Chapter 11
Chapter
Eleven
A s soon as Mathen opened the door and assisted me down, I spotted Samuel, Taima, and Coralene walking down the street towards the entrance.
I turned to Andrei. “Let me enter with the other dancers. It will be more diplomatic. I don't want gossip about my date.”
Andrei paused, looked down his nose at me. “Another man might think his lover ashamed of him.”
I was coming to understand his fresty—frosty testy—tone. “I'm not ashamed of you, but you understand I want to do this on my own. No politics involved.”
“Oh, let the mortal enter the party with her friends, Drei,” Constin said. “Her reasons have merit. You can stick a shiny keep away sign on her head later. She’s already wearing no trespassing colors.”
But Andrei remained tense. “It isn't that. You know who’s among the guests tonight.”
“My eyes will be on her at all times, Lord,” Mathen said quietly, an edge in his voice that was not for Andrei, of course, but for anyone who might be a threat to me.
Andrei sighed. He bent and placed a chaste kiss on my lips. “Go then, before I change my mind.”
The conversation took a bare minute, but it was almost a minute too long. I also hadn't wanted my friends to see who I stood next to.
I darted forward, putting enough plausible space between us before I gained their attention. Coralene's gaze flicked to me first, then beyond, and I knew she wasn't fooled. Especially when she narrowed her eyes, which I ignored.
I slid my arm through Samuel's.
“Baby,” he drawled. “You look delicious. That jewel green does things for your skin tone. I thought you were poor.”
I grinned at him. “I am. The dress was a. . .loan. And you look more Fae than Coralene in that outfit. I want the name of who styled you. Taima, that dress, sweet baby Jesus. Are you going to start a riot tonight?”
Taima winked at me. It was a short gold dress, and she’d styled her red hair in loose waves over her shoulder, makeup a smokey eye and nude glossy lip. She’d also contoured, a skill I’d never master. “I’m going to start something.”
I laughed. “Game on.”
“Are we done with the adolescent human greeting rituals?” Coralene asked. “I would like to enter before the occasion is over. Some of us have yet to make significant connections.”
I glared at her back as she swept towards the entrance.
Vargas took the assembled dancers aside in a small receiving room before we were led to the main ballroom. We glittered, polished to within an inch of perfection. I owed Andrei. My little black dress would have relegated me to a wall immediately.
“Remember why you're here,” she said. “Mingle, use the scripts we gave you when answering questions—whatever you do, don't lie—and in general try not to sound like buffoons. Please, by the Darkness, no political discussions. Just. . .don't. Talk less, smile more. Taima. . .look reserved and mysterious. If you gain a patron, you'll need to request dental work.”
I winced, but Taima's expression was resigned.
“Hasannah, why are you not in heels? Your legs are too. . .short for flats, you need the lengthening effect.” She smiled at me, or I assumed that's what she thought she was doing. “I brought spares. I know you, my doves. And Samuel, bony is not attractive. Make sure you eat visibly tonight, the Cassanians have this taboo about starving athletes and no one wants to be accused of that. Coralene?—”
“Yes?” Coralene said, voice chilly.
The mistress eyed her. “Try not to look like you're about to start a House feud.”
“At least the evening wouldn't be boring.”
Vargas turned her back on the Fae female. “And if I were you, doves, I'd avoid being talked into anyone's bed or coach tonight, no matter what pretty promises they spin. It's too soon, and they're still testing you to see how stupid you are. Disappoint them. It will increase your value in the long run.”
She gave us a gimlet look. “Since the others are not here, I’ll tell you what the students suspect but we're not allowed to confirm. If you don't royally fuck up tonight and embarrass us, you more or less have a place in at least the corps—as long as your audition is as we expect from observing you the last several weeks. Congratulations are premature. . .but congrats, doves.”
We gave a muted cheer and began to leave for the ballroom.
“If someone asks you to dance, dance,” Mistress called after us. “If someone requests an impromptu performance, it's fine to oblige that too. This is why we had you bring your slippers.”
I'd grabbed mine as an afterthought and stuffed them in the satin reticule hanging off my wrist.
“You're thick, Samuel's scrawny, and I have bad teeth,” Taima said, leaning on me as we walked. “Oh, and Cora's psycho. Nice to hear what they really think of us.”
