LIII | TEA TIME
So now, all Celvene could do was stare at her tea, try not to think about Aleksandr, or Ziel Rui's information, or the ball, or anything else, and await Melantha's return.
Oriel had tried to press information out of her a couple times, but they'd quickly given up when they realized Celvene didn't want to talk about it.
Well, it wasn't that she didn't want to, per se.
But the mere thought almost sent her into a spiral.
Speaking it aloud would be worse, she imagined.
She could reserve it for the moment that mattered, and not think about it once until then.
Maybe it was stupid. It made her feel better, though.
Oriel stirred their tea with a spoon, having dropped a sugar cube in moments before. Their movements were slow and methodical. Relaxed. Celvene wondered how they could possibly feel relaxed.
"Your... friend," they finally said. "Melantha."
"What about her?" Celvene croaked out.
"Is she—"
A soft knock interrupted them. Oriel went silent. Celvene shot from her seat.
Aleksandr? Her first thought. Then, more realistically, she imagined it was Melantha.
She crossed the room and cracked the door open.
She still wore her cloaking pendant, so someone recognizing her wasn't an issue.
When she made eye contact with the person on the other side—a taller, tanned, green-eyed brunette—she instinctively froze, then glanced over her shoulder, inching the door open a tad more.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the girl extend a hand.
With a slight nod from Oriel, Celvene knew this was Melantha. So she accepted the soldier's hand, interlocking fingers with her, and led her to her seat.
"How was your meeting with Ziel Rui?" Melantha asked.
Celvene closed the door and locked it, following Melantha's actions as they both unlooped their pendants. Part of her waited for Oriel to respond, but they simply took a long sip of tea, staring at the table.
"It was... fine," she answered.
"Just fine?" Melantha repeated, cocking an eyebrow. When Celvene sat down again, resting her hands on the table, Melantha wrapped both her hands around one of Celvene's. "Are you sure?"
Celvene couldn't lie—she liked Melantha's touch. She had as a child, and she still did now. How far that touch could extend...
She swallowed. "I have what I need to take down your father, so... yes."
Melantha took a moment before she inhaled and nodded. Then, she turned to Oriel and smiled. "So... Oriel, right? Celvene, can we get a proper introduction?"
"What?" Celvene asked. They both knew each other's names. What else did they need? "Uh, Oriel, this is Melantha, my... friend. Melantha, this is Oriel, my advisor."
Melantha reached across the table with an open hand, still grinning. "Pleasure to make your acquaintance."
Oriel set their cup down and accepted Melantha's handshake, albeit a bit too fast. Their gloved hands retreated beneath the table before Celvene could blink.
Melantha's smile dropped. "Did I, um, do something wrong?"
Melantha hadn't really done anything wrong, but Celvene didn't blame Oriel for their reaction in the slightest. Celvene wasn't surprised, she supposed, but seeing Oriel seemingly nervous unnerved her a tad. But she'd called them to tea for this very reason.
"I think Oriel is just nervous." Celvene sipped her tea. "After all, you kind of killed our king, fought for the enemy, and tried to kill me."
"Oh..." Melantha drawled. "Right. I never really tried to kill you, though."
After a moment, Oriel cleared their throat. "I'm... not used to Noriyan soldiers being so close. That's all."
Well, Oriel is a terrible liar. She just had to hope Melantha didn't see their tells like she did—their eyes darted to the left, their hands clamped around their tea, and one eyebrow ticked up. But at least they were trying to stay courteous.
Upon uneasy silence falling over them, Celvene stood and grabbed the pot of tea. "Melantha, would you like a cup of tea?"
"Sure. Thank you."
"So, Melantha," Oriel said. "How have you found Aizasea so far?"
"Oh, it's beautiful. I love the water, though it's too cold to swim in, I imagine."
"Far too much. You'd freeze solid in a matter of minutes in the winter."
More silence. This was going to be harder than she'd anticipated. Both of them felt a little difficult to talk to at times, but when they hit a zone, they were both pleasant. Celvene just needed to hit that with them for each other.
Then it hit her—when they were children, Melantha had been an avid reader and the founder of her academy's book club. They'd read everything under the sun. Oriel was a scholar. They always had their nose in a book. If Melantha still read...
"Mel," Celvene said, stirring her spoon. There wasn't even anything to stir aside from leaves, but it gave her hands something to do. "Noriya must have some good books, right? Ones that we don't have here."
