Windswept (The Airborne Saga)
Page 11
“Lily, go fetch this nice woman stock from the back would you? The special ones,” the woman hissed to the young girl with her.
For the first time, the tiny girl by her feet became visible. She scurried off to the back and came out with her tiny fists stuffed full of more colorful glass amulets. Avery picked up the turquoise one with a smile to the young child.
She plucked the top one from the cubby fists.
“That’s the best one.” The old woman leaned across the table, eye flickering back to where Mason had headed. Her eyes reconnected with Avery’s and she whispered. “It increases pheromones. A man will be interested without even knowing why.”
“Oh, ah no! I mean no thank you. I’m okay.” Avery could feel her face heat and flush.
“I have others! This one will make your eyes look bigger. This one will enhance your cleavage.”
“Oh! So okay without!” Avery resisted the urge to clamp her hands over her ears. She whirled from the booth and tried to find her breath, certain her face to be purple by now. But turning only laid her eyes on the man who stood only ten feet away.
She’d seen Mason a hundred times before but the sight of his halfcocked smile still managed to take her breath away.
“Interesting taste in charms.” He strode closer and smoothly took her hand, landing a kiss on the palm. Now Avery couldn’t tell where the raging embarrassment came from.
“Shut up,” she answered in the same hushed voice.
His smile widened.
“Come have lunch with me. There’s a beautiful place I’ve been meaning to show you.” He didn’t ask but led her by the hand. She waved goodbye to the shop keeper. The woman and the child mirrored a thumbs up. It didn’t help Avery’s heart slow down. She’d been with Mason a hundred times before. But this was technically their first date.
Thirteen
Avery had been on a dozen first dates before, but every time she went on another, it felt absolutely foreign to her. She clung to the cup in her hand and scanned the table again. The harpie diet wasn’t exactly offensive to the human palette, but nothing about the fruits and breads made her hungry while her stomach twisted into knots. The place Mason had taken them was supposed to be ‘accidental’ after a walk on the beach. Based on the segregated location of their table under its own cabana and pushed up against the ledge to see the water underneath, nothing about the place was accidental. It was beautiful. And it had been prepared. The staff greeted them instantly upon arrival, ushered them out here, and littered their plates with gourmet appetizers. Then they whisked off somewhere eels to offer some privacy.
“You come here often?” Avery cracked a smile when the need to say something led her to the phrase. Mason didn’t pick up on what was funny about it though.
“I usually don’t bother. The Guard makes it so difficult to go anywhere and that’s when the council isn’t chatting my ear off. Things will be rough until my commencement speech...and then even a few months after. My father dying the way he did was unheard of—and me being banished shortly afterwards. People expected things were going back to the old ways before I came into power.”
Avery hadn’t intended him to feel an extensive need to explain but she couldn’t lie when it peaked her interest.
“I heard that. Well something like that. The old ways versus the new ways.” She added but slowed down awkwardly. She didn’t actually know much of anything, just what people had told her in relevance to being human.
“It’s hard for humans to imagine.” He wore the cocky smirk again. “But our history goes back centuries. Before Jericho, Mikhail’s father and then Mikhail ruled, but people starved under his monarch. They were dark times.”
“And that’s why they threw him out.”
Mason grimaced.
“It’s more complicated than that, Avery. The king is higher than the council. The council can’t just denounce someone because they wish. It was a whole movement from the kingdom. People aren’t happy when they’re hungry.”
Avery’s mental picture of the entire incident started to change. Instead of imagining the eighties with massive hair and angry teenagers, she pictured the Dark Ages. She drew her hands together in her lap. This, she knew, wasn’t appropriate date conversation. Even Mason dropped off the last word like he wanted to change the topic. But she couldn’t let it go. Not completely.
“Do the people here think I killed Mikhail?”
“Avery!” he instantly admonished.
“Well, it’s not like I’m looking for drama. I just heard someone say that. Do they think I killed Mikhail?” she insisted over his voice.
Even as cute as he looked trimmed up as Prince, Mason still managed a flat and dark look.
“The council knows you didn’t. Those are the only people who matter. You know that people here spin rumors whenever they please. What you promised me is that you wouldn’t take the bait.” His face suddenly changed from anger to urgency. “You promised me you’d stay out of these things. You know I’m not going to let anything happen to you if you don’t work against me.”
Avery heard it at the moment. The familiar and yet strange drop in his voice that indicated something pressed against his mind heavily. Secrets. Mason always felt the need to keep something from her and she was beginning to know what it sounded like very well. Avery shut her mouth and took a moment to breathe. She did promise him, and she knew the words he spoke were the truth. But he was afraid. Of keeping her on the island? Or what others would say? That she couldn’t pinpoint. It left a cold feeling with her as well.