I shrugged, unbothered. My looks were the least of my concerns, though Andrei had this obsession with feeding me, and I'd gained five pounds in as few days. Most of it water from the carb load, hopefully.
I pursed my lips. Still. “I need to trim down again.”
I'd been neglecting my strength training in favor of learning the medium difficulty Fae leaps and didn't want to risk my toes and ankles over something as silly as an increase in body weight without corresponding muscle tone. It was faster to lose the extra padding.
A week of protein and dark vegetables should do it. No pasta. Andrei consumed pasta and dark bread like it was his religion. I was a human female, and my hormones preferred me plump and ready for baby making. To those hormones, dance was an amusing hobby and whenever there was a lapse in my training routine, they perked up thinking it was time to start adding padding because I must be ready to have that baby now.
Taima bumped my shoulder. “You know how the Fae feel about restrictive eating. Just don't tell anyone. They can't turn a blind eye if you open your mouth.”
“I'll visibly load up my plate while we're here and avoid the snack table tomorrow.”
“Yeah, odd they started catering everyone's food in the middle of the season like that. I wonder why.”
Oh, I absolutely wondered why. But I kept my sarcasm internal. “Who knows? Okay, deep breath. Showtime.”
We stepped into the ballroom.
I didn't see Andrei among the throng of guests, but he'd be watching. Constin and Mathen too.
“Some of the Cassanians are eyeing us like prime rib,” Samuel whispered.
Perhaps the High Lord had a legitimate reason for concern other than his fussiness.
“They know why we’re here,” I said, a little worried for my friends.
“A few seem like genuine ballet fans,” Taima said, sounding too dubious to believe her own words.
Samuel sniffed. “Most of them are bored, wealthy, powerful, and want their pick of human toys to play with.” He grinned. “Lucky for them, I’m pretty and willing and plan on making a name for myself.”
“Don’t let them think you’re desperate,” Cora said, voice pitched low. “Think of this ballroom as quicksand, and they’re the predators waiting for you to take the first wrong step.”
Not for the first time, I questioned the dark side of this program.
What choices would I have had if I'd come here alone tonight, still near starving and clinging to hope? I might not like admitting that Andrei had saved me—but in a way, he had. I wouldn't have to accept a shady offer for the sake of survival anymore.
“This wouldn’t be an issue if the Cassanians paid their dancers and athletes salaries rather than selling them to patrons,” I said. “It’s a weird system.”
Coralene shrugged. “The patrons finance you, you dance for the company, the company rakes in money and pays dividends to the patrons. . .it works.”
“It’s convoluted.” I lifted a hand. “Wait, I got this one. Salaries are boring. Why pay people when you can make a chess game out of it instead?”
Cora sipped her wine, and smiled.
There was an informal buffet rather than a sit down dinner. Samuel and I made a point of wandering with overflowing plates looking happy and enthusiastically well-fed before we ditched them.
A handsome Fae man with a lazy smile sidled up and claimed Samuel for a partnered dance, but I must have had that keep away sign on me Constin had referenced—or it was the dress.
I was good with that.
I sipped on a glass of fruit infused water until the music changed to a selection of modern orchestral Cassanian dance club hits.
Then I hit the dance floor.
Samuel passed by with his partner, throwing a wink in my direction that said he planned to ignore all good advice as they headed out of the ballroom.
I smiled, and let the music take me. At a pause, Coralene tossed me the slippers I'd set aside and the crowd stepped back.
“Dance of the Night Blooming Flower,” she said. “The abbreviated version.”
I narrowed my eyes as she gave me a sly smile. The abbreviated version was more challenging and also included a series of leaps and turns technically only possible if you were Fae, with an affinity.
Little did she know, her people were full of manure. I'd become competent in the abbreviated version so I’d have showcase options.
I'd planned on keeping my cards close to my chest, but the showcase was coming up. I could give them an early taste.
We danced, and when it came time for the affinity powered leaps where Coralene would rightfully expect me to demur to the human version. . .
I leaped, pulling on the satin in my blood that rose whenever I called it.
Not full strength, but enough to meet her at just a hair beneath her own innate skill.
The final note faded and we came to a standstill, hands arched in the air.