga instructed. “One to the back door. We’ll be fine inside the shop.”
I swallowed. The only reason Vale had let me leave the palace grounds without him and venture into Avaldenn with Saga and Sayyida was because his sister promised to take six Clawsguards. Vale would want the soldiers inside the dress shop with us, but if Saga thought they were fine out here, they probably were. It was unlikely that a vampire assassin could have already made it all the way to Avaldenn from the Vampire Kingdom. The Blood would have only gotten the news that I’d killed Gervais a day ago. Perhaps two days, if the winds had been favorable.
We’re fine. Completely fine.
For a couple more days, at least.
The inside of the dressmaker’s shop smelled like spiced tea and snow lily. My throat tightened because when I smelled snow lily, I thought of Clemencia.
Was she well? Was Anna? Caelo? We hadn’t received word of their well-being from Lord Riis. I made a note to pull the Lord of Tongues aside at the theater and ask him.
“Look at this!” Saga ran her hand over a dress displayed on a mannequin near the front. “So stunning!”
Sayyida shrugged, but I agreed with the princess. With exquisite beadwork on the bodice and a flowing chiffon skirt that shimmered in the midday light, the dusty pink gown was fit for a queen.
“You should try it on, Saga,” I encouraged. “It nearly matches your hair.”
“Perhaps she would make me one that’s an exact match.” Saga cocked her head. “I?—”
“Thought we heard you!” Two familiar figures appeared from deeper in the shop. A slim nymph followed, her race obvious by her rounded ears, lack of wings, and vivid blue hair, from which small white flowers grew.
Baenna and Eireann Balik smiled twin smiles, and for the first time, they reminded me of Filip and Sian, rather than the other way around. I had seen little of the Balik ladies since I wed Vale but had seen much of the Balik brothers.
Saga faked a gasp. “I can’t believe you two are here! Have you already bought up the shop?”
“Like you don’t have bespoke items on hold.” Baenna rolled her eyes playfully at the princess. “But yes, Father said we could get whatever we wanted, so we’re stocking up. The southlands don’t have the same quality of dressmakers. Or assistants.” Baenna shot the nymph a grin, and the female blushed prettily before turning her attention to us and curtsying.
“Welcome, Princess Saga, Lady Sayyida.” The nymph turned to me. “I’m afraid we have not met?”
“Neve,” I said.
“ Princess Neve.” Saga patted my arm. “You’ll get used to it.” She looked at the dressmaker. “Princess Neve recently wed my brother, Prince Vale.”
The nymph’s eyes went wide. “Congratulations on your recent marriage, Princess Neve.” She curtsied again, dipping and rising with a smoothness that few managed. “My mistress is in the back, putting the finishing touches on the gowns you ordered. I’ll tell her you’re here. Feel free to look around while we get your orders ready for you to try on.”
She disappeared to the back of the shop, and we spread out. I lingered near the front of the lovely shop, taking my time to examine the stitching and running my fingers over the varied material the dressmaker used. To my delight, I found no flaws. Saga had chosen an excellent dressmaker .
I’d found at least two more dresses I wished to add to my order—plainer ones to wear day to day, when the door to the shop opened, letting in a chill.
I shivered, hoping the new customer would close the door quickly.
“They’ll let anyone in here these days, won’t they?” Drawled a voice I recognized.
I heaved a sigh and turned, already knowing who I’d find.
Since the wedding, I’d done well in avoiding Calpurnia Vagle and her uppity friends—Hadia and Adila—both of House Ithamai, the noble house of the east. I’d only seen the trio in the crowds the day King Magnus paired Sayyida and Marit with the jarls. Seen but not spoken to them. My luck had run out.
“Hello, ladies,” I said as if Calpurnia hadn’t been talking about me. “Dress shopping today too?”
Adila scoffed and her snow-white wings went rigid. “Shopping? We only order bespoke.”
“That’s nice,” I said, well beyond caring. No matter what I did, these three were set on disliking me. I wouldn’t try to change their minds when, in the grand scheme of things, they mattered very little.
Hadia eyed the plain dress I’d been examining. “You’re not going to buy that, are you? A princess, even one who used to be a whore, should dress better.”
The insult ran off me like water as my eyes dipped down to her dress. The dark purple material was rich in color and the embroidery of a set of scales—representing the justice their mother was so fond of—had been done well enough. But there were flaws. Flaws in the stitching, in the cut, in the way the dress hung off Hadia’s body.
“A daughter of the Warden of the East could dress better too,” I remarked. “Those stitches are coming out.” I pointed to the hem of her dress. “And the cut, well, if this dress is bespoke, I’d consider getting it altered again to fit properly.”
Hadia’s cheeks reddened. “You wouldn’t recognize quality if it hit you in the face.”
“Dressmaking is one thing I’m sure of.” I lifted my chin. “Another is that it’s, perhaps, not the best idea to insult someone of a more elevated title than you. Princess is higher than lady, correct?”
The ladies, Vagle and Ithamai, exchanged furious glances but said nothing.
“That’s what I thought.” I smirked.
Calpurnia opened her mouth, probably to retaliate, when the dressmaker’s assistant appeared. “Princess, I have a room set up for you so you can try on the dresses you ordered.”
“Thank you,” I said before sparing the ladies one more glance. “Have the day you deserve.”
The trio gasped, but I’d already turned my back on them to follow the nymph with a wicked smile on my face.