CHAPTER I #4
“But how will this work?” I ask curiously. “I’ll need to leave the coronation and change dresses?”
“Yes, exactly. We’ll be quick about it. I’ll help you get ready for the coronation and then after we’ll slip you into this second dress so you don’t miss much of the reception.”
“Truly, Gail,” I shake my head and reach out to her, “I don’t know how to thank you enough.”
She smiles and wraps her arm around my waist. “I think you’ve properly become my muse. That is thanks enough.”
“I’ll take it,” I laugh and eye all the silk. “Though you’ve been compensated, yes? You didn’t do all this for free?”
If not, I’ll happily dip into my savings.
“Handsomely, Lady,” she grins.
“Good,” I give her a strong hug. “Let me change out of these ruined clothes and do something with my hair. I’d like to show you around the castle if you have the time.”
Our first stop is the Great Oak, where Gail properly freezes underneath the massive tree.
I grin at her pure happiness and the way she slowly spins under the limbs, her eyes going wide in awe.
We then move to the back of the castle where I point out the Grand Receiving Room that is used for court.
The whole room is just as chaotic as the kitchens, with the castle staff running around to prepare for the coronation’s reception.
Many of them are setting up gold chandeliers from the vaulted ceilings or placing lanterns of bottled moonslight under the handful of small oaks that have been magicked to grow along the greenstone walls.
Others are maneuvering a number of gold and silver fountains within the room and on the verandas outside to create the most serene ambiance.
Everything looks exceedingly beautiful and it isn’t even complete, a real tribute to all the hard work that has been put in over the last few days.
Next comes the kitchens, where I diligently introduce Gail to Chef and ask the man to keep her well-fed during her stay.
Jesse, the young human ward of Chef, nearly drops his full tray of food when he sees her.
He introduces himself quickly before shuffling off even quicker, though it’s the small blush that rises from Gail’s cheeks that has me chuckling at the interaction.
Towards the end the evening, I decide to take Gail to a small pub in the village outside for dinner.
The two of us walk down the entry steps of the castle and onto the busy road, both of us smiling as Stormfall wakes and flies off my shoulder for a quick stretch.
Once dinner is done, I offer to take her up to the Palisades with me and Princess Clair tomorrow morning, though her decline is a genuinely sad one as she notes the too many outfits she needs to work on before the coronation.
I nod in understanding, happy to hear her business is going so well, and close out our night walking her back to her room.
“Do you know how old he is?” she asks shyly.
“Fifteen,” I keep my smile hidden.
“I’m just curious,” she stammers.
“Of course. Perhaps if Chef comes with us to Gaumond, he’ll bring Jesse with him.”
Another blush creeps along her cheeks as we reach her door.
“Are you good for the night, Gail? Do you feel comfortable asking Chef for food tomorrow?”
“I do,” she smiles. “Thank you for the lovely day. I’ll be sure to meet you the morning of the coronation.”
“I’ll see you then,” I grin, pulling her into a hug.
I make sure her door is closed before making my way back to the Great Oak, ready to end the day in my own room.
“Lady Alexis,” a voice calls casually from my left.
I know the voice, have been avoiding that voice since my arrival back in Bardot, but there’s no avoiding the Prince now, not when he’s caught me out in the open and in front of the many people still enjoying their late night in Castle Bardot.
“Prince Isham,” I turn and bow to the youngest Prince of Livyatan.
Both him and his traveling companion, Edam, walk towards me, their dark skin shining beautifully under the bottled moonslight that rests high within the Great Oak.
Isham turns to his companion and gives him a silent command that wills him to take his leave, while Edam turns his cold gaze on mine, unwavering as he looks at me in hatred.
Likewise, Edam, I grimace. Likewise.
“Will you take a walk with me, Lady Alexis?”
Stormfall grips my shoulder as we watch Edam’s retreating back, the two of us finally turning to the Leviathan Prince once the second man is out of sight.
Isham is smiling at me, a grin that he’s perfected so beautifully.
It desperately calls for me to trust him, to engage with him openly and without any hesitation.
His lips are smug and match his strong face and amused eyes, eyes that crinkle from his giving smile.
The thick black braids at the top of his head fall gracefully down his back, three in total and covered at the ends by white and tan beads.
I avert my gaze from the bottom of his hair and look at his deceivingly handsome face, watching as he extends a formal arm in offer.
“A small walk in the village, Your Highness,” I sigh, knowing that I can’t turn him down. “Nothing more.”
