Chapter Five
‘Are you sure you’re alright, Eira? You seemed utterly terrified when Diarmid brought up hand-rearing his Olca calf,’ Lillienne asks softly from my side as we stand by the wall in the great hall, watching the guests as they weave in and out amongst themselves, dancing in a kaleidoscope of deep colour.
As the night has fallen, the hall is set alight with strings of lanterns that intersect above our heads, and the heavy drinking has ensued, tankards and glasses clinking regularly amongst the din of hearty chatter.
I scan the room for any sign of smoke, unable to escape the coiling dread in my gut.
He was in that room. I was so sure of it.
His cold, metallic breath twisting with mine. The echo of his words in the void of the chapel. His hands on mine as he diminished my fire into nothing. It all felt so real, and yet, Lillienne didn’t experience what I did. And she’s stared at me like I’m a mad woman the whole day since.
‘I didn’t want to say it in front of the stable manager,’ I say without looking at to her. ‘He seems like he’d spook easily.’
‘You can say that again.’ Lillienne takes her glass of sparkling wine to her lips and takes a small sip. ‘I have never seen someone physically vibrate with social anxiety. Poor boy.’
We both look to the stableman engaged in what looks to be the most painful conversation known to man, with the woman monitoring the refreshments table. Her face contorted with confusion as he appears to question her of something.
‘Don’t you think it a little odd he was in attendance of your initiation ceremony?’ Lillienne continues. ‘I hardly think he’s been plucked from a long line of nobleman to work in the stables, no matter how passionate about it he is.’
Her words barely register, the memory of the Umbrian king distorting in my vision, twisting into a nightmarish blur of teeth and smoke with every blink. I can’t keep it in anymore, the longer it festers inside me, the closer I become to giving into the fear of it.
‘We weren’t alone in that room,’ I blurt, and Lillienne grabs my arm with her free hand, eyes wide, knowing.
‘You don’t mean to say that—’
‘He was there with us. I mean, I think only I could see him. He felt so real and yet – he was like a living nightmare.’ I shudder at the thought of his teeth bared in that menacing grin, at the danger of it.
‘It was like you were off in a trance, a sort of light daydream. It didn’t seem as though you were particularly frightened until you let out that gods-awful scream.’
Lillienne’s tugs on my arm and turns our backs to the crowd, I dip my head down to hers.
‘What did he want with you? Are we truly in danger here?’ she whispers, her voice strained. I tell her exactly what the King of Umbra told me. He only wished to look.
‘What the fuck, Eira? How did he even get through the Divide? Those energy-fields were formed with the most concentrated form of magic possible.’ She pauses, thinking. ‘How can we be sure of anything we know about him, if he was capable of tricking you into thinking he was in that room?’
That is what truly scares me cold. The fact that we have no idea how this man’s powers work, that we can only speculate what the King of Umbra is capable of. I have never heard of a magic as unpredictable and ungodly as the magic he displayed in that room.
‘I saw him at the initiation ceremony this morning too, and even then, the whole Cathedral was oblivious to him. The fact that we can’t even be sure whether he’s actually here or not puts us at such a massive risk.
’ I shake my head, already feeling defeated by the enigma of him.
‘How do we defend ourselves from a phantom stranger capable of making us see and feel things that aren’t even there?
The palace guards are practically useless at anything other than intimidation, and I doubt that’d work against the King of Umbra. ’
I grab the glass from her hand and down the half a glass of wine with two desperate gulps. My best friend lets out a breathy laugh. ‘Careful, girl, you’ll want to keep your wits about you if you want to stand a chance against the shadow-man.’
I give her a friendly nudge, unsure whether I appreciate the sudden shift into witty remarks or whether it feels wrong considering the weight of the situation. The Umbrian king no longer feels like something to joke about. Not after he snuffed the flames from my hands.
‘Or you could just use your new formidable flames against him, that could work.’ She raises her hands up in defence, smirking.
‘Oh yes, that’s right,’ I give in and tease. ‘I forgot fire is the perfect weapon against beings of hallucination.’
I set the glass down on the windowsill, and look at the reflection in the glass, meeting the eye of my own ghostlike self. I try to lift the corners of my lips into an earnest smile, in an attempt to convince myself that I am not shitting bricks at the thought of him.
