by Mindy Hayes
Many of the Royal leaders introduced themselves to me as they arrived, and I was grateful Declan and Kai had given me a little bit of information about them before they came. Many of them started pushing their sons in my direction, some subtly and some not so subtly.
“Queen Calliope, my son Niall is the most eligible Royal from Mirrion. I promise you that if you bond with him, he would bring life back to Faylinn. I know he could make you happy.” King Steafan of Mirrion was a larger man. The thickest faery I’d seen so far, actually. His beard looked to be tickling his nose.
Could Niall not speak for himself? Niall kept a serious face. His square jaw set firmly as he nodded alongside his father. I wasn’t exactly sure what kind of life Steafan was talking about. Faylinn seemed lively enough, and Niall looked dead. His emerald eyes didn’t even smile. Their expression never changed.
“Thank you, King Steafan,” I said as politely as I could manage. “I’ll keep that in mind.” I smiled graciously. At least I tried to.
He nodded curtly.
Just as they began walking away I heard Kai’s muffled laughter. “This is going to be so much more entertaining than I thought.”
I sighed and frowned at him. “You could at least wait until they are out of earshot.”
“Who cares if they heard me? At least then they would have an idea that they don’t stand a chance.”
“And how would you know who has a chance?”
He snorted. “If they were to pay closer attention, your eyes are a very telling sign. As soon as he said Niall’s name your eyes began to glaze over.” He folded his arms across his chest and raised his eyebrows with a told-you-so expression when I had nothing to retort. “This will be enough amusement to last me for years to come.”
“I’m so glad my suffering can be used for your entertainment,” I muttered.
“All right, Kai,” Declan interjected. “This evening is stressful enough without your commentary.”
Kai smirked as he surveyed the crowd. “I disagree. I believe my commentary will be the highlight of the Awakening.”
“Your commentary will drive Calliope to strangle you.” Declan’s lip twitched at the thought. “On second thought … carry on.”
“How little you trust her self control.”
I snorted in amusement. “Enough, you two. I’m not going to strangle anyone. Tonight, anyway.”
As I ate I watched the faeries celebrating to the flutes and drums. If their attention was on partying, their attention wasn’t on me, which I was grateful for. I couldn’t escape their curiosity altogether, obviously. Being the newest addition, many eyes watched me skeptically, but at least the majority of them had the decency not to stare for long periods of time.
“Adair is here,” Declan observed.
I found Adair conversing with Evan on the outskirts of the crowd. When he saw me, he acknowledged me with a head bow and continued his conversation. I could only imagine what Evan was trying to cook up without me.
When Rymidon came back a few weeks ago all we did was discuss reinstating our trade. Apparently we had an animal called a falkur that Rymidon didn’t have. From what I learned it, was an animal I never wanted to encounter. Their teeth were the strongest of all the animals and made the sturdiest daggers.
Sakari and Skye had been pretty quiet through it all, mainly observing. When there was a phrase or word I didn’t know, I’d hear Sakari’s quiet snorts of laughter, but whenever I’d scowl his way, his smile would melt my irritated glare. He wasn’t meaning to sound nasty or cruel. He honestly found my lack of knowledge and familiarity amusing.
“Are there any other Royals here I should know about?” I asked to distract me from Evan and Adair’s conversation.
“The only leader missing is Elena of Elfland, but I’m not surprised about that.”
“Why’s that?”
“She doesn’t leave Elfland much,” Declan said quietly. “And she has a history with Adair.”
“A not so pretty past,” Kai snickered. “She stays away from him as much as possible.”
“What happened?”
As if Adair knew we were talking about him, he excused himself from Evan and began to make his way over to us. “We can discuss it later,” Declan murmured under his breath.
“Calliope, how lovely you look this evening.” Adair took my hand and kissed the top.
“Thank you, Adair.” I did my best to sound more confident and comfortable in my skin.
“It really is wonderful what has been set up here tonight. It’s good to have us all in one place again.”
I nodded. “I bet it is.”
