Chapter 21
Chapter
Twenty-One
Emma dressed Ashley in the dress Valys had chosen for her to wear to tonight’s dinner. Elliot and Jack looked away, giving her privacy, even when Emma did her hair. There were no words spoken, and Ashley was done asking questions. Nobody truly answered her anyway.
Ashley could still feel Jack’s eyes on her even as she left the room and wondered if he was concerned about her.
She didn’t give a fuck. She was tired of all of them.
They didn’t want to believe that she was just a normal woman.
They expected her to be able to handle all of this, like a dragon shifter would, and to get on with what they asked of her.
They didn’t care whether she was still in shock, or if she was dealing with the trauma of it all.
They simply expected her to be their tool.
And now, she was forced to pretend to be a princess, to act like she understood what was happening.
To act like she knew all the etiquette rules, how to hold herself, which fork was which at the dining table, and exactly what you were meant to say to people to avoid offending them.
The unfairness of it all made her shiver with every step she took down the grand staircase.
Ashley’s whole body was alert as she knew she was being watched by someone, even if they were hiding behind a wall hanging or in an alcove.
It didn’t matter. She would do as was expected of her and make the appearance demanded of her.
But what surprised her the most when she descended the staircase and saw a whole group of people, was the fact that when her brother looked at her, he didn’t look annoyed for once. In fact, he looked relieved. As if he’d expected her to refuse to come down.
Val’s steward was at the front of a large group, giving another one of his less-than-handy tours and guiding people that could be kings and queens.
If she had to guess, it was the general nobility of the other Clans.
The kings and queens who frequented the house often enough would be their rooms, probably to prepare for the festivities.
Ashley obediently slid into place at her brother’s side, only for him to lean over to her and whisper in her ear.
“We’re moving the debut ball up to tonight. The Diamond King has decided to make his appearance, finally,” Val said, and Ashley opened her mouth to ask exactly who the Diamond King was in the crowd.
She closed it when she realized that he had probably decided to hide away in his room for the time being.
She would have to be clever if she wanted to catch sight of him.
“You need to be upstairs in the tailors’ rooms immediately.
Your dress hasn’t even begun to be created yet, and they’ll have to sew you into it. ”
“Sew me into it?” Ashley questioned, furrowing her eyebrows at the very idea.
She had never had a piece of clothing sewn on her.
She was pretty sure that was a thing that only happened in TV shows.
She opened her mouth to ask another question, like when she could expect to have her dinner, but her brother shook his head, signifying that she wasn’t allowed to ask anymore, and began to walk away, leading a whole crowd of people.
The moment that he had led the people away, Emma skidded to a stop beside her, her eyes apologetic as she caught Ashley’s arm. She was unaware of what was happening and had no other option but to let Emma lead the way.
“Where are you meant to go?”
“The tailors,” Ashley said, having just seen them that morning and met them in her room. But something about how her brother said it made her more than certain that this wasn’t the same tailor. “The ball is going to take place tonight.”
Emma’s eyes widened, her whole face going pale, and it was clear that she was shocked.
“The master tailor, then. Your brother likely wouldn’t send you to the other tailor. You need as many hands as possible, and that way, the apprentices will be able to help,” Emma said with a nod, immediately grabbing Ashley’s arms and beginning to guide her, moving somewhat relentlessly.
Despite that, Ashley looked back over her shoulder, taking in the various faces of nobles. She wondered for a moment which one of them could possibly conspire against her and her brother.
She had no idea, but what she did have now was that there was little to no chance of her escaping Emma. Not now that they had already decided that there would be a grand plan to stop the rigging of the Dragon Games.
“Fucking Jack.” Ashley could not stop herself from cursing, partially blaming Jack for the fact that he had roped her into all of this, and now she was part of a conspiracy.
If it wasn’t for Emma, she could have gotten the fuck out of dodge, but now, Ashley was forced up the stairs and to head towards a room to the corner of the third-floor landing, one that was just out of sight, but not far enough that one could forget about it.
“The King’s quarters are on this floor,” Emma informed Ashley as she shoved her inside the tailor’s office, her voice a low murmur, almost as if she were worried that the other maids would hear.
At this point, Ashley was pretty sure that the other maids were more concerned with keeping the house clean than anything else.
They had been forced into an impromptu ball at the last moment.
Still, Ashley had questions.
