The Prince’s hard eyes flick to mine, and its only now that I notice the color of them. They’re a striking crystal blue that looks to be paling in color, the full of them completely unnatural.
“I look forward to meeting everyone at court tonight.”
I hold his gaze with a slight nod and then glance back down at the cat. Alba is staring at me with the same unnaturalness as the Prince, their combined gazes making me shudder.
“What in the Old World were you thinking!” Alanna huffs, unpacking her travel packs from across the room. Our single beds are on opposite sides of eachother in the large cave-like chamber, the guest room extremely spacious and surrounded by the stone of the mountain.
I quickly snake my hand into the bag at my hip and unscrew Golem’s jar.
“I don’t think I was,” I let out a deep breath and hear her laugh.
“Ain’t that the truth.”
“Towards the end it just looked at me like it wanted a greeting,” I pull the bag over my shoulder and throw it on the bed, “how could I say no?”
“Politely,” Alanna rolls her eyes, “and with a step in the opposite direction.”
I shake my head at her as Golem’s padded feet move in from the balcony outside.
“She’ll get herself killed before she even makes it to the library,” Alanna greets him with a thumb pointing back at me. How she knows that I’m here to visit the library is beyond me, but I don’t even question it.
“It wasn’t that bad,” I smile at Golem, “we’re in the city of Red Falls and residing in the mountain at Fall Fortress. We have court tonight after sundown. Prince McQuoid greeted us earlier with a large, white cat-”
“-Snow tiger,” Alanna corrects.
“Snow tigerthat decided it wanted to say hello to me. I said hello back. End of story.”
Golem looks at me and then to Alanna, then glances back at me. I roll my eyes with a smile and quickly take off all my layers, walking in my black lace towards the bath. Alanna watches me like a hawk as I step into the separate chamber, her cool grey eyes piercing into my back.
“I’ll be quick.”
I take off my top and bottom and dunk into the hot water, bones warming to the core after such a cold ride. I dip my head under and rinse my hair quickly with a spiced soap I packed from Bardot, then leave the hot water behind for Alanna. I wrap a grey robe around my body that was provided by the maids, and then turn my gaze towards the Discerni when I walk back into the room.
“What are you going to wear?” I ask, thinking of the only two options I have with me.
“A dress,” she replies simply, pulling a black satin out of her packs.
No shit, I scowl.
“Do you know anything of the court?” I press, “how the women dress?”
“Most of them wear long gowns that show the full of their arms and upper chest, but besides that I’m unsure.”
“That’s helpful,” I nod.
I pull out my gold shimmering dress and lay it on the bed.
While the emerald dress would expose my arms and chest as she mentioned, it’s a bit too tight around my body and the slit too revealing. I get the impression that this Kingdom asks for traditionalism matched with subtle fire, and my gold dress will live up to that just nicely. It’ll hide the full of my front in a nod to the traditionalism, but also let the court know that I agree with their showing of skin from the back. I may even try a few twists in the front of my hair to match the women I saw in the city.
“Do you want to wander around before?” I ask Alanna just as she strips naked.
“Sure,” she shrugs, not seeming all that interested but also,probably, having nothing better to do with her night. I sigh as she walks away and comb my hair straight and in front of my face, then make sure the soft grey robe is wrapped tight around my body before heading out to the balcony outside.
The sound of the waterfall splashes hard to my left, a sound that I realize will always be present no matter where in the mountain you are. It’s calming, and the view from above is gorgeous. You can see the full of the city from up here, its roads alight in water, snow and flames.
“She’ll get herself killed,” Alanna reasserts to Golem from inside, “if not by tiger then by chill.”
I turn back to the warmth of the room and scowl in response. Alanna ignores me and lifts her dress in front of her, the black fabric falling all the way down to the ground and making my brows lift in surprise.
