“Now, Priscilla will ready you to the standards set for a formal dinner. You are to represent me now. I expect you to be on your best behavior and show them a united front.” Cyrus instructed firmly, tilting his head down to meet my eyes.
United front? Me and Cyrus? He attempts to woo me with garden tours, and in the next breath insinuates I’m going to be his to use as he pleases. There was nothingunitedbetween us. I nearly scoffed out loud at the very thought of it.
He seemed to read my thoughts, my face surely giving me away. His own face slid into harsh lines. Cyrus stood directly in front of me and grabbed my chin. “Do not embarrass me. You donot want me to have to punish you in front of the entire court, do you?”
I could feel my body quake at his words, and I locked myself in place.Do not let him see your fear, I reminded myself. He could play the nice Fae overlord all he wanted, but he showed enough of his true self in this moment. In all the little moments he didn’t realize he gave himself away. I would never fall for his deception.
There was no such thing as a benevolent slave owner.
With his threat issued, Cyrus released my chin and turned on his heel. Swiftly exiting and leaving me to nearly slump in relief. The sound of a throat clearing made me nearly jump out of my skin. I’d forgotten the girl left to get me ready for this farce.
I turned to face her, and Priscilla greeted me with a small, sympathetic smile. “Come, we have much to do.”
She led me over to the door of my room and walked through it with familiarity, heading straight to the vanity, and waving at me to sit. I walked over and eased myself into the gray tufted vanity chair.
Looking into the mirror, I could do nothing but curse the face staring back at me. Would Cyrus have ever noticed me without it? If the beauty wasn’t there, he likely wouldn’t have been paying enough attention to me to notice the rage that piqued his interest.
“You’re new to Dusk, aren’t you? One of the new ones?” The girl asked curiously as she began brushing my hair.
“Yes, I am.” I confirmed, since there was no point in denying it, the whole court had seen us arrive. I was surprised she even bothered to ask.
“You’ll learn quickly that Cyrus has a bit of a temper. He has his moments where he’s the epitome of courtly grace and charm, don’t get me wrong. But he doesn’t like to be seen as anything less than the best. And he doesn’t like to be denied.” She looked down at me and bit her lip. I wasn’t shocked to hear that at all.
Priscilla seemed to be conflicted. Worrying her bottom lip as she stared at me and debated with herself. I just blinked, curious why she seemed to be so torn. Finally, she sighed, her shoulders slumping.
“I don’t know exactly what he wants from you, but you should just let him get it over with and let his attention go elsewhere. It’s better not to have him too focused on you.” She whispered, her eyes darting to the door every other moment. I shivered, her warning appropriately ominous.
“Unfortunately, I don’t think I have much choice there.” I sighed miserably. “He was focused before I even got assigned to Dusk.”
“It’ll be easier for you if you give in, you know.” She said, like I wasn’t already well aware—like it was even an option.
“Maybe.” I allowed, tilting my head to the side. “But I’d never forgive myself either. He owns me, and I’m not going to forget that.”
She sighed, resigned that she wasn’t going to change my mind, and gave me a sad look. But she thankfully said nothing more on the subject.
This is why I didn’t bother with people.
I watched, somewhat fascinated, as she curled my hair perfectly and then did some strange, twisted half updo, with the strands strategically falling in the front to frame my face. She dusted my face with color, a glow appearing on my cheekbones and shimmering in the light, while kohl was lined onto my eyes, making my already wide eyes stand out more.
“You don’t need much. They generally request we try to make the humans prettier.” Priscilla rolled her eyes. “They think they’re the epitome of beauty and that it’s an insult if we don’t try harder to match them. But you’re already stunning, there isn’t much I need to embellish upon, honestly.”
Her words brought a flush to my cheeks. So often, I was noted for my beauty. Ridiculed for it. Singled out for it. To me, beauty seemed to have been nothing but a curse. What I wouldn’t give to be noticed for something else, for once. To be given acknowledgment for something I did, or said, or in any wayearned. To be recognized for…my soul. My brain. My talents. Anything but features I had zero control over.
Priscilla helped me into the dress the prince had instructed I wear for the evening’s events. The dress was exquisite, with a low—almost too revealing neckline, and a bodice made with velvet and silk crossing over one another down the bodice, with a skirt of sapphire