Chapter 35
SAPHIRA
Istepped from the bathroom to find a mannequin draped in black velvet in the middle of my bedroom.
Beliana and Thalina stood on either side of it, their hands clasped before their hips, their plain dark dresses blending into the cover in places.
I stared at that lustrous velvet, heart thumping a little faster with every passing second.
When I had gone with Jenavyr to the seamstress, neither of us had been fitted into one of the dresses that lined the walls or stood in the windows of the small but elegant store.
Instead, plain material I believed was cotton had been used to fashion a drab sort of dress on our bodies, held in place with pins at first and then rough stitches.
I had been confused until Jenavyr had told me that the final gowns would be delivered to us the night of the ball.
And here it was.
I swallowed to wet my dry throat as I took a hesitant step towards the concealed gown, unsure what to expect to find beneath that veil of black.
Something revealing and wicked? Something rigid and formal?
When I had crossed paths with Kaeleron at my pack this morning and had pressed him on the subject, he had simply smirked at me and told me to be patient.
Rather than easing my mind, it had only made it whirl faster.
I hadn’t been able to get this damned dress out of my mind all day because of him.
I glanced from Thalina to Beliana.
She nodded and looked to her companion, and together they took hold of the fabric at the shoulders of the mannequin and swept it backwards to reveal the dress to my eager eyes.
My heart stopped.
My eyes widened.
I had never seen anything so beautiful.
A thousand glittering jewels had been stitched onto the strapless corseted black gown, flowing from the left breast to the right hem of the skirt.
Each sheer onyx layer of the skirt held hundreds of the pale stones that twinkled like stars, the colour of the delicate fabric shifting their hues, but not dulling them.
The stones weren’t just clear this time. Some were faint blue. Others had a pinkish hue. Together they appeared like the vast arch of the Milky Way I was accustomed to seeing back in Canada.
Beliana and Thalina removed the gown from the mannequin and brought it to me, and I could only stand there in silent awe as they helped me into it.
I had expected it to be heavy, but as I lifted the skirts while Thalina tightened the corset, it was light as a feather.
Almost as if I was wearing nothing. I glanced at Beliana.
“King Kaeleron thought perhaps you would prefer not to feel the weight of it and used magic to alter the fabric of it.”
How considerate of him.
The last dress he had made me wear that had been dotted with stones and pearls had weighed an almost unbearable amount and had made it difficult to walk and move.
I felt as if I could float in this dress, drifting with the grace and ease that the fae tonight might expect from me as a female.
I wasn’t sure I could move with the same elegance as the highborn females who often paraded around the garden below me, and it had only dawned on me when I had been bathing that the unseelie courts might notice how differently I moved from their females.
It had been too late by then to ask Jenavyr for a crash course on how to act like a highborn.
I wasn’t sure I wanted to be like them anyway.
Thalina tugged on the ribbons of my corset.
I choked as my ribs squeezed, my lungs feeling as if she was trying to crush all the air out of them, and my hand flew to my stomach as I twisted to throw a look over my shoulder at her. “Is that really necessary? I would like to be able to breathe.”
She gave me an unrepentant look and tied a bow at the base of the corset above my backside. “All ladies will be similarly cinched. You do not want to stand out.”
Her words felt ominous to me, stirring a heavy feeling in my chest.
What happened if I stood out?
What if someone noticed me?
I doubted there would be other non-unseelie among the crowd tonight.
Would they laugh at me? Or worse?
Vyr had been agitated when I had told her that I needed to visit the seamstress too and had looked ready to find her brother and have words with him about his desire to bring me with them to Ereborne. Why?
Was it dangerous for me to go there? A wolf among unseelie?
A lamb to the slaughter?
Kaeleron would be there, and I was sure he would stay by my side all night, close enough to ward off any unwanted attention. He would keep me safe. Just as he had promised.
I kept telling myself that as Beliana positioned me before the mirror on my dressing table and began fixing my hair, styling the silver strands in gentle waves she pricked with more twinkling jewels before pinning them at the back of my head, leaving my neck and nape exposed.
I shivered as her fingers brushed it, my gaze lowering to my left shoulder as my mind conjured Kaeleron behind me, his skilled fingers teasing that most sensitive spot that ached for his lips on it.