“Thank you for making this celebration happen.” He smiled warmly, and I wondered about my father. This man used to be his best friend. What was he like back then? What did Adair know about his life here?
“I didn’t really do much.” I shrugged.
“How modest you are, Calliope. This is all possible because of you.”
I felt the heat rush to my cheeks. I didn’t know how to respond so I smiled meekly.
“I’ll let you finish your meal and enjoy the evening. I’m probably scaring away all the possible prospects.” He winked, but my smile dropped at remembering the other reason why tonight was taking place. “Have a good evening.”
“You too.” When he was out of earshot I hissed, “This isn’t going to turn into a bad episode of Blind Date is it?” I realized my mistake after they both gave me puzzled expressions. “Never mind. Human moment.”
While looking back at the crowd I noticed Allura dancing in the center of a cluster of guys. None of which were from Faylinn. Either they were unaware of brother Kai or they didn’t care. Her dreadlocks fanned out around her as she swayed and twirled, soaking up the attention. All the male faeries around her looked to be from Oraelia and definitely enjoyed what they were seeing. When she caught my eyes, she winked and carried on dancing.
“Allura seems to be having fun,” I observed.
“She’s going to wish she thought twice about that tomorrow,” Kai warned as he glared at each and every male within a five-foot radius of Allura. I smirked at his over-protectiveness.
“I’m going to go check with Dugal to make sure everything is running smoothly.” Declan began maneuvering around the table in a hurry.
“Everyone’s here. What could possibly pose a problem?” I asked.
He turned. “Anything—ogres, pixies, trolls, rogue faeries. Just because Favner is gone doesn’t mean we are free from harm.”
“Comforting.”
Declan shrugged, but a small smile took shape on his lips. It appeared he was beginning to understand my sarcasm because he didn’t try to comfort me before walking away.
As I watched him retreat bright pink eyes stuck out from the crowd as they scrutinized my every move. When I put the eyes to the face, the disapproving stare made sense.
“What’s the story with Dahlia?” The words came out before I realized I said them out loud.
“What story?” he asked uninterestedly.
“Well, you two must have some history.” She hated me too fiercely for it not to be personal. Just because he was my guard didn’t mean anything was going on. But as I met her stare again it was apparent she didn’t believe that.
He shrugged. “We grew up together. Why wouldn’t there be history?”
“C’mon. You know what I mean. She obviously likes you.” What’s going on between you two? I wished I had the guts to ask him that, but that was a whole new level of conversation that I wasn’t sure Kai and I were ready to breach.
He shrugged again, obviously already finished with the conversation.
“Oh look. There’s a possible prospect now,” Kai chortled under his breath, pulling me back to the celebration. I followed his gaze to an Auroralite; at least I think that’s what they were referring to them as. His curly brown hair flopped in the wind as he bounced around the dance floor in his leaf loincloth. I tried averting my eyes, keeping them focused on hi
s face as to not get an eyeful of something I really didn’t want to see. He had no care in the world. Faeries watched him with confused looks as he pranced about, and all he did was laugh. When he would smile at their baffled faces he somehow encouraged them to smile back.
His eyes caught mine, and he grinned widely. He began singing with the melody and started to make his way toward me. His voice wasn’t half bad.
“Your Highness, would you like to join me?” The half-naked beamed, his deep orange eyes wide and cheerful.
I chuckled and took his extended hand hesitantly. “Okay.”
He led me out into the crowd and began his lively flouncing dance moves. I tried joining him, but I just couldn’t. I was laughing too hard. Whether I was laughing at him or with him, I hadn’t figured that out yet. He didn’t seem to mind. His hands reached out to mine and gripped them to twirl us around and around.
When the song ended he brought me back to Kai who remained at my table.
“I didn’t catch your name,” I said.
“I’m Cormac of Aurorali.”
“Well, it was nice to meet you Cormac.”
He bowed lowly, almost an exaggerated bow and remained grinning from ear to ear. “The pleasure is all mine.” He swaggered away. That was the only way to describe it. He carried himself with such carefreeness, it emitted to everyone he passed.
