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Cole flashed a grin at me, enjoying my surprise. He withdrew his sword, the weight gone as quickly as it had been pressed against me. He held out a hand to help me up, and I took it, still off-kilter from our match.
“The one that had to be postponed because the guest of honor was stuck as a wolf.” A knowing look.
In my honor?
“Anyway, there’s late and fashionably late, and no doubt your friend has been waiting impatiently for us to finish so the two of you can get ready together.”
Sure enough, when I finally tore my gaze away from Cole and glanced up, Daphne was gesticulating pointedly on the upper level. The entire act included arms thrown up, tapping the invisible watch on her wrist, and a heavy sigh.
Daphne was big on punctuality.
We retreated back to the bedroom I shared with Cole to get ready. It was disconcerting to see another person in the space, even if it was my best friend. In all the time I’d spent at the palace, I’d never seen or scented another person inside it. The room was always tidied up by the time I returned from training, though, which was probably due to some type of magic.
“That was quite the performance between you two,” Daphne mused from the main room while I washed up. I had dirt up crevices I hadn’t even known existed after rolling around in the arena.
I laughed from inside the shower. “Not bad for just one day of training.”
“Oh, that too,” Daphne said nonchalantly. “You looked like you’d been training for years. But I was referring to the whole glaring at any male who looked at you and then pinning you in front of everyone. I mean, damn, girl. I knew Cole generally gave off look-at-her-too-long-and-I’ll-rip-your-eyes-out vibes, but that was on another level.”
“That’s just how he is,” I insisted while I rinsed the soap from my hair and shut the water off.
“That’s how he iswith you.”
I didn’t dispute the point. I toweled off and came back into the room wearing a big, fluffy robe. Daphne was at the far edge of the room, looking at the shelves that lined the far wall. Though I called it a bedroom, the place was massive. Aside from the enormous en suite bathroom complete with the walk-in shower I’d just spent twenty minutes luxuriating in, there was the giant four-poster bed and an entire living area where Daphne now stood, lined with shelves of books, an ever-burning fireplace, two comfortable seats that reminded me of those from the library that was now destroyed, and a couch that faced the flames.
“Let’s get you ready.” Daphne clapped her hands in excitement. “The ball starts in less than an hour, and Hecate said you’re the guest of honor.”
“Funny how he didn’t mention it all day,” I grumbled.
Daphne made a comment about thoughtless males not understanding how long it took to get properly ready, but it still bothered me. It was more than that. Why hadn’t he told me? I didn’t believe for a minute Cole had simply forgotten.
Daphne had already done her makeup while I was in the shower. Where she’d gotten it from, I could only imagine. Despite pestering Hecate, it was clear Daphne didn’t possess a drop of magic. At least not like mine—I suspected she could’ve enchanted the guards to give her anything she wanted with a bit of a smile.
“Let’s get you all prettied up. Not that you ever need much, lucky bitch.”
Daphne liked to tease me about the fact I didn’t need makeup. I had never really bothered in the pack because what difference would it make? They’d bully me mercilessly, whether my skin was clean of product or mascara was running. If anything, Sabine would’ve enjoyed the latter more.
But I found myself wanting to wear it. Not because I truly needed it, but I just wanted to feel pretty rather than functional.
The realization surprised me, but there it was. For the first time in my life, I actually wanted someone to look at me and think I was the most beautiful person in the room.
“He will. But I think he’d look at you that way even if you were covered in mud.”
I hadn’t realized I'd spoken aloud.
“I’ve never wanted someone like this,” I confessed.
“You’ve never wanted anything.” Daphne’s voice was soft. “But you deserve it, Avery. You just have to take a chance.”
She’d positioned me on the couch, the warm embers lighting my face while she began to uncap various products and apply them.
“What if it’s the wrong thing to do, though?”
“What could be wrong about it?” Daphne countered. “He’s hot, he’s obviously into you, you’re into him, and he’d rip the world apart to protect you. Goddess, Avery, if I understand Hecate right, he did do that.”
“He’s keeping stuff from me, Daphne. The shit about me having been reincarnated from his queen? How is that possible? And then you have Hecate saying I’m supposed to become the queen again, but she won’t answer any questions either.”
“Quit scrunching your eyebrows. It’s messing me up,” Daphne instructed. “And, Avery… does it really matter?”