‘I think we need to consider our options for defence against him.’ I bring the mood back down. ‘However, I don’t see how that’s possible until we can figure out more about the way his magic works, the laws it abides to.’ I sigh. ‘Because his power is definitely not approved by the gods.’
My eyes track movement behind my ghost counterpart, and fear bubbles up in me once again. Surely, he has had enough of tormenting me for one day. I shiver, knowing that if the Umbrian king is incapable of anything, it will be knowing when to relent.
I snap my head around, my body quickly following suit, causing my skirts to skim the skin of my ankles.
And I see, not the devilish features of the Umbrian king, but the soft smile of a man a little older than me, his skin rosy with warmth and his dark hair wild with the most beautiful curls I have ever seen on a man.
It’s almost jarring to see such gentleness on a male canvas, as though a man is not deserving of such delicate beauty, that such graceful features should be reserved only for the most striking of women.
‘Forgive me, Your Grace, for it was not my intention to startle you,’ his voice is like an ancient melody dancing in the air, sweet and smooth as honey. I flush at his chocolate eyes on mine.
‘Forgive me, kind stranger, for it was not my intention to find you so…’ I can’t help myself.
I let my gaze dip down his body and back to his handsomely full lips.
‘Startling.’ His deep blue coat is tailored perfectly to his frame and from the way his undershirt clings to his chest, I can tell that under it all he is built of pure, toned muscle.
He breathes a laugh, his mouth slightly crooked with the action of smiling, a beautifully distinct feature that sends me reeling further.
‘I came only to offer you a dance, that is, if you would find the idea of dancing with such a startling man, agreeable.’
I smirk. ‘I do believe I could be persuaded. However, these ghastly shoes make anything other than standing like a statue rather painful. I do not wish to embarrass you by grimacing in every moment of your fine company.’ I lift my skirts up, revealing the height of the ridiculous heels.
The handsome man looks around him as though to ensure there is no one eavesdropping on our conversation before leaning in towards me, the air turning fragrant with cinnamon and burned orange as his body lingers closer to mine. I find myself leaning in too.
‘I do believe your skirts might just be long enough for a disregard of such a foolish choice of footwear to go completely unnoticed by the members of your court.’ His eyes crease with the rise of his cheeks as his smile grows. ‘It will be our secret.’
By the Relic. Whoever this man is, I would like to personally thank his mother for the creation of such a magnificent specimen. I try not to let my delight in his flirtatious tone show on my face, and instead, I lift my brows up in feigned suspicion.
‘And I am to share such a scandalous act with a nameless stranger? Surely, I am to expect you to think more highly of me, am I not?’
‘Would you be more likely to trust a stranger, if they were to share with you their name, Your Grace?’ he counters. And I give a simple nod.
‘Well then.’ He offers me his hand and dips his head into a slight bow. ‘Allow me to formally introduce myself as Ansel Reyer, Duke of Algran.’
A duke. I might melt directly into the floor below me. Of course he’s a duke. I place my fingers lightly in his upturned palm, and warmth shoots right up my arm from the heat of his smoothed skin.
Before I can even open my mouth to speak, Lillienne clears her throat from the left of me.
The Duke and I turn our attention to her, suddenly aware that she has been there for the duration of our interaction, watching with unease.
Her eyes flit between me and the handsome duke, and she gives an awkward toothy grin that commands the rest of her face into an expression close to a wince.
‘Don’t mind me, you guys continue to do...’ Her hand swishes back and forth in the air between us. ‘…whatever it is that you guys are doing.’ I can’t help but laugh as she slowly backs away.
‘I’ll just be over here with… uh…’ She looks around her frantically and spots the stable manager standing nervously next to the wine table, now dithering over two wines of differing colour, the woman manning the table leaving him to it.
‘Diarmid. I’ll be with Mr Erskine. Have fun, or, whatever.’
She gives us one last gawk over her shoulder, before she reaches the stable manager, who delights in her presence, probably thinking she might help him pick the correct wine.
I shake my head with stifled laughter.
‘Friend of yours?’ Ansel chuckles, unfazed.
‘For my sins,’ I reply, noticing my hand still in his.
‘Well then, Your Grace,’ he says, taking a step backwards, giving me a gentle tug. ‘Let us both repent on the dancefloor.’