I giggled and sat back in my seat. “That was … fun.” I finally found the right word.
“Looked like it,” Kai mumbled.
“Oh, you’re just jealous you didn’t get whisked away by the biggest goofball at this event.”
He grunted, but there was a smirk on his face when I looked up at his face.
A couple more Royals came up and spoke to me, but it was just awkward. I felt like the prince in Cinderella at his ball when all of those ridiculous women were trying to flip their hair and impress him.
This wasn’t about love. This was a freaking arranged marriage ball. I was trying to smile and carry on polite conversation, but I couldn’t wait for them all to go home.
It hadn’t slipped my mind that Sakari hadn’t attempted to make contact all night. My eyes had found him several times throughout the evening. He occasionally glanced in my direction, flashing me a smile every once in a while before carrying on again with whatever conversation he was involved in, but he had yet to speak to me. It made me realize how much I wanted to talk to him.
“These fools are laughable.” Kai chuckled quietly.
I sighed. “You’re not helping, Kai.”
“I’m sorry. Am I supposed to be matchmaking? I hadn’t realized that was a part of my job description tonight.”
“No, but it would be helpful if you could at least give me some insight, or at least tell me who to steer clear of.”
“They’re like trolls. They’re going to latch onto you at every turn just to be near you. I couldn’t save you from this, even if I wanted to.”
“Was that a compliment?” I lifted an eyebrow.
He shifted—dare I say—uncomfortably? But he was too smooth to show that kind of uncertainty. “Simply stating a fact. They are all like leeches, waiting to suck up all the power they can get ahold of.” He exhaled, but continued, “Tomas of Callastonia will have you rolling your eyes within the first minute of meeting him. Don’t seek him out, or he’ll never leave you alone. Marcus of Oraelia,” Kai pointed to the tall black haired one that had caught my eye earlier, “is hard to decipher. He keeps quiet most of the time. If I know him at all, he won’t try to approach you. After all these years I still haven’t figured out if he’s trustworthy or not. Cormac of Aurorali is pretty insane if you hadn’t noticed, but he’ll make you laugh.”
I wasn’t all that attracted to Cormac, but he was extremely entertaining.
“What about Sakari? What do you know about him?” I sought out Sakari. He was already watching me from the corner of his eyes. His sunshine eyes locked with mine, his lips curving up in a subtle smirk. But he didn’t stop talking to the Mirronian in front of him.
“Sakari isn’t your type,” Kai said curtly.
“Oh really. And what exactly is my type?” I peered back at Kai, waiting for his answer, an answer I actually really wanted to know.
He looked as if he was about to give me an honest answer when a blonde with a puffed up chest materialized in front of me, cutting off our conversation.
“Queen Calliope, I’m Tomas. Tomas of Callastonia.” I shot a glance at Kai, and he crossed his arms, but didn’t say anything. “It is a pleasure to be in your presence. You’re even more beautiful than I imagined.” He winked. No seriously. He actually winked at me. Then he got down on one knee and kissed my knuckles, lingering a little bit longer than I was comfortable with. I felt Kai step forward, and Tomas lifted his eyes back up to me.
“You’re skin is so soft.” He smiled as if he knew he was good-looking and was waiting for me to come to that same conclusion and fawn over him.
My eyes immediately found Kai again so he could save me. I wish this were more like an audition so I could holler, “Next!” because this was absolutely not going to happen. But I knew as soon as Kai and I made eye contact that he wasn’t going to save me. He was enjoying my very apparent misery with a poorly suppressed smirk as if to say what did I tell you?
Tomas stood and lifted his elbow for me to take. “Shall we?” Gah, I wanted to say no so badly.
“Okay.” I offered a very forced smile and took his elbow, stepping around the table.
The fiddles and flutes slowed as soon as we walked to be among the dancing fae. Tomas pulled me close, and I reluctantly gave in. He took my hands in his and began leading us in a dance. My feet hesitantly followed as he twirled me in graceful circles.
