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Nineteen
Senara
"Are you even allowed to be here right now?" I asked as Wyn and I continued to chat outside the party that was, theoretically, being held in my honor, not that it felt like that at all.
"Not really, but I figured a little glamour wouldn't be noticed until I found you and we chatted. I just wanted to make sure everything was okay since I hadn't talked to you since we arrived at court. That being said, I do need to go back to the dorms." She glanced away from me, looking at the floor for a second as she tried to suppress a grin. "I stuffed the pillows in my bed to make it look like I was there, since they knew that I wanted to come and had told me not to." She shook her head, though the smile still didn't quite leave her. "I'm sure somebody will be by to check on me soon, but I had to see you and make sure you were okay. You're my sister, after all." She bumped her shoulder against mine and gave me a soft smile this time. "If anything bad happens, you can always come to me. Just ask somebody where the Mage dorms are and they'll probably be able to give you directions. Everybody seems to know it around here."
I gave her a nod before saying, "Go on, get back so you don't get in trouble."
"Are you going to go back to the party?" Wyn asked warily, standing and brushing off the skirt of her dress. I made a note to ask where she'd found time to get a dress, and where she'd found the money to get one as nice as that, but those questions would need to wait until the next time we spoke.
I sighed. "I feel like I should, since it's supposed to be about me."
"I think that would be a good idea," she said quietly as she looked down at me. "If nothing else, it would give you the chance to meet some people like that lute player. He looked interesting."
"He said some things I...didn't expect," I hedged.
Curiosity sparkled in her eyes. "You'll have to tell me more about that later," she said before walking away.
I watched his wind walk down the hallway, disappearing around a corner, and sat there for a few moments by myself, hoping to gather the courage to go back into the room. It wasn't that anybody was being overtly mean to me, or that I even felt all that out of place, but I definitely felt like I was being watched and judged. And from my past experiences in life, that was something I tended to avoid, which also meant that I was avoiding going back into the party.
Maybe I could just walk away?
The problem was I didn't know where I was expected to stay now that I wasn't being held in a glass prison. In fact, I had no idea what my life now would look like, only that Thorn was supposed to be training me. Whatever that meant.
Somehow I doubted that meant he was in control of where I slept or where I went when we weren't training, but nobody had really said anything to me about those things either. Was I just meant to come up with the answer by myself?
Everything about being in the fae lands had been confusing and somewhat unpleasant so far. I thought things with Thorn were getting better, but it turned out I was completely wrong about that.
"Avoiding your own party, are we?" A male voice said from just down the hallway. I hadn't even heard him approach, which meant that I was wrapped up in my own thoughts entirely too much.
I gave him a tight-lipped smile, unsure how to react to his words. "Maybe I'm just taking a breather."
He chuckled. The fae's hair was silver and his eyes were a blueish-purple, which meant that he was from the Moonlit Court, the same as me, so at least he wasn't even more dangerous than I had initially thought. He wore a cream shirt that was open at the neck with a silver jacket over it, and a deep purple cape over that. The cape was fastened around his neck with a large glowing purple stone.
It gave him a slightly eerie look, and made me want to back up, but if I did then it would be into a hallway that would probably only lead me further away from the party, and the people located therein. In the end I had to stand my ground, not only because getting back to a crowded area was smarter, but because I was tired of being pushed around in the fae lands just because I was smaller and weaker.
His high cheekbones and perfectly smooth skin spoke of wealth, and though a lot of fae wore earrings and other jewelry, there was nothing on him except for the jewel on his cloak and a silver band wrapped around the shell of each of his ears. It didn't help that he had perfectly pouty lips and delicately arched eyebrows either. Everything about him just screamed pompous rich kid.
"Maybe it's a good thing you're not in there anymore, since it means I get to introduce myself. Illurial Leoquinal Laesascinn."He flourished his hand and bowed. "It's a pleasure to meet you, blessed child of the goddess." His voice wasn't unpleasant, but there was something about it that sounded...false.
"Senara Willow. It's nice to meet you." I decided that playing dumb might get me further with this fae than being my stubborn self, especially when he seemed like he thought he was very important. Who knows, maybe he was, but his name and clothing meant nothing to me. "Are you moon marked, like me?" I tried to make myself mimic Wyn's curiosity, that wide-eyed stare she'd get that was adorable.
His expression changed at my tone and became positively lascivious as his gaze swept down my body once more. "I am moon marked, though it's nothing as big and beautiful as yours."
"Mine's big?" I asked, as I stepped forward intending to edge past him.
"Mmhmm. I could show you mine for reference, if you'd like?"
This guy must have thought I was born yesterday. I suppose in some ways I was, at least when it came to fae culture, but men, it seemed, were the same whether they were human or fae.
"Isn't that supposed to be private?" I stage whispered at him.
He chuckled in response. "If it is then surely that means you're a bit of a hussy with it all being on display like that."
A blush rose on my cheeks even though I tried to will it away. "I didn't get to choose my outfit," I snapped a little too harshly.
Illurial backed up a step before regaining his composure and coming even closer than before as I tried to work my way around him and back to the party. "Do you like it when others dress you up? And maybe even more when they undress you?" He was full on leering at me now.
