Chapter 23
Arina
Utterly mortified that the ship full of strangers, not to mention Raiden's fucking fiancée, witnessed our spat and his blatant—but justified—rejection, I run to the only place I know to go.
Lavinia's quarters on the ship is probably not the smartest move, especially after all I've just done, but I don't have many other options.
I've just landed face-first on her mattress when the door opens, and Raiden pushes his way into the room, followed by Lavinia who is carrying a tray of food.
I'm about to yell at them to leave, but then I remember this is her room. Her ship. Her fiancé. I keep my mouth shut and roll over to watch them.
They are both laughing, and neither of them seem upset with me in the slightest. Raiden throws himself into one of the oversized chairs at the foot of the bed, and Lavinia sets the tray on the trunk that sits before him like a makeshift table.
I can't help but stare as he pulls a small green sphere from a stem on the tray and pops it lazily into his mouth. He catches me staring at his lips, and a knowing grin spreads across his face.
“Want a grape, Arina?” he asks, holding one of the strange things out to me.
“A grape?” He’s offering me food and acting like everything that just happened never occurred at all. If he’s doing this to spare me, then I’ll play along.
“It's a fruit. They're used to make wine,” Lavinia answers, and I blink at her, hoping she'll elaborate without me having to ask more questions.
“Don't tell me you've never had wine?!” She's so excited, and I'm still feeling embarrassed, so I just shake my head.
“You know they don't have wine, Livvy,” Raiden scolds.
Lavinia shoots him a glare, and moves to a nearby cupboard. “Please let me get to know my new friend without butting in. Otherwise, you can leave my room and go find somewhere else to sulk.”
Raiden throws one of the grapes at Lavinia who squeals as she pulls a bottle with a long neck from the cupboard along with three long-stemmed glasses.
She sets the glasses on the trunk near the tray and hands the bottle to Raiden. “You are going to love this!” she tells me, taking the bottle back from him and pouring the light-gold substance into each glass.
The bubbles pop and fizz, tickling my nose when I take it and sniff at the rim. It smells unlike anything I've ever known, and a wave of curiosity has me taking a sip.
The wine is sweet but crisp and somehow salty, too. I take a bigger gulp and love the way the bubbles feel as they travel down my throat.
“Whoa, take it easy.” Raiden's hand is hot on mine, tilting the glass back down. “You're going to get her drunk and make her spill all her secrets, Liv.”
Lavinia shimmies her shoulders when she sits in the chair across from me. “Maybe that's my plan.” She winks, and I am suddenly more at ease than I have been in months.
The two of them don't bring up the incident above deck, and I'm grateful. We talk and snack on the tray that has a handful of things I've never tried before. Cured meats, olives, more cheeses, and juicy, citrusy fruits that sting my mouth after a few too many.
It might be the wine, but I find that I'm more comfortable with the two of them than I expected to be, and I'm content to listen to them talk, even when I have nothing of substance to add to the conversation.
Raiden fills Lavinia in on everything that happened back in Lukasia, and when he talks about the tunnels collapsing, my heart pinches.
I say a quiet prayer that Father and Baltas and as many others as possible made it to safety, and that the tunnels caved in on Eryk and the rest of the guard. Fuck them.
“What sort of things do you like to do for fun, Lavinia?” I ask after emptying my second glass of wine.
Raiden snorts, and both the princess and I pin him with a look that tells him to shut his mouth or leave.
“What's so funny?” Liv asks, a threat laced in her tone.
“Nothing. I've just realized now that the two of you have a lot in common.”
“Like what?” we ask in unison, and Raiden's devilish smile grows.
“Like your miserable mothers and questionable choices in…evening companions.” His eyes darken, and I shudder. At this point, it doesn’t surprise me that he knows how I spend my evenings. Or who I spend them with.
Lavinia throws a small, round pillow at the male, and we all laugh.
“What he fails to mention, Arina, is my love for the outdoors, my unmatched skill with an archery bow, and my special interest in gathering secrets from the courtiers and castle workers.” She wags her eyebrows suggestively.
“What kind of secrets?”
Lavinia's excitement is palpable as she moves to sit at my feet, laying her arms over my legs, and looking up at me with affection that makes my heart swell and ache at the same time. I find myself wishing Phillipa were here.
