AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I perked up against the balcony when I saw them, the magical beings that called the Light faction home. I didn’t have to notice their pastel clothes or their glimmering skin. All glowed with a sense of belonging. Faeries and witches and immortalsintermingled with each other, gossiping and drinking and trading secrets, I imagined.
From my right ear, I could hear Kalen let out a snarky chuckle.
“What?” I groaned.Here we go.
“Nothing,” Kalen smiled. “I was just thinking about how right I was to not let you anywhere near this party. You hide nothing in that striking face of yours.”
He was right. I could feel dense crinkles at the corner of each eye from the smile I had been wearing. Striking. A compliment? Probably backhanded. I pulled on the leash of my heart when it began to race.
A row of laughter sounded from below, and I jumped at the opportunity to put my attention elsewhere. When I found the ruckus, I felt I might be sick over the railing. It was Mirona, stunning and dressed down so scantily I couldn’t help my blush. She’d toppled off the lap of Donis, splattering wine down her front. And instead of offering to help his mistress, he made quick jabs at her clumsiness and barked for her to retrieve him another glass. All of the other men around him, also naval officers if their dress was any indication, hooted and hollered at her expense. In a split second, Mirona was suddenly on the move, red from head to dress to toe, flouncing towards the serving tables to fetch her partner a new drink. She was a walking contradiction. Her face was flushed and bitter, but her gait was still eager to please. I tried my best not to scream from my place on the balcony. I didn’t know what I would say, and I’d already almost blown cover once for the sake of saving Mirona. It hadn’t done much good for Kalen and I’s cause, either. So instead, I turned to him.
“Why is she acting so...”
“Obedient?” He was scrutinizing every angle of my face.
I nodded.
“Such is the nature of being a Yield. Donis is now the one person on earth who has matched his heart with her own,”he explained, sliding his hands across the rough skin of the banister.
I let out a sound of disgust. “You do her no justice romanticizing the entire forsaken affair.”
“It is not my job to do the girl justice, Gwyn,” he replied, still looking down at the congregation below. “You see her now. She is alive. Albeit with a master to serve, but I’m sure she is quite thrilled to be breathing.”
“I can’t believe you would speak so heinously about this. In a way that gives you no credence—not even a redeemable speck of compassion.”
“And I can’t believe you would expect anything different.”
I growled in response. “She is a child, Kalen. At least by our standards. A child, taken and put into a world—no, alifeshe does not want and may have no ability to understand. And she is restored, for what? To sit on Donis’ lap and fill his cup?”
He surprised me with a smile. Dramatic and dazzling as it split open nearly ear to ear. I reverted my face into a twist of anger, trading the impassioned doe-eyes for judgy little slats.
“Don’t,” Kalen said with a chuckle. “I’m not laughing at you, I promise.”
Good.
Kalen’s palms raised to his shoulders in defense. “It’s just...you are exactly who I thought you would be. It is remarkable.”
The heat of his delight melted me faster than I would have ever admitted. I was still upset with him. But I could never seem to stay that way for long.
“What?” I snarked. “Was I a high-strung champion of mortal rights even before I got shoved into the Binding? Is that what your biographies on me said?”
“Well, I never read of you attacking a man with a candlestick over it,” I cursed the twitch of my lips. Kalen’s smile faded and he said, “But you were something like that, yes.”
We both turned back to the bizarre celebration below. Mirona had returned to Donis, who took the chalice from her hands, ignoring her as she sat back on his lap.
“When we get through this, remind me to see to it those records are burned to ash.”
Just as fast as the light had gone from his face, there he beamed again. Dazzling.
“As you wish. But I must go now, there are a few obligations I need to attend to before the party truly begins.”
Quickly, Kalen took a deep bow and turned on his heel towards the stairs leading down into the hall. When he left my side, I ignored the pinch of discomfort and decided not to let him leave my sight as he descended the stairs to the main floor. Between all the pastel poufs and bejeweled bodices, Kalen was as dark as a shadow splitting the crowd with ease.
Slowly, as he made his way into the heart of the party, I began to notice that anyone he passed showed him courtesy. A graceful bow of the head from the males, a bouncing curtsy from the women. A polite gesture to the host? I couldn’t be sure, but the air had turned heavy and thick. By the time he reached the huge crest painted in the middle of the room, a line had formed at the star’s southernmost point.
“Who will be the first,” Kalen shouted into the dome. The strength in his tone rattled against the glass and shot back down through the hall. I raised slightly on the tips of my toes, leaning against the railing as I searched the many faces below me for an explanation. What the hell was he doing?
A young mortal woman and her children approached. All too thin and dressed in threads that were not quite as rich as our other patrons. They were shaking, completely in awe of Kalen. That expression came over everyone in the hall, myself included. Kalen was glowing. A subtle but distinct brilliance that made everything around him seem lifelessly dull. From my highvantage point, I could see the mortals start to shake, buzzing with excitement.
