Chapter Fifty-Nine – Mira
Chapter Fifty-Nine
Mira
‘Are you sure about this?’ Lillian asked as we joined the line of richly dressed nobles.
‘Yes,’ I said, with more certainty than I felt. ‘I couldn’t miss Cassius’s coronation.’
‘I’m not talking about the coronation tomorrow.
’ Lillian tilted her head at me, her silver hair pieces glittering in the torchlight.
‘Appearing unannounced at a public coronation is one thing, but this is Cassius’s private party,’ she reminded me, as if I could have forgotten.
‘We shouldn’t be here. And Caleah Fortress is . . .’
I followed her gaze to the forbidding structure of alabaster stone, looming on the hill like a pale spectre.
‘It’s nicer inside,’ I told her. ‘You’ll see.’
Lillian frowned at the reckless smile on my face – and then at my clothing.
She had created this outfit at my request: a crimson dancer’s outfit with a beaded top cut above my navel and a slitted skirt.
It was very similar to the one I had worn during the first Trial, though I hadn’t explained that part to Lillian.
Unlike me, she was dressed to blend in with the nobles, wearing a stunning blue gown that matched her eyes.
It was a mixture of the fitted Ravalian style and the looser, wrapped silk that Aldarians preferred.
Judging by the admiring, covetous gazes the other ladies shot her way, they were already wondering who her dressmaker was.
‘You should take some time to mingle,’ I murmured. ‘All these women are potential customers.’
‘I thought the plan was only to stay in Ravalia for a few days,’ Lillian shot back. ‘Or is there something you’re not telling me?’
I was saved from answering as the line moved again, making private conversation impossible.
Two Warriors guarded the entrance to the grounds.
As I watched them check their lists, I was reminded of the first Trial, when Aric and I had waited in a line just like this one.
I smiled slightly as I thought of Scarlett – who had been disguised as Sabine – and how she had used her wit to get us past the Warriors.
I didn’t have her help this time, but I didn’t need it.
‘Names,’ the male Warrior said in a bored voice, his brown eyes canvassing my face and then Lillian’s.
‘I’m Thalia – one of the dancers,’ I said, remembering the name Scarlett had once used. ‘And this is Lady Verne.’
‘I happen to be familiar with Lady Verne,’ the Warrior said, his gaze narrowing on Lillian. His eyes returned to me. ‘Do you want to try that again, or shall I escort you off the premises?’
My mental suggestion was subtle. So subtle it barely felt like magic at all – but the effect certainly was.
The Warrior waved us through without a second glance.
‘Did you just–?’ Lillian’s expression was horrified.
‘Relax,’ I told her. ‘I used my natural magic. I’ve learnt my lesson – I won’t ever use blood magic again.’
Lillian looked slightly appeased. I linked my arm casually through hers, following the glittering crowd into the manicured gardens.
A few musicians played outside, and I saw servants milling about with trays of spiced wine and finger food.
Plenty of the guests seemed content to linger outside in the balmy, firelit evening.
I wasn’t one of them. Caleah Fortress might look uninviting, but I was eager to get inside – to where the true party would be in full swing.
I virtually dragged Lillian along, and as soon as the ballroom came into view, I saw him.
Cassius was sitting on his throne, holding court over a group of fawning nobles.
Colourfully dressed dancers performed in front of him, but he didn’t pay them any particular attention.
Everything about his posture and bearing suited the emperor he was about to become: confident, powerful, all-consuming–
Larger than life. That was how Cassius appeared – the effect his presence had on everyone around him. Being this close to him made my heart pound and sweat slick my palms, even as my body warmed in places it shouldn’t.
It was difficult to believe he had once been mine. That someone so striking, who exuded such a potent sense of danger and control, had once held me with such tenderness.
Tell me you’re mine, Mira . His words resurfaced, and for a second I was back at the lake, staring up into his hypnotic gaze. Because I’m yours. In all ways .
Was he still?
I swallowed down rising apprehension. Coming here was a risk – and it was beginning to feel like a monumental one. The last time we had met, I had been the one with all the political power. Now, he was about to inherit an empire.
All I had was my belief that his feelings for me had been genuine. My hope that those feelings hadn’t shifted.
I drank him in, from the golden crown he wore to his fitted crimson doublet and bone-coloured breeches.