Isham’s grin turns wide as I slide my arm through his.
The town is busy enough to keep a curious and watchful eye on us, but I still reach out to Keane to make sure he’s aware of who I’m with and where I’m going.
I focus all my want and need and push it through my abdomen, hoping he feels the summoning as quickly as possible.
“Thank you, Lady Alexis,” Isham begins walking, flicking his gaze to Stormfall. “You have been very hard to track down recently.”
“Just busy, Prince Isham,” I push stronger this time, “as is most of the castle.”
Isham nods, glancing back at me.
“Indeed. So much to do for your Prince’s coronation. Have I heard correctly, or are these just rumors? Is it true that you’ve given up your afternoons to the kitchens?”
If Isham feels the way my body tenses from the question, he doesn’t let off. I try my best to hide my grimace, but I don’t like that he knows where I’ve been in the castle.
“The chef here is a dear friend of mine,” I reply. “I’m happy to help him with whatever he needs.”
“Fascinating.”
I’m about to ask what’s so fascinating about kitchen work when Keane’s curiosity summoning suddenly grips my chest. The power of the magic takes over my lungs, the pressure so consuming that Isham watches me with a curious gaze.
I look back to him with a strained smile, knowing that Keane is also looking into the man’s hazel eyes just as I am.
His summoning presses against my lungs once more, so I turn back to the village ahead so he can see that I’m safe and out in the open.
But Keane doesn’t let me go, and instead maintains a steady presence within my chest. I take a few deeps breaths through his summoning, every part of me knowing that he’ll hold on so he can listen to the conversation about to take place.
“Have you thought more about your travels to Livyatan, Lady Alexis?” the Prince asks from my side, smiling at a Discerni couple as they eye the two of us in their walk.
“I have,” I nod, “though it’s not a prospect I aim to consider any time soon.”
“I can’t understand why,” Isham shakes his head.
“No?” I look at the Leviathan Prince with a raised brow, “you can’t think of a single reason why I would hesitate to travel to your lands?”
Isham chuckles and keeps his hazel eyes on mine.
“No grey, Lady Alexis?”
Keane’s summoning pushes against my chest in that moment, his magic gripping my lungs so hard that I have to take another steep breath.
“No grey,” I shake my head.
Isham nods in approval, his smile wicked. “Truthfully, I can think of many reasons why you would be hesitant to enter our lands, though none of them host a flame to your own curiosity that will draw you there, regardless.”
I grimace at the Prince and watch him through narrowed eyes.
Isham knows, or he suspects, that no matter what I know of his Kingdom and what they have done to the humans there, I will eventually find my way across his borders pursuing the dreaded second half of Rivian’s words to her brother’s prophecy.
“Can I let you in on a secret, Lady Alexis?” he chuckles.
“You can,” I nod curtly.
The Prince leans down with another smile. “I hate to admit it, but your curiosity is also my own, Human Reborn. We both have an interest in finding the Ancient’s words.”
The summoning on my lungs tightens so severely that I have to stop in my walk from the intensity of it. I push back at Keane in an attempt to stop the uncomfortable hold it has on my upper body, expelling everything I can to force him to leave. Surprisingly, he releases me in the next breath.
“What’s wrong?”
The genuine concern laced in Isham’s voice takes me by surprise, and it’s only now that I realize I’m standing awkwardly in the road with my hand gripping his wrist.
“Nothing…” I shake my head and pull my arm out of his, “I just don’t like the idea of you needing me.”
Isham eyes me for a moment before he bows his head.
“I do need you.”
“You want the words, and you need me to tell you what they say.”
“Yes.”
“But you had a means to see Hirovale’s,” I point out. “Your brother knew of me before the Ancient’s words were shared with the Council.”
“We did have the means,” he nods, “but I’m afraid our seers are having no such luck with the second half.”
I watch the Prince silently before turning away with a frown.
“They are adamant that the words are in our lands, however… ” he begins another walk at my side. “Of that I can promise you, Lady Alexis.”
Ancients, I really don’t want to travel to Livyatan.
“If I do make the travel, it will be on my time. You and yours will not attempt to take me again, nor will you force me in any way to enter your Kingdom.”
Isham puts a hand up to stop our walk, his hazel eyes looking at me in seriousness.
“On my life, Lady Alexis, that will not happen again.”
I hold his gaze hard, unable to gauge his sincerity.