Chapter 14
‘You know what you said about putting a slit in my dress? How would you feel about doing it to yours? I think it would be the perfect final touch.’
I haven’t yet been allowed to see my reflection, though I know the dress Llinos finally decided on is black at the bottom and red on top.
‘These dresses are incredible,’ she said as she rummaged through the wardrobe. ‘They need a bit of updating, but still, the fabrics are so on point.’
‘Feel free to borrow them,’ I replied, assuming ‘a bit of updating’ was a major understatement and Llinos was just being kind.
‘Really?’ Her eyes bugged with delight before her face fell. ‘My little sister Carys chose my first couple of ball dresses, so I feel like I have to wear them first, you know? But maybe I could wear one to one of the later balls?’
‘Absolutely.’
While I put on the dress she’s picked out, she heads back downstairs to her room to get yet another item: an actual garter sheath. She returns with the leather in her hands.
‘There’s no way I’ll cope, knowing there’s a grubby old belt strapped around your thigh,’ she says, handing it to me before twisting me around to take hold of the corset ribbons on my dress.
Only when she’s yanked so hard it feels like she’s cracked a couple of ribs does she spin me back around to face her. ‘Now, what do you say about that slit?’
I can’t imagine anyone choosing the Cotillion ball as an opportunity to attack each other, but who knows? And there’s not much point to having my dagger sheathed on my thigh if I’ve got to hoist up my entire dress to reach it.
‘Go for it,’ I say and watch the grin spread across Llinos’s face. It’s worth desecrating the dress for that alone.
Without waiting for me to change my mind, she grabs her own dagger and slices the fabric of the dress all the way to the top of my thigh. Standing, she looks me up and down. ‘Do you have any fighting shorts?’ she asks.
‘Fighting shorts?’
‘Just plain black leather. I’ve got an idea.’
‘Okay …’
‘Do you need me to get you a pair?’
‘No, I’ve got some.’
Leather shorts are one of the few items of clothing I have left from my mother, and they were among the first things I packed to come here.
I slip some on under my dress, then turn back to Llinos, who has her dagger waiting.
She slides it up the other side of the skirt, then along the stitches of my waistband.
A large swath of the dress’s skirt comes away in her hand.
‘I like it. Really like it.’ She grins. ‘Go. Have a look.’
With an unexpected flutter of nerves, I head into the bathroom, only to do a double take at my image.
There’s still that element of weariness in my face that Llinos mentioned earlier, but the way she styled my hair does a good job of hiding it.
My gaze quickly trails down the rest of my body.
The top of the dress is a deep burgundy velvet corset that’s been pulled so tight that, for the first time in my life, I’ve actually got curves.
And while the leather skirt balloons out, the panel that’s been taken from the centre reveals more than just a glimpse of my shorts and garter sheath.
It is by far the most striking thing I’ve ever seen, let alone worn.
‘You’re not going to go unnoticed like that.
’ She smirks, and I can’t help but agree.
She was right about fixing the dagger in my hair.
Combined with the leather of the shorts and the dagger on my thigh, I don’t look like someone you’d want to fuck with.
Though hopefully the incident with Zara has already confirmed that.
‘Can I help you get ready?’ I ask Llinos, aware of just how unconfident I sound. Neither my hair nor my clothing skills are half as good as hers, and I get the feeling she knows it.
‘Don’t worry,’ she says. ‘It won’t take me long, though I’ll probably need to hurry the guys. You know how they like to preen and pamper themselves. Well, Benny does, at least. See you in the dining room in twenty?’
‘Sounds good,’ I reply with a chuckle.
It’s only when she goes that I see the raven has returned and is tilting his head as he looks at me.
‘It’s a ball, okay?’ I snap, not sure if talking to a raven can cause even worse luck than one simply appearing in your presence.
‘This is what people wear to balls. I think.’ As I finish speaking, he flutters his wings before taking flight and leaving me alone.
The twist of fear in my chest is accompanied by an undeniable surge of adrenaline.