My heart stuttered as one of the dancers approached, a seductive smile on her pretty face.
She murmured something too low for me to hear.
Cassius said something back, and her obvious disappointment made me smile.
She slipped back into the crowd with diminished confidence.
And then Cassius looked up.
For a second, it felt as though my past and present had collided. But the prince who looked at me now wasn’t the same one I had met in this ballroom over a year ago.
Cassius’s midnight-blue eyes widened – with the kind of unfiltered emotion he never would have allowed me to see before.
Even the nobles in front of him turned, curious to discover who had captured his attention so thoroughly.
But he remained where he was, making no attempt to come to me.
A challenging slant came over his lips; the kind of smile that should have made me very, very nervous.
But I hadn’t come here expecting this to be easy. I had come here to finish the game we had started the night I entered this fortress.
And I had no intention of playing fair.
Neither did Cassius, it seemed. He leant further back on his throne, surveying me from beneath black lashes. ‘Tonight’s entertainment, I presume,’ he said, and the dry amusement in his words – and the familiarity of them – made something in me relax. That, and the fact he hadn’t thrown me out.
I glided across the hall towards him, nobles and dancers parting at my approach. Their stares meant nothing to me. All I cared about was Cassius’s, boring into my face like a brand.
If he had looked at me this way during the first Trial, I would have been terrified. Right now, the intensity of his stare inspired very different feelings.
‘Your Majesty,’ I said, keeping my gaze fixed on his striking face. But I made no attempt to bow or kneel.
Gasps sounded around us as I slid boldly onto Cassius’s lap.
No doubt the courtiers were waiting for his reaction – and I braced myself for it too.
My heart pounded a thunderous rhythm that I was sure he could feel as he drew me back against the warmth of his body.
I jerked slightly in his hold as his hands skimmed tauntingly over my bare skin, in full view of his entire court.
‘Oh no,’ he murmured to me. ‘You wanted to play this role. Now you have to see it through.’
This wasn’t exactly what I had intended. I was supposed to be seducing him – but like this, he had all the control. And I could sense exactly how much he was enjoying it.
One hand played idly with my hair, the other tracing the sensitive skin just above the swell of my breasts. Light, languid touches that shouldn’t have affected me as much as they did, making my breath hitch. His fingers inched lower, skimming over my beaded top and across my exposed navel.
‘I thought you weren’t coming to Ravalia.’ His lips brushed against my ear, eliciting a shiver from me.
‘I almost didn’t,’ I said honestly.
‘Why did you?’
‘For you.’
I felt him hesitate, disbelieving my words. I had pushed him away so many times that I couldn’t blame him.
But Cassius’s sharp eyes had always noticed every little detail, and I saw them notice those details now. My presence here, the red dancer’s outfit I was wearing, the softness in my face.
I didn’t need to say anything. I had already said it all. Except–
‘I’m not a queen anymore.’ A tiny part of me was afraid to say the words. Afraid that they would change his interest in me, even though he had told me it wasn’t my crown that mattered to him. ‘I gave up my throne. A council oversees Kalure now – a council made up of clansmen and shifters.’
I waited for his response, my heart in my mouth. Bracing myself for the dismissal, the sudden coolness–
It didn’t come.
Cassius smiled – a real smile. Blinding in its magnificence. And I knew that he believed it. That he believed I was really here for him.
He helped me up and stood in a fluid movement. ‘Shall we go somewhere more private?’
‘Shouldn’t we stay a little longer?’ I asked Cassius. ‘This is your party, after all. What will people think?’
‘I don’t care what they think,’ he said lightly, but his grip tightened on my arm. ‘I want you all to myself.’
His words were thrilling, exhilarating – and a little frightening.
Hundreds of eyes followed us as we climbed the stairwell. They lingered on me like a physical touch.
When we reached the end of a long hallway, the sounds of the celebration faded. I was acutely aware of Cassius’s presence as the heavy wooden doors groaned open, granting me access to his private chambers.
They smelt like him: cedarwood and leather, masculine and yet somehow earthy.
A perfect match to the floor-to-ceiling tapestries on the walls, their rich shades of green reminding me of ancient Kalurian forests.
How strange it was to think I had once found these tapestries intimidating.
Had looked at the hunting images as a demonstration of strength rather than seeing them for what they were: the few happy memories Cassius had of his childhood.