At this, Oriel perked up a tad, sparkle returning to their eyes.
"Oh." Melantha breathily laughed. "Zelphar prides himself on his library. I didn't get to read many of his texts, though, and a lot of them were about his war with the other gods. But he had some fictional books I'd never seen."
"You part of any secret book club while you were there?"
Melantha smirked and rolled her eyes. "No, grishka bea, I wasn't. We didn't have time for that."
"Oh, well, that's perfect!"
"It is?"
"Oriel has been dying to start a book club, but they have no one to start it with."
"I have?" Oriel said.
"Yes," Celvene replied, standing. Sure, she completely made it up, but neither of them sounded opposed. "That's how you two will get to know one another. You both love books."
"I'm not sure—" Oriel started.
A knock at the door again, harder than Melantha's.
Oriel clamped their mouth shut, visibly annoyed at being interrupted again.
But they didn't have time to collect their breath—and Celvene and Melantha didn't have time to put their pendants back on—before the lock burst open and the door swung inward.
Melantha jumped to her feet, sword at the ready, but she didn't move to attack. Celvene stared—she had no weapons on her—and Oriel's hands raised.
"Oh, how perfect," a familiar voice said. Stepping in through the door, Aleksandr appeared, weapon drawn; Celvene's heart dropped. "I've got both of you where I need you. And—"
But he froze, sword in hand. At first, Celvene thought it was from the shock of seeing Melantha—after all, his face looked positively shocked, eyes wide and eyebrows raised.
His gaze was glued to Melantha. But when Celvene looked down at her shaking hands, she realized they glowed red, and she had frozen Aleksandr.
Her hands went clammy and her mouth dry. Her fingers curled inward, but before she could react, Melantha's hand latched around her wrist, and Oriel stepped out from their table. They shooed Melantha forward, toward Aleksandr and past him.
"Go," they commanded. "Hide."
Melantha didn't hesitate to drag Celvene away, but Celvene didn't want to run. She wanted to stay and fight Aleksandr. If he died here, then maybe people would hate her without knowing the reasoning, but at least the tyrant would have lost.
As she slowly snapped out of her daze, she clipped her cloaking pendant back on, as did Melantha, and tucked it under her dress.
Her dress changed shape and shade, as did her physical form, and she swallowed again.
No one was patrolling the halls right now; they likely had all diverted to the ball for preparations.
Her hands still hadn't stopped glowing. Melantha led her down hallways Celvene hadn't even known existed, twisting and turning until Celvene's head swam. It was a series of sharp angles that was sure to lose Aleksandr had he been able to break free.
At last, the glowing around her hands ceased.
When they reached safety, Melantha pressed her back against the wall, breathing heavily. She looked like she both wanted to laugh and cry. But when her eyes met Celvene's, something shifted.
"Is something wrong?" Celvene asked.
Melantha took a long moment to reply. "No, but... I don't know, Celvene. We keep running for our lives, and it's left me with a lot of things I feel like I'll never get the chance to do."
"Like what?"
"Like..." Melantha took Celvene's hand in her own again. "Well, it's a little embarrassing, but... I've held back on it long enough. I like you, Celvene. A lot. More than friends, best friends, whatever. And..."
Celvene's breath hitched, and before she could stop herself, she blurted out, "Kiss me."
Melantha froze before she smiled. Reaching in, her nose brushed Celvene's as she took her lips in her own.
They were everything Celvene had dreamed about—and she had fleeting dreams of them—and more.
Soft, inviting, intoxicating. Celvene's hand grasped Melantha's other, and they held hands, kissing in the corridor until a sudden creak interrupted them.
Whether or not it was a genuine threat remained to be seen, but Celvene still pulled away, albeit unwillingly. She cleared her throat and sighed.
"The ball is soon," she said, still holding Melantha's hands.
"My father knows we're here now. How do you plan to get in?"
"Sneaking around the castle will be easy, and if I don't leave, then I'll never be decloaked. To my knowledge, they only decloak outside. And I think I can convince the prison guard to help me out. That, paired with Ziel Rui, and potentially Oriel, and I'll be fine."
She only had an hour or so to the ball, she imagined.
She'd timed the tea so she could get ready with the two most important people in her life.
But that was ruined now. She'd have to be fast, use her pendant, and get to the ball.
Maybe Oriel would leave something behind for her if she went back to their study.