Opting for reassurance at the moment, she reached across the table and took his hand. He kept his fist curled stubbornly, but she held on anyways.
“It’s not like that. I was just confused.”
He answered smoothly. “Avery, have you ever noticed that no matter how many times the government has captured Mikhail and Eva, they always seem to get away? Do you notice that their associates never received the same chance?”
She looked on blankly for a moment. She did know firsthand how many times they had captured the two. But how that was different than any poorly-run human court, she wasn’t sure.
“They’re stronger than the others,” she tried.
Mason’s lips turned downwards. This time he met her eyes and leaned forward. Only with his closeness did she realize how cold the area had grown. Avery gave a cursory glance to the world around them. The curtains of the cabana were sheer and transparent. But even the Guard stood like statues more than fifteen feet away. Mason whispered as if he’d known already they could be heard.
“Avery, it’s treason to kill a harpie of royal blood. This includes Mikhail. This includes Eva. But when the government caught the other Band members, they were executed instantly—assuming they were not weak or worthy enough to go trial, which most aren’t. You understand that even the entire council is made up of royal bloodlines that may have ruled the nation at some point or another. They don’t since my bloodline has become head of the monarch but they could whenever my bloodline dies out.
“So, you see, it doesn’t matter the crime. The council, the monarch as a whole, doesn’t want to create the precedent that royalty can be killed. They will only banish. Avery, it is a terrible thing, despite how bad Mikhail was, to be accused of killing him.”
Avery hadn’t known what she expected to hear, but that hadn’t been it. She sat back in the seat and fell into silence. Her heart pounded too loudly in her ears to hear anything else. Mason and Avery had fought to the death with Mikhail. But they didn’t technically kill him. Eva had and she was already banished.
“So the rumors...” she started, but stopped. She didn’t know where to go from there.
“They’re just rumors, Avery. Everyone knows better except maybe the peasants. And even if they didn’t, those who remembered Mikhail were no fan of his. They’d just look up to you. Maybe think you’re much stronger than you are. The council knows better. Their fears about you being dangerous are
going to fade...”
“Fears?” she prompted instantly but Mason shook his head immediately.
“That’s neither here nor there. Let it go, I shouldn’t have mentioned it.”
Avery groaned in frustration. She sat in the middle of a confusing world and every time she got a lead, Mason took it away. He obviously thought ignorance was safer, but she would argue that was rarely so. But rather than launching into a tirade, she let it go because she had technically promised. This was a date, Avery reminded herself. She hadn’t been seeing much of him lately and forced his hand to lace fingers with hers. Mason gave in this time.
“So I was promised to be swept off my feet. When is that part going to happen?” Avery regretted it immediately because she only managed to make her own self blush. Mason’s green eyes connecting heavily with hers a moment later only made it worse.
“Two days from now. Actually. I have a plan for you.”
Avery had to break the gaze before her expressions changed too radically. She glanced to the side, towards the water. The sun began to set and the area was growing darker. The wind had picked up and the tide beat down stronger. The scent of salt water had become so typical for her now, she didn’t notice how much it permeated the atmosphere. Her eyes slid left, to the Guard members. Leon was among them, but much farther back, and facing outwards to the group of girls who hovered there. While they didn’t stare in Mason’s direction, Avery noticed the occasional eyes drift back his way for a fleeting second.
“A plan?” she asked.
“I don’t want to give away my secrets. But I will be making you official. Or as far as everyone else is concerned. Are you done?” He gestured towards her food and only with her nod did he stand. He held out her hand so she accepted it. Mason took the first step off the cabana and everyone in the vicinity moved with him. The Guard budged, the flock of harpies behind them backed up, and the staff swooped in to hold the curtains clear of their heads. It was a nice, unnecessary gesture that left Avery waving awkwardly. She wasn’t used to or good at expecting the royal treatment.
Avery followed Mason in silence as he led her back towards the capitol building. She was betting he wanted a more comfortable place to talk and she was right. The second they cleared the last of the market, his shoulders instantly slouched. She hadn’t realized how stiff he’d been until then.
“Every time the crown is passed onto the successor, the council throws a giant gathering. The commencement ball. It’s an event fit for legend. Or a romance novel.”
She stopped in place and forced him to stop moving too.
“A ball?” she echoed.
Mason laughed abruptly and stepped closer. Without so many prying eyes, he must have deemed it safe to draw her closer to his chest. Avery didn’t even notice. Her imagination was getting the best of her.
“You’ll like it. You couldn’t not like it. I wanted it to be a surprise but I knew if I brought it on you quickly, you wouldn’t go.”
Avery wasn’t sure she was going to go now. Her head was floating at the thought of it. Mason’s hands swept behind her back and gave a push. Only when she rocked into him did she snap out of her daze.
