“Very well.”
“Are you busy? I can take Eli as a guide if you are.”
“I will accompany you,” Tristan said. “My business can wait.”
Austin hummed. “I’ll go change.”
Back in his room, Austin called in Eli and gestured to the sheer shirts he’d arranged on the bed. “This is what’s worn in Hal’s court?” Next to the shirts, he’d laid out the jewelled body chains.
Eli nodded.
Austin considered his options. He gravitated to the silver-and-blue jewelled chain and picked it up. This, he would behappy to wear, but he disliked the sheer, sleeveless shirts meant to show it off.
“There’s this one.” From one of the racks, Eli pulled out a long-sleeved shirt in the style Austin had been wearing the past few weeks, but the fabric was silvery-sheer.
“Yes,” Austin said, immediately pleased. He still refused the shorter shorts, going for a longer cut that fell just before his knees. Eli pulled out a pair of sandals threaded with silver strands, and when he wound them up Austin’s calves, they looked like a piece of jewellery too.
Eli plaited and pinned his hair, and when Austin glimpsed himself in one of the long mirrors Tristan had attained for him, he found a hedonistic, indecent creature staring back at him. Silver eyes glittered as brightly as the jewels adorning his body. This was not a creature that could be locked up. It was one that was powerful and stood at the precipice of hierarchies.
A pleased hum vibrated in his throat. An answering gasp fell from Eli’s lips.
He reached for his ears, like those who fell prey to Austin’s voice often did, but his expression was one of singular delight, not pain. Goosebumps spread across Eli’s arms, his eyelids fluttering.
Austin stared in surprise. “What did that feel like?”
Eli looked half dazed. “Divine. Like the first listen of a beautiful ballad. Do you ever sing?” His gaze fell upon Austin’s mouth. “A siren song…”
“I don’t sing.” Growing up, the idea was toavoiddrawing Cessair’s notice, and singing would certainly have done the opposite. By the time Cessair was gone, his voice was something to be strangled silent to prevent harm.Sing. Austin snorted. As if.
Eli’s nerves about yesterday seemed to finally be gone.
Austin turned back to him. “Where are you from?”
“Vere. That’s to the east,” Eli added at Austin’s blank look. “Just on the edge of Prince Hal’s territory.” He caught his lower lip with his teeth and hesitated. After a second, he continued. “I grew up in the Vere fighting pits. Not as a fighter, obviously.” He flashed a self-deprecating smile that faded instantly. “My family ran the fights there for many years, and I helped. I came to the city a year ago and have been working and training to be an attendant ever since.”
His efficiency at arranging the fight made sense, as did his ease with organising. “What made you leave?”
Eli’s amusement was well and truly gone now. His lips parted like someone was forcing his mouth open. Austin turned away from him, purposefully dismissive and uninterested. “You don’t have to answer.”
???
Behind the tall main building was a large barn and stables, surrounded by green fields that stretched over a gentle slope and ended in a solid wall of thick forestry. Sweet, fragrant oats were knocked from a stablehand’s outstretched palm as the black horse he was attempting to feed threw up its head, jingling its harness. Three more similar beasts pranced in place, jostling a large carriage as black and formidable as they were. The only break in the dark colour was the whites of their eyes flashing.
Oran leaned against a garden wall, eyes fixed on Reba, whose wings were tucked tightly to his back. “What job is it you’re supposed to do?”
Embarrassment twisted Reba’s features, shrivelling his entire body as three more stablehands joined the first to try to calm the horses. “I can follow from behind.”
Oran’s grin was nasty. “And what are you going to guard back there?”
Reba’s cheeks reddened, but stubbornness ticked his jaw. He fixed a determined glare on Oran.
Next to the carriage stood Captain Inx, resplendent in vibrant blue, except for brown leather boots and a dark leather scabbard securing a long sword to his waist. His head was inclined towards Tristan, though his pointed, unimpressed gaze was on Oran.
Gravel crunched beneath Austin’s sandalled feet as he stepped forward. Attention shifted to him. Tristan glanced over his shoulder. His eyes dropped at once to the sheer shirt, through which the gemmed chain glittered with every step. A possessive rumble rose from the merman, and Inx quickly jerked his stare away. He marched to the other staring Troop members, twirling his finger in an urgent, silent command.Look away.
Reba tucked himself into a doorway, hiding himself from the horses, who quickly settled. Oran snorted.
Austin joined Tristan. “I want a personal guard.”
