Chapter 22 WE ARE INEVITABLE
Chapter twenty-two
WE ARE INEVITABLE
Nuala
When Darragh winced while introducing Edyna, and then even Ornella had balked at her, I was nervous that Rian’s reassurances concerning the gnome were unfounded.
“Gnomes are known to treasure all things unique and precious. She will be utterly enamoured of you,” he had promised me just before he left the tent for his meeting. Leaving Darragh as my guard until Ornella arrived.
I both loved and hated how casually he could say such things to me.
His silver tongue was deliciously seductive.
Only now I was uncomfortably aware of how easily he could use it to seduce others.
Not because it shocked me that he would have had many lovers before me because I’d been expecting that all along but because…
Because I thought when he finally found me, he would give up other lovers without question. Because I thought our bond would take root in him right away.
Then I’d Seen his inclinations when Geera suggested arranging for his usual entertainment, and I realized how foolish I’d been to think it would be so easy with him.
But at least Edyna was just as charming with me as Rian promised, although she was certainly temperamental with everyone else.
Even Ornella complied with each and every demand the gnome made without complaint aside from pinning her doe ears in aggravation.
I never thought I’d see the dryad humbled, not even before Rian, so I was genuinely impressed by Edyna.
“Such singular colours,” the gnome had marvelled at my eyes while she painted them with gold and charcoal.
“Such a unique beauty,” she then praised my hair as she brushed and curled it with rollers and a bit of heat magic.
The section at the base of my head was left in big ringlets that cascaded over my upper arms while the rest was all twisted into an artfully messy bun.
Braids studded with pearls looped over the top so they formed a crown-like halo around my head in front of the large bun.
“Fit for a queen. Just as he ordered,” Edyna whispered in my ear, making my heart throb hopefully as I stared in awe into the mirror. I did not recognize myself, not on the surface at least, but the growing confidence in my eyes?
That was certainly familiar.
I glanced over at Ornella once the gnome moved away to begin tidying her supplies.
The dryad’s dour mood had brightened the second Edyna kicked her out of the chair to work on me.
She’d tracked down Rian’s wine and was now reclining on the couch and drinking out of the bottle.
One leg escaped the slit at the front of her dress and was propped carelessly on the little table in front of her.
“Hair of the dog,” she had toasted me, although I was not sure what that meant as she swigged the liquor.
She had managed to avoid being painted with makeup since she was able to darken and lengthen her lashes and made her lips and cheeks blush all on her own.
Edyna had warned her that maintaining such magic in Autumn Court would be taxing for her.
But I suspected Ornella would rather exhaust her power than submit to Edyna’s brushes.
The only concession she’d made was having her auburn hair braided into one massive and very elaborate plait.
Neither of us wore much jewelry aside from what was in my hair because it was evidently custom at these parties to wear as little as possible.
A fact that made me even less eager to attend, but I was trying to remain optimistic.
Ornella’s dress was a gold-and-green halter top with a split in the chest that opened to her navel, and there were two slits up the fronts of both of her faintly striped thighs.
Ornella had been so pleased with it when she saw it that she promptly stripped naked to change, uncaring if either Edyna or I saw her.
Edyna had muttered something about the indecency of dryads and was still scowling any time she looked in Ornella’s direction.
Now the dryad was eying my dress out of the corner of one eye as she tilted the bottle to her lips.
“Did I miss some scars?” she asked finally once she’d lowered the bottle.
I rose and smoothed my hands down one of the finer dresses Rian had selected when we shopped in Mionlach.
The buttery silk was the mulberry-purple colour I knew he favoured on me with fine gold embroidery and trim.
The illusion neckline and full skirt were the most modest designs we could find in Mionlach; so I guessed Ornella found the style unsuited for the party we were attending.
The most revealing aspects of the dress were its drooping arm holes, which exposed the profiles of both my breasts, and the plunging back.
Such an outfit was positively salacious to me, but I knew it was conservative compared to what the other fey would be wearing.
“You did not miss any scars. I simply do not want to show my body to anyone,” I assured her.
“Are you self-conscious for other reasons?” she asked, those shrewd green eyes narrowing. “I would never allow anyone to touch you in an undesirable way if that is what troubles you. I know humans and witches are filled with shame over their bodies, but you need not worry here.”
I smiled in appreciation of her concern, but I shook my head slowly while debating how to best explain myself.
“It is important that Rian is focused tonight. He is not pleasant when he is jealous.”
Her brows rose in surprise at the reply she clearly was not expecting, and then she frowned thoughtfully as she contemplated my words.
“His reactions are not your responsibility.”
“I am aware. It is the game we play,” I clarified.
The defensive worry in her eyes cleared in an instant, understanding spreading across her expression.
“Yes, I did hear that he is… possessive,” she admitted, fighting a smirk.
Her teasing was meant to downplay her curiosity about our relationship, but I saw the thinly veiled bid for more information for what it was. And although I appreciated her concern, I wanted her to know it was unnecessary.
“You and the others will alternate between worrying about my influence over Rian, and his influence over me. But all you need to know is that we are inevitable.”
I had surprised her again, but Ornella was much more comfortable with confrontation than with any other form of interaction. She quickly overcame the shock and sat up slowly with her eyes never leaving mine as she set the wine bottle down on the table.
“And how can you know that something is inevitable? What role does his free will play in your visions?”
I had tried to explain my Sight to others when I was still young, but I learned quickly just how little people enjoyed hearing about their irrelevance.
The reality of just how limited our control was in the world seemed almost inconceivable to people.
They clung to their right to make decisions and then took their frustrations out on me when my visions came to pass in spite of their efforts.
It was why I had not yet tried to get around the Sylvan blockade on my Sight to See if Sage could be saved.
I did not wish to hold onto truths that no one was willing to hear from me.
And I knew the reason that neither Ornella nor Rian had asked me to look was because they were too afraid I might shatter the comfort of blind certainty.
But I could tell Ornella was defensive at the notion of inevitabilities, of truths beyond her control, and we were no longer talking about Rian.
I could have simply given her the answers I knew she wanted and avoided conflict, but I was no longer a hapless child.
I did not want to shy away from my truths and shape myself around the small ways in which others saw my world.
I wanted to finally start owning my power.
So I met her eyes with my chin raised in determination to tell her what she did not want to hear.
“Some visions are like leaves caught in a river current. There and gone as quickly as possibilities are imagined and then dismissed. Dreams dying quick deaths,” I began.
“Some events are like crossroads where decisions remain to be made, and it is in those unmade choices that all the potential of my gifts lies. I can often See consequences in both directions, and I can attempt to encourage people to go toward the more desirable outcomes. But then some of what I see is as immovable as mountains and as certain as the tides coming in,” I finished unflinchingly.
Ornella mirrored me and lifted her chin in defiance the way I knew she would.
“I do not care what your visions show you. I will get Sage back,” she asserted.
I wanted to hope, for her sake, that her sheer force of will would be enough. But in my extensive experience, one would burn out raging against the Fates long before they managed to alter their path.
“So is Rian like a mountain then?” she redirected me, avoiding any further discussion of Sage and whether or not she would get him back.
“Rian is mine in every version of the future that I have ever glimpsed. He chooses me, again and again, in spite of every obstacle ahead. So all I can do is try to avoid the especially painful barriers ahead of us,” I admitted.
Ornella still looked a little doubtful but did not have an opportunity to reply before we heard the whirring sound of a portal opening in the antechamber.