His fangs in it.
I had felt him press his fangs to my throat last night, had ached and almost begged him to bite me, craving that deepest form of connection between us.
Binding us in a way.
My gaze caught on the brand on the front of my shoulder and it gently pulsed with warmth, faint embers chasing around the ring of symbols and the elkyn in the centre of them, and then flashing over the crown and five stars suspended between its antlers.
All would see that brand tonight.
Would they presume I was his pet? Marked as his property rather than for protection?
I didn’t care.
I knew why he had placed his mark on me, and that was all that mattered.
I fidgeted with the ring on my finger as Thalina applied a little colour to my lips and cheeks, and some dark kohl around my eyes.
“There. You are ready.” Thalina stepped back and Beliana moved forwards to get a look at me, approval glittering in her steady gaze as the corners of her lips curled into a faint smile.
There was worry there too, hidden in the depths of her eyes.
“I’ll be fine.” I pushed to my feet, trying to sound confident about that, even as part of me trembled at the thought of stepping into a room full of unseelie I didn’t know, and kings from every court on this side of Lucia.
Why did Kaeleron want me at the ball?
When Vyr had looked as if it was a terrible and dangerous idea.
Was it because he believed what he had told me—that he suspected the high king had designed this ball with me in mind?
I really doubted that, and Kaeleron had given me no reason to believe him.
He had only said something about the timing and the attire.
But all I saw as I looked in the mirror was a beautiful dress. Nothing about it screamed wolf.
I drew down a deep breath and pushed everything to the back of my mind, unable to banish it completely.
“He is in the courtyard.” Beliana pressed her hand to my lower back, gently steering me away from the mirror and towards the door. “Do not keep him waiting.”
I nodded and headed for the door, opened it and stepped out into the silent corridor.
The whole castle seemed so still and quiet tonight, as if it was empty.
Lonely. I walked along the elegant black hallway, steps light on the marble floor, and swept down the stairs in the vestibule, the sheer layers of my dress flowing behind me as if they were my own shadows.
The arched door to the garden was open when I reached it and I stepped out beneath that stunning aurora sky that would never stop stealing my breath.
But tonight it didn’t quite steal it as much as the ruler of this court did.
Kaeleron stood with his back leaning against the side of a beautiful black and gold open-top carriage, a vision in a rich onyx tunic jacket that fitted his honed frame perfectly, emphasising the breadth of his shoulders and his trim waist. Silver embroidery glimmered at the hem and cuffs, like woven moonlight, and followed the line of silver buttons that ran up the centre of his chest to wrap around the short collar.
Tight black trousers clung to his long legs, and highly polished boots reflected the motes of golden magic that danced in the air between us.
Intense silver eyes drilled into me, the fine slashes of his eyebrows lowering as he drank me in as I leisurely looked him over.
Tension crackled between us, the air seeming to grow heavier and heavier as we both stood there saying nothing, merely staring at each other.
Four of the elkyn harnessed to the carriage, standing two by two, kicked at the paving impatiently, but the one at the front, far larger than the others, stood silent and calm.
An elkyn I recognised. I dipped my head to the ancient beast, greeting him as I always did whenever I happened to pass his paddock.
“You greet him and not me?” Kaeleron pushed away from the carriage to scowl at me. “When I am the one who has brought you a present?”
My gaze darted back to him. “A present?”
His lips curled into a wicked smile, a teasing light entering his eyes as he studied me. “My little wolf is a greedy one. Always so eager for gifts from her king.”
I rolled my eyes at him. “I was just curious. I don’t recall doing anything worthy of being given a gift.”
“You are here, and that is enough. Besides, this gift is necessary.” He reached into the carriage, twisting away from me, and when he straightened and faced me again, he was holding two lacquered wooden boxes.
“Two gifts?” I frowned at the elegant boxes.
“So greedy,” he murmured.
I ignored him and stepped towards him, my eyes on the boxes. “Are they both for me?”
“Where is my present in exchange?” He withdrew them when I lifted a hand to reach for them.
I swept my hand down my body. “The sight of me in this dress should be present enough for you. No?”