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Dirnyn’s spell should last long enough to be in and out before Lord Everan notices me. I stand taller, leaner, with sharpened features. I did not want Zyranth to see me like this, so Mirose and I stepped away in secret.
He knows. But I could not bear him to see me as a dark elf.
Even if it’s only temporary.
Getting in is easy, as I appear now. My ethereal features and fine clothes bar the guards from rejecting me at the door. Lord Everan seems to have invited all of his allies tonight in a somber sort of party, without the festivities.
Dirnyn has not been invited for obvious reasons.
I, however, go undetected as I slip through the gorgeous array of dark elves from every corner of Protheka. It takes me some time to acclimate, but they see me as one of their own, smiling with interest or reverence I’ve never experienced from their kind.
“Excuse me,” a male dark elf says behind me. “Do you have a moment to spare?”
I pivot smoothly, maintaining an air of aloofness.
Two young dark elves are staring as if they’ve seen a goddess, the bolder one stepping forward, offering to take my hand.
I hold it out, and he kisses it, grinning like a schoolboy. “It is an honor to meet someone from a place so far away as Orthani. My father is from Oshta, himself.”
“Are you friends of Lord Everan?” I ask, cutting straight to the chase. Dirnyn said this disguise would be convincing, but I didn’t realizehowconvincing. It’s a relief to know that the dark elves can’t sense the magic shimmering over my skin.
“Yes,” he says, nodding enthusiastically. “He is a longstanding ally of ours. Are you here to support him?”
“In a way,” I say smoothly, letting the meaning hang heavy with insinuation. “I am here to find allies, myself.”
His gray eyes widen slightly.
I am used to the art of subterfuge, but with the right face, it seems I can get away with anything. I lower my voice and lean in as if to share a deep secret. “Lord Everan has wronged my clan. My little sister, he –” I make a show of struggling to speak on the lie. “He promised to marry her. But she never came home, and we feared the worst… I’m sorry, it is too difficult to talk about.”
The dark elf comes in closer, a worried expression cut across his youthful countenance. “It is true then,” he whispers, catching my shoulder as if to comfort me. “There have always been rumors, but to do that to his own kind. Unfathomable. You must be beside yourself.”
I let my actions speak for me, finding real tears to shed and letting my elven eyes glitter. “You could not imagine the pain.” But even as I struggle to maintain emotions I do not truly possess, I offer a recovering smile. “That is why I came tonight. To find justice for my sister. I hear tomorrow he will be dueling.”
The youth’s expression firms. “He has consigned our soldiers for the task.”
“He does not deserve such loyal allies,” I say wistfully. “Ah, forgive me. It is my emotions that cause me to speak out of turn.”
“You have every right to speak, Lady…”
“Elluin.”
“Lady Elluin,” he says as if tasting my false name. “You will be sure that tomorrow when the duel comes, Lord Everan will not see aid from the House of Naenelis.”
I make a show of relief and gratitude. But in the back of my mind, I’m reeling at how smoothly this went. I offer the youth a parting kiss, which warms his cheeks. “You are my hero,” I murmur, almost meaning it. “I will be forever in your debt.”
He offers a chivalrous smile, beaming at the unfettered attention.
I don’t think he truly cares about my imaginary sister. But the lies do their work on him, and I have found one more ally to go against Lord Everan tomorrow. After my first success, I flit around the great hall and engage in several more muted conversations of similar nature.
Each one is wildly successful so that when I adjourn to the drinking fountain, there is a steady hum of dissent regarding Lord Everan. I do not need to hear every word to know that Lord Everan’s alliances are dropping like flies.
What resonates through the nobles will trickle down to their staff, and the servants beneath them. Before the night is through, I will have them all in the grasp of Lady Elluin, Everan’s unsung adversary.
And by morning, she will not exist.
Someone slips their arm in mine, and I do my best impression of a gentle startle, glancing over to see an aging dark elf matron, her purple eyes homing in on me. “I have heard you’re causing a ruckus, this evening.”
My heart leaps into my throat.