“Just my brother’s room, or the other kings as well?” Ashley said, still wishing more than anything that she could have a chance to catch sight of the Diamond King. Her eagerness did not go unnoticed.
“Your mate is supposedly on this floor as well, yes, but there’s no chance that you would be able to get into his room. They guard these rooms with their lives, especially when the kings are visiting from other Clans and the new countries,” Emma said.
There were new countries. That piqued Ashley’s interest.
Ashley tried her best to look normal as all the tailor’s apprentices began to surround her, but her mind was already swirling with new questions for Emma, questions that could hardly wait. Eventually, she decided that she didn’t care who heard. She just had to know.
“Countries?” Ashley forced herself to ask, shooting a look over at Emma that made clear the fact that this was a question to be answered.
Emma waited until all of the servants were done measuring Ashley, and then, slowly, almost somewhat tediously, she cleared her throat.
Ashley was glad that she had chosen Emma out of all of the maids, if only because she was fairly certain that any other maid wouldn’t humor her in such a way.
“Now that the dragons have taken over everything, they have begun to create their own country lines. The Opal House controls the majority of what was once known as Eastern Europe, where the Slavic nations live. It belongs to him now, but your brother has his eyes set on more of the world. He wants to expand his territory, but there are only seven gem houses and so much land to be claimed. Of course, people assume that the dragons will divide it up by continent and stuff like that. Still, everyone wants more land,” Emma said, sighing as she shook her head at the very idea, almost like she couldn’t understand it.
Ashley wasn’t sure she could understand it either.
She had never been the overly ambitious type of girl.
“So, he wants more than what was once Romania?” Ashley asked, only to receive a glare in return.
“Your brother would prefer that we no longer call it Romania, if only because it calls into question his rule, which can cause problems with villagers going down the line,” Emma informed Ashley.
Ashley had to hold her breath, if only to stay quiet. The more she learned, the more it seemed like her brother was a massive dick. She knew Emma was the last person she should say that to, since it seemed Emma was collaborating against him in her own way.
And so, instead of telling Emma anything, Ashley turned to Emma and, in her lightest and most pleasant voice, made a request.
“Could I possibly have a moment alone? I just need to think about things,” Ashley said. While anyone else would have realized that her thinking about things could lead to Ashley finding a way out of the situation, Emma nodded, probably because she knew there was no way out.
In a matter of seconds, the young woman left the room, leaving Ashley finally on her own to think about things.
There were apprentices and the master tailor running around her, but they weren’t paying her any attention.
She hadn’t been alone since she was last running down the mountain.
Worry and a sense of being overwhelmed made her want to find a quiet corner to cry in, but she didn’t have time for that.
She knew she had to stay in the moment, so Ashley took a breath as she waited for the tailor to return with all the fabric choices, knowing that they would probably dress her in white or maybe a pale blue.
Something she would look virginal and innocent in.
Ashley didn’t care and her thoughts began to wander back to possible escape routes.
It would have been far too easy for her to slip out of there and try to hunt down the Diamond King’s room to catch a single glimpse at him and learn what he looked like before she was forced to confront him in the ballroom.
The idea was becoming more and more appealing by the second.
But before she got too far with that notion, the door to the corner of the room opened, and Ashley’s eyes widened.
She turned around, ready to berate Emma for deciding to invade her space once more.
But it wasn’t Emma standing at the door.
It wasn’t a woman at all, but it wasn’t the tailor or his apprentices either.
Ashley smiled, her heart beating frantically in her chest as she saw him.
It was Alexander. But this Alexander was different.
He was dressed for a formal ball, looking different than before.
His hair was no longer in a state of disarray, and his kind eyes were dimmed.
For a moment, he looked so severe that she was unsettled.
But then, his eyes found her, and his lips parted, and all of that anger and severity melted away the second he looked at her.
He was her Alexander once more. For once, the two of them were alone in a room where no one else was present.
And before anything could change, before he could run away, she found herself walking calmly to the other side of the room and clicking the lock shut, her eyes never leaving him.
She knew what she wanted and didn’t care about the consequences.
“Alexander,” Ashley murmured his name, the word slipping from her lips, and before she knew what she was doing, she crossed the room, approaching him, wanting him, her feet moving of their own accord.
And to make matters worse? Well, Alexander made little to no effort to stop her. He only held out his hands, far too ready to grab her the moment that she came near him, and it seemed like the two of them were destined to fall together.