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I thought back to just half a year earlier, before Kai managed to break the curse I put on him, and before I’d finally allowed myself to make friends. Before we’d figured out that the Shrouded Shriek was responsible for so much of my pain.
Darla was right, of course. Back then, I talked to someone once a week at most, outside of given orders, and I did my best to flee from anything remotely akin to conversation. I certainly wouldn’t have gossiped, gabbed, or otherwise socialized willingly.
So much had changed, hadn’t it? It really struck me for a moment, and I realized how much I owed to so many people. To Kai first, but also to Darla, Mad Dog, even Oren, and most definitely Yvonne. Should… should I have got the enchantress a present? What did you get a woman who had powerful magic, anything else she wanted, and even the perfect wife?
Something to think about later when I wasn’t worried about the curse that was in the process of murdering myself as well as so many others. I just had to hope that its bloodlust was sated for at least a day or two from the assassin that’d been executed.
I was still Ayla, of course, and I always would be, but I was a better version of me. A version who was more honest and allowed herself to feel… well, most of the time. It was still so easy to fall into certain habits.
“If gabbing is what’s on the menu,” Mad Dog said, sitting down in his chair and kicking his feet up on the table. Darla gave his heavy boots a look, but the grisly warrior didn’t even so much as blink. “Then, count me in. What’s the latest gossip?”
“Eh, the usual,” Darla said with a wave of her hand.
I knew she loved the intrigue and drama of it all as much as the next person, but I supposed the budding relationship with Oren was taking up a good part of her mind. Well, that was a good thing. I was sure that as distracted as she was, she was still keeping a sharp eye out for anything concerning.
“A lot of hearsay about Kai’s fiancé… what was her name? Charity? No, that’s not right. Why do I wanna say… Fancy? Fanciful?”
“Felicity.”
I thought I’d answered evenly enough, but both Darla and Mad Dog sent a glance that told me I’d fallen short of my goal.
“What?”
“Nothing,” Darla said. I would have pressed her more, but there was yet another knock on the door, and this time we were all fairly sure it was our breakfast.
“Saved by the staff,” Mad Dog said with a chuckle before hurrying to the door. It was good to see him so spry again, and strange to think that we’d almost lost him all because I’d underestimated my curse. But I wasn’t going to do that again. There was no way.
It didn’t exactly take long for the three of us to dive in together, stuffing ourselves as shifters tended to do. Even Darla ate an impressive portion, leaning back and patting her slightly rounded stomach with a contented sigh once she was done.
“Oh, man, that was good. Should get me through to this evening.”
“What, are we not eating lunch?” I said, looking up with wide eyes. At Fort Canid, I could easily go the whole day without eating if I got wrapped up in my work, but here, it wasn’t like I had much to occupy myself beyond avoiding being spotted by the castle’s inhabitants and visitors.
“I don’t know about you, but I don’t think the tailor or Seraphina would be happy with us eating while doing our hair, getting us into those fancy, traditional dresses, then putting way too much jewelry on us.”
I stuck my tongue out. The dresses we’d tried on had certainly been beautiful, yet I wasn’t really in the mood to be dolled up like I was performing as a princess or royal lady. I was much more settled than I’d been the day before, but the revelation about the Shriek still bit into the edges of my mind, encouraging my anxiety to run rampant.
“I will demand breaks, then,” I said stubbornly, but Darla just laughed.
“Do it. I would love to see you and the princess finally butt heads. It had to happen eventually.”
“Here I thought you were too burnt out on drama of the palace inhabitants,” Mad Dog said around a truly large bite of turkey leg. This wasn’t normal fares for the breakfasts we were served, so either he’d put a special request in, or the palace was really showing off for the gala.
It was crazy to see all the opulence and food wealth that was abundant in the palace while all the auxiliary staff at Fort Canid had to work so hard to keep all of us fed. Between the gardens and the deals we had with the surrounding villages, who also depended on those trades to survive, it was full-time work to ensure an army of shifters and cryptids had enough food to fuel them.
Gods, I really wished I could take an eraser to the capital. I loved the beauty of it, I loved the plants and the mix of cultures, but I hated the way they ignored the world outside the city. Their willful ignorance was not only infuriating but dangerous.
Vekas’ forces were encroaching closer and closer. It wouldn’t be too long before they would’ve broken down our defenses to the point that all the forces the capital could muster wouldn’t be enough to slow them down.
I didn’t understand how the king couldn’t see that, especially with Kai telling him about his experiences at Fort Canid. His blind insistence seemed suicidal at this point, but from what I’d observed of King Nathaniel, he was far too high on his own fumes and alpha status to ever be okay with killing himself.
Strange. So strange. Maybe I would take some time at the gala to really observe him. Try to just watch so I’d understand him and his bizarre way of thinking.
Hopefully, people would be willing to leave me alone so I could tuck myself into some corner and pretend I wasn’t dressed in a gown that cost several years of my wages as a healer.
“This isn’t drama,” Darla corrected primly. “This is entertainment.”
“I’m not going to be your own personal soap opera,” I retorted before filling my plate yet again. If I wasn’t going to eat lunch, then I was going to make sure my stomach was about as full as I could make it. “Besides, I wouldn’t do anything that bummed Seraphina out. At least not on purpose.”