I was just beginning to get the hang of the dance when he said, “This will be a night we will remember forever.”
“I’m sorry?”
“No need to apologize,” he assured, mistaking my tone. “This is perfect. We would be an unstoppable team.”
“Oh,” I said, for lack of anything better to say. I wanted out of this dance and there was no one around that would facilitate my escape. We stopped dancing, and I was relieved by his ability to see my unease until he opened his mouth again.
“Would you bond with me, Queen Calliope?”
I blinked. My mind replayed his question, trying to grasp what he shamelessly just asked me. “Seriously? Are you being for real?”
His expression instantly grew confused. “I’m afraid I don’t understand. Of course I’m real. I’m standing right in front of you.” He swept a hand down his body.
You’ve got to be kidding me. “Although you seem like a really nice guy, Tomas, I just don’t think this,” I motioned between us, “is going to happen.”
“Are you saying no?” He seemed genuinely mystified by this. Did anyone ever tell him no?
“I’m sorry, but yes. I’m saying no.” I stepped out of his hold on me. “Thank you for the dance,” I said and retreated away as fast as my feet would carry me.
Declan was back at the table. One of his eyebrows rose in question as he watched me stalk over to the table with determination.
I narrowed my eyes at Kai. “You could have mentioned that not only was he a talker but awfully full of himself. He asked me to bond with him. And actually believed I’d say yes.”
Kai snorted with laughter. “He did?”
Declan rolled his eyes, but I could tell he found the situation humorous. “Honestly, Kai, you have one job while I’m not around.”
“I knew she’d figure it out eventually.” He smirked at me.
“You’re useless,” Declan snorted, shaking his head with a close-lipped smile on his face.
I shook my head, winding up in my mind a punch that would put him in his place. Kai continued to chuckle until I felt a figure hover near our table, and immediately his expression hardened.
I twisted my head to see who could change Kai’s countenance so fast. “Sakar
i,” I said a little breathlessly.
“Calliope, would you do me the honor?” He held his hand out—palm up—for me and I accepted.
“Sure.” I smiled.
There was a loud exhale of disgust as I walked away from the table. One could only assume Kai was the one brave enough to be so obnoxious.
The moon was high in the sky, shedding its soft gleaming light through the trees on us. The fireflies seemed to shine brighter now, illuminating the meadow with their glow.
Sakari bent his head near my ear. “You look absolutely gorgeous this evening.” His breath brushed my neck, caressing my skin with its warmth. I suppressed a shiver.
I blinked looking up at him then shifted my eyes away, too shy to meet his vibrant gaze. “Thank you.”
When we were closer to the gathering of dancers, his hands intertwined with mine, connecting them like a puzzle piece. “You don’t even realize it, do you?”
“Realize what?” I peered up. He wasn’t as tall as Declan and Kai, but he still made me feel petite. He stood about a head taller, gazing down at me with a gentle glint in his eyes. His eyes made me feel like I could burst into flames with one glance.
“How truly captivating you are.” My breath hitched with no words to respond. “You’ve made it so hard to keep my eyes off of you. It took all of my self-control to keep from stealing you away for the entire evening.”
“I was wondering what was taking you so long.” I didn’t know where my honesty came from, considering my insides where a puddle of goop.
“I had to let you figure out for yourself who you wanted your evening spent with.” He paused and searched my eyes. “Do I dare say that you’ve figured it out?”
My mouth turned up involuntarily. “I think maybe I have.” Sakari twirled us so that I caught sight of Kai near my table. His eyes were in pain, holding a hint of wariness. I knew he didn’t trust Sakari. It didn’t make sense to me, but I had to change his mind. Out of every kingdom, Sakari was the only one that actually made me feel something. He was the only one that was semi-normal, if that was possible in this strange and enchanting world. He was handsome and charismatic and kind. He made me feel confident, as if he believed in my abilities and me. I would make Kai see. Maybe this could work.