“I can’t believe you.” She smiled anyways, laying her hands on his chest.
“Hundreds of girls fight to be my date to this event.”
Avery reluctantly broke free from him to raise an eyebrow at his words.
“Oh, I’m sorry. Am I in the running among hundreds of girls?” she said, but her tone was caught between annoyance and playfulness. The flock of women that had been following Mason made abrupt sense. Avery couldn’t resist the urge to turn her head and look for them now.
The group had thinned, but three girls still hovered by the market’s edge. For the first time, they met Avery’s eyes when she glanced their way. Their expressions could have matched Mikhail’s. Or Adalyn’s. Avery turned back.
“It’s not like that. But I am the prince. People hoping to get a special place within the monarch tend to shove their unwed daughters my way.”
“I’m sorry, Mason. Is this you trying to dig yourself out of a hole? Because it’s only making it worse!” She held her hands up and open for emphasis although her gaped jaw would probably have been enough.
He scrambled to correct himself.
“Not like that! I mean, it’s true, but I’m not looking for unwed daughters. Or harpies. Or anyone else.” He finally slowed his breathing, and his last few sentences became more coherent. He bit his lower lip in a pleading gesture and held his hands out for her again. She made him wait a full moment before she accepted and this time, he pulled her in and squeezed.
“Don’t be so jealous, Avery.”
“I’m not jealous!”
He chuckled and that only made it worse. Though she couldn’t feel the weight of the ‘unwed daughters’ stares, she knew they hadn’t left. Avery had to admit one thing. Though they huddled like high school girls, the women were truly beautiful. Hair in intentional curls, blonde locks bobbed the perfect length of their shoulders and framed oval faces. They were tall as most harpies, but filled out perfectly to be beautiful and not lanky. Makeup done carefully, it looked like their faces were bare, but Avery knew it was impossible to have those perfect bronzed cheeks and high cheekbones without intervention.
Tugging at her own curls, she freely fingered what Evelyn had done. She hadn’t liked the star treatment but had to admit she could use it again. Not for Mason, Avery reminded herself mentally, just for fun.
“I mean, you wouldn’t be jealous if I had to take a date to my high school party. Ya know, just because Leela pushes human guys at me doesn’t mean it’s anything to be worried about.”
He went silent for only seconds but she could hear the hum of vibration in his chest.
“Jealous, no. Worried, no. Because you’re going to like it here. And human boys have nothing on me.” His ego had returned full force.
She let out a breath and leaned in closer. For a long time, she’d wished they’d legitimized their relationship by taking it to the next level. At this very moment, she had to admit it was nice to slow it down.
Mason shifted his cheek on her hair.
“Now which human boy was this? Would anyone notice if he went missing?”
“Mason, down boy!” She grinned upward at him and accepted his kiss as an apology.
Fourteen
“You are the talk of the town! And it’s all because of me!” Evelyn’s voice replaced her knocking and Avery opened the door to find the woman beaming on the other side. “I’m so good at what I do! Except I still think you should have reconsidered the hair style.”
Avery stepped back. She’d been awake long enough to shower and eat. Now the woman’s overwhelming presence seemed so much more welcome than yesterday.
“Talk of the town?” Avery prompted to direct the harpie woman’s excitement. Evelyn refocused on Avery and stopped her mini-victory jog around the room.
“Sit down. Here. You’re not going out today so I don’t need my full set.” The woman directed her onto the seat of Avery’s desk. There was a mirror set above it and fluorescents above that. Evelyn dropped a bag onto the ground and fetched supplies from it. On the table she dumped a hair brush, spray, and some type of bottle that reeked of strong jasmine.
As if their one session had left her skilled with the curls, she tamed Avery’s hair instantly. Then Evelyn answered.
“Everyone is scrambling to find out who you are. You are the beautiful, mysterious human girl. Now that the commencement is coming up, you’re big news!” She sprayed Avery’s hair down until all oxygen had left the room. Avery coughed subsequently. Only when she could get a breath, she croaked.
“Yeah. Mason’s bringing me to that dance.”
“That dance? It’ll be the biggest ball we’ve had in centuries! It comes every year before the big speech. And at these two events, the whole world will be looking at you. Well, at His Majesty but you will be by his side.”
“I have a dress picked out for you. And you’ll have to be up bright and early!”
Avery was fearful of knowing what bright and early actually meant. She had no clock in her room; the only numbers she assigned to time came from her cell phone. But that last link to the human world was almost in vain. The phone mostly sat dead by her night stand. Her worries threatened to take her, but she quashed them. She’d spoken with Leela. The girl had been alright even if a bit spastic. It turned out Nate and Leela were having a bit too much trouble actually adjusting to living together. After having lived with Leela for four years, Avery could attest to how difficult it was.