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This ball wasn't supposed to matter to me, either. If anything, it was another meaningless gathering of people I wasn't supposed to care about.
But deep down, I cared. I cared about the ball. I cared about this damn dress. I cared about the way my hair wasn't as shiny as it was before, about whether he would like the way the thin fabric of the long dress hugged my curves.
Lanson was kind and strong. I would bond with him, and he would help me get through the Transcendent.
Not Wolf.
I pictured how Wolf would react if he were here seeing me in this tight dress, a very different uniform than the casual training outfit I wore every day.
No, Huntyr,I thought.You don't care what he thinks.He wouldn't even bother attending an event like this one. He was too cool, too calculated.
The pit in my stomach grew. I wasn't supposed to be thinking about him. I was supposed to be thinking about my date, about Lanson.
I shook my head and turned away from the mirror.
Lanson was nice. He was considerate; he protected me, and damn, I was starting to believe that he actually liked me. Much more than Wolf liked me, anyway.
A rapid knock on my door stole my attention.
"Huntyr?" Lanson's voice rang out.
I scurried to the door, gripping the knob and opening it with a sigh of relief.
Lanson stood there with a bundle of white roses in his hand.
His eyes immediately landed on mine, only drifting after a second to take in the length of my dress. I couldn't stop the blood from rushing to my cheeks.
"Damn, Huntyr," he sighed. "You look… you look stunning."
"Yeah, well," I stammered, glancing down at my feet strapped into the slim heels, "the school provided the dress."
The shoes were awkward and unnatural. It would have been easy to kick them off, to walk barefoot through the castle, but I shoved my feet into the tiny prisons anyway.
"Still," he pushed. "Even in your training clothes, you'd be the best looking fae at the ball tonight."
His eyes flickered with an emotion that made my stomach flip.
"We better get going." I swallowed, turning to close the bedroom door behind me. I gave the space one last scan, taking in Wolf's perfectly made bed, before clicking it shut.
Lanson's hand immediately wrapped around my back. I reminded myself not to flinch away; he had no idea what lingered on the skin beneath.
Nobody did.
I’d made sure of that.
We walked in comfortable silence, eventually joining the lingering students waiting to be let into the ballroom on the base floor of the academy.
And I absolutely hated that I was nervous.
"Isn't it strange?" I asked Lanson. "We're supposed to kill each other to get into The Golden City, and they want us to drink and dance and forget all our problems for the night."
Lanson laughed. "At least they're providing the drinks," he whispered, his breath brushing over the tip of my ear.
"It better be worth it," I murmured back, more to myself than to him.
And I meant it. The biggest social gathering I attended in Midgrave was drinking ale at the tavern with Rummy. This was out of my comfort zone. It was unlike everything I’d been trained to do.
I let Lanson lead me to the table of food and wine, not hesitating in the slightest when he handed me a glass of red liquid.
