Chapter 12
Chapter Twelve
Orion’s laughter is in my ear as he leads me down the side stairs into the ball.
The ballroom itself is a huge dome of glass, with trees dotted all around the middle, and servants—mindless humans in glittering green dresses—walk around holding drinks and food.
An orchestra plays at the front, and to the side of it is a raised area where I can see the alpha sitting, overlooking the ball.
It’s all overwhelming, like a world I do not belong in at all.
No matter my heritage, I was never made for a world like this.
I prefer pubs and watching the more confident people dance and sing.
I was always the one who made sure everyone got home safe, not the one who people stared at. Like they are doing right now.
“I’m working on a plan,” Orion whispers to me, pulling my attention from how everyone is staring. “All you need to do is look pretty and smile. Be a distraction. We won’t be able to get it tonight—we’ll be able to get back in here alone if this goes right.”
“And what exactly is your plan?” I whisper back, tugging on his arm. “Don’t ask me to trust you, Orion.”
His eyes are taunting. “I won’t ask, because I know you already do. How was your ice cream?”
I can’t help but smile. “Well deserved, asshole.”
His laugh echoes around me, and I have to admit, I like the sound of him laughing. Goddammit, I like him, despite every bit of bad blood between us. “Dance with me.”
“I don’t know where you think I’ve been brought up, but dancing? No. I mean, I did a bit of dancing on top of bars on the rare occasion I got drunk…and in that one test, Blackfire literally had to take over to make me look even half decent,” I mutter.
“I know. I witnessed the entire dance, and I was jealous he got to hold you.” He was jealous? Orion offers me his hand. “Dance with me. I won’t let anyone see your two left feet.”
He doesn’t give me much of a choice, pulling me into the crowd of dancers and into his arms. And he’s right—the years of skill and practice he has make even me look like I can dance effortlessly.
But he keeps our dance slow, much slower than the people spinning around us, and it becomes easy to predict his movements.
His hand presses into my spine, pulling me against him.
I’m sure he can hear my heart racing, so I try to think of something to talk about instead.
“Are you going to introduce me to your friends here at some point? I enjoyed the tour around the grounds yesterday, but we didn’t speak to anyone.”
“Friends?” he scoffs. “Who would want to be friends with the heir that was never wanted? I don’t have friends here. I have enemies and those who would happily fuck me to try to get closer to the throne. But friends? Those don’t exist in this court. They never did.”
“Even when you were a child?” I whisper.
He spins me around and pulls me back, a gasp escaping me.
“I never had friends. I didn’t see the point when my brothers would scare them off or my parents would deem them useless for me.
I was taught to be a fighter, to train and dedicate myself to protecting my oldest brother when he took the alpha seat. ”
“That’s quite sad, Ori,” I whisper, using the nickname I haven’t called him in a long time, “to not grow up with anybody that you can trust. Friends outside of your family are important too.”
“Fifty years ago, I met the other heirs. I never said I didn’t have anyone to trust. Not anymore.” He leans in. “I trust them with you, which should tell you everything.”
The lack of friends until the heirs does explain some things about Orion.
I stare at him for a long moment. “Tell me about your brothers and what happened. Your mother seemed to blame you.” I can tell he is going to say no, and I stop him.
“You want me to trust you? Get to know you? This is part of that, and opening up is how we do this. Telling each other things that hurt is the point. Things that are real and raw, that only we know.”
He looks at me steadily. “You want to know about my brothers.”
“I’m trying to understand this entire court and, most importantly, you,” I admit.
He is quiet for a moment, and when he speaks, his voice is empty.
Yet, I can tell it hurts him to tell me any of this at all.
“Out all of my family members, my brothers were always with me. They enjoyed finding ways to taunt me and see if I would fail. I often did. They used to take me too far out on the edge of the mountains. We were all there. There’s a sport here where you can weave wings from branches and leaves and jump off the top of the mountain, flying down to the towns.
Heart-racing to watch and do, but it was a bad year for storms, and no one else was mad enough to go up.
But I was young and stupid, and I was making my wings as big as they possibly could be when my brothers came after me.
I thought they came because they cared and they didn’t want me to fall and get hurt…
but I was wrong. They were drunk, and they had placed bets on how fast I would die. ”
I am shocked and angry that his own family would treat him that way, but Orion doesn’t notice my reaction because he won’t make eye contact as he continues, “They taunted me that I was useless, the spare my mother didn’t like and cursed.
It was only then that I started to realise I was pulling from the ground itself—from the very mountain, and I wasn’t in control.
My power…” He grows even more distant, lost in thought.
“My brothers were winding me up, as brothers do, and I got angry. My power comes from emotion, and I pulled half the mountain range down on top of us. Four hundred and six people died that day, including my brothers. By some terrible miracle, I was uninjured. Even though I had caused it.”
He says nothing for a moment, just moves us through the dance, but now he watches me. “I’m so sorry, Ori. I’m sorry they ever spoke to you like that and cared so little. I’m sorry anyone feels that is your fault when it clearly was theirs.”
“People never forgot, and it ruined my mother. My father was distraught too, though he only cared that he still had an heir and instantly began training me for the position. My mother, on the other hand, was left with the one child she particularly did not want and never forgave for his birth.” He sighs. “You look like you might cry.”
“That’s not your fault. Your brothers were older than you, right? Your mother said they were ten years older than you,” I ask.
“Yes.”
“Then they should have known better, and it was an accident. You didn’t do it on purpose.” I touch his cheek with my hand, and he tilts his head into my hand. For a second, there is just us. A lonely, bullied heir and a woman who once thought she was human and weak and alone.
“Do you miss them?” I whisper.
“Every day.” He swings me around. “It must be like missing Tannith, perhaps. It’s not always blood that makes us siblings. It’s more than that.”
“True,” I whisper back. For some reason, there’s a warmth between us now. An acceptance. Something that wasn’t there before. “For the record, I would have been your friend. If we had met back then.”
He leans into me. “I would have been yours too, gladly, even if we drove each other mad.”
I think he might kiss me, but the announcer is shouting names, which stops the crowds from dancing.
“Heir Blackfire of the Crone Pack and Heir Reed of the Maiden Pack!” We both turn, seeing Blackfire and Reed walking down the steps, but it’s not them who get to us first. Zyran lands in front of me and punches Orion straight in the face.