As much as Llinos’s comment about not going unnoticed unnerved me at first, I think it might actually be useful. Because it means the king and the prince are likely to notice me among the crowd of competitors.
It’s time they realise exactly who Etta let into this tournament.
Managing the rickety, impractical stairs in the skirt is even harder than scaling a damn wall, and my nerves definitely aren’t helping.
Given that I now have a small cluster of people I feel relatively safe in front of, I should be feeling slightly less fearful, but instead, my throat is growing drier and drier with every breath, and by the time I reach the bottom of the staircase, I wish I’d had a drink of water.
But there’s no way I’m going back up. My best bet, I decide as I continue down the narrow – but substantially less perilous – servants’ staircase, is to get myself a glass of water in the kitchen where I met Llin and the others earlier.
Jai is the only member of the group already in the dining hall, and after offering him a quick nod of acknowledgement, I head for the kitchen … only to find my route blocked.
For a split second, he doesn’t see me – he’s too focused on the bottle of drink that he swigs from like he’s suffering from an uncontrollable thirst – and I stand frozen, my stomach somersaulting at the sight of his familiar icy-blue eyes.
He’s not dressed for a ball – hell, he’s barely dressed at all – and I can’t help the way my eyes scan his upper body – the hard muscles that carve his flesh and the tattoos rippled over them.
His skin is decorated with scars, but rather than mar him, they seem to highlight all his perfections.
Never have I known my body to react so instinctively and viscerally to a man.
His eyes find mine and he drops the bottle from his lips. ‘Kultavaris?’ His voice is just as deep and gravelly as I remember, but the use of my name causes my heart to jolt.
‘You know who I am?’
‘Everyone knows who you are, daughter of the Queenkiller.’ He waits a beat, then slowly and deliberately drags his gaze down my body, lingering on my exposed legs.
Heat flickers in his eyes, dark and hungry, and I feel the pull between us coil tighter, as if the air is contracting, eliminating the space between us.
‘That’s one hell of a dress. Not trying to fit in with the ladies of the court, are you? ’
‘I’m not here to make friends.’
His expression tightens. ‘No, you’re here to die.’
‘I’m here to win,’ I snap back.
He laughs, the sound patronisingly amused. ‘You’re a lamb among wolves. I don’t know what the fuck Etta was thinking, letting you in. You’re doomed.’
‘You’re hardly the first person to tell me that today, yet Zara Duarte is the one holed up with the healers, and I’m standing here, enjoying this riveting conversation,’ I spit out, hating the condescending tone of his voice. Hating that anyone has written me off so easily.
His eyebrows rise. ‘Is she now?’ He looks at me, his gaze now appraising instead of hot.
‘Well, well. Perhaps the rose has some thorns after all.’ He takes another swig from the bottle and pushes off the wall he’s been leaning against before staggering deeper into the kitchen, no doubt hoping to find more drink.
He’s drunk before the Retterheld has even begun, and yet he thinks I’m the one who’s going to die out there?
Frissons of something I don’t want to name continue to roll through me as I watch him go, unable to haul my eyes away from his back.
Those perfect black circles etched in his skin.
Only once I’m sure he’s gone do I make my way into the hall to join the others.
My need for a drink is all but forgotten, a very different type of thirst having taken over.
‘Wow, Rose.’ Coulter’s jaw hangs loose when he sees me walking over to join them. My interaction with the blue-eyed problem was evidently just long enough for them all to gather. ‘You look amazing.’
‘Thank you. As do you.’
He drops his gaze to the ground as the tops of his ears colour bashfully.
I’m not the only one who’s stepped their attire up a notch.
Llinos is in a bright red dress that must have a train twice as long as mine, while the boys are wearing black shirts with sharp dinner jackets.
They all look impressively smart, though there’s something about the cut and stitching of Benny’s – not to mention the deep purple hue and the gold accents – that makes it look a grade above the rest. The quiet confidence I sensed from him before has been kicked up another notch.
‘I guess we’re not the only group who thought to meet here first,’ Loch says. ‘Though I think a few groups have already moved on.’