“Only the juiciest ones! Such as which countess is sleeping with her footman, war strategies from father's high-ranking generals, and anything I can squeeze out of Mother's adoring staff.” She rolls her eyes at the last part, huffing as if that particular task were a heavy burden.
“How do you manage to convince people to share their secrets?” I ask.
“Well, you'll just have to keep me around and find out.” She winks at me, and an unease tightens in my stomach. I want Lavinia to be my friend, but this conversation has me making mental notes not to trust her too willingly.
“She beds most anyone she can get her hands on,” Raiden offers, his tone nonchalant as if he hasn't just called his wife-to-be a trollop.
But Lavinia just brushes him off, moving past the slight easily. “You wretch, I do not! A girl has to have some standards. I can't help that the males around here are lousy lays. Thankfully, the maids and contessas make up for the gruffer sex's lack of creativity.”
The two of them are very close, but not in a way I would expect lovers to be. Still, I wonder how deep their connection goes, and it might be the wine speaking for me when I ask, “Have the two of you ever …?”
They share a knowing look. “I was wondering when this would come up,” Lavinia says, reaching a hand out to Raiden, who grabs it with a look that has my throat tightening. He pulls her from the ground, and she flops into his lap dramatically, throwing her arms around his neck.
The thing that's come to life inside me does not like that, but I ignore it.
“We are betrothed, after all.” Lavinia's voice is breathy, and there's a hint of mockery in there.
I think my mouth flops open, and my stomach drops into my feet, but the pair just laughs as Raiden pushes her from his lap to the floor with a thud, mussing her hair and rolling his eyes at the pout she gives him.
“You are impossible, and I don't know what I did to deserve such a fate,” he teases, but he's looking at me with a satisfied smirk.
“Alas, it's a love destined to fail.” Lavinia throws an arm over her face, feigning distress. “Raiden is, as you well know, an untamable beast. Besides, my heart will never settle for a forced love.”
“Not to mention you're not willing to give up your right to the Clestrayan throne just because Mommy and Daddy tell you to,” Raiden points out, and everything finally makes a little more sense.
“Ah, yes. There is that small detail,” Lavinia says, moving back to her chair.
Before she sits, she makes a funny sound, and her body changes before my eyes. She is an older version of herself and wearing a large golden crown and an outrageous ballgown.
The shock of it draws me forward in my seat.
In a voice much more mature than her own, and as if she has something stuck up her royal bottom, she says, “My dear, Lavinia, you shall never sit on the throne as queen in Clestraya. You must secure this alliance and unite the kingdoms. It is your life's purpose.”
She morphs back into herself and sits as if she hasn't just blown me away.
“What in the world was that?” I slur, rubbing my eyes in disbelief.
“What? Oh! That, my dear friend, is my secret weapon.” She puts a finger over her pursed lips. “But you mustn't tell anyone. Promise me?”
I'm honored that she would be so willing to share this with me, and a little curious at her mental stability because she hardly knows me well enough to trust me with such information.
I nod vigorously, but I have so many questions.
“Can I ask you some questions about your power?
Really about power in general. In Lukasia, not many of us have gifts.
And the little we do have is starting to fade.
The elders don't talk about what things used to be like much, and I've never had anyone I could talk to about my own power.” I am aware that I'm talking too much, but I can't stop.
“Ask your questions!” Lavinia says. “This will be fun.”
I have to stand up to contain my excitement, and I'm pacing at the foot of the bed, trying to form the jumble inside my head into coherent words.
“Okay. First question. Where does the power come from?” I stop pacing and turn to face them.
They exchange another look, and Raiden answers, “Your bloodline determines your gift. The lineage goes like this: Gods came first, and they created the fae—without powers—and all the magical creatures of the land. Some of the gods eventually procreated with fae, passing their power down and creating demi-gods.” This confirms the stories I've heard, but it's nice to hear it out loud.
“Eventually, the bloodlines were so convoluted and intertwined, that every fae born was blessed with power. Sometimes it's stronger, sometimes it's weaker. Some have big powers, and some powers are much simpler,” Raiden finishes and pops another grape in his mouth.
I look to Livinia to see if she has anything to add, but she just nods enthusiastically, ready for the next question.
“Okay, Livinia, how long can you—I'm sorry, what is the name of your power?" I ask her, getting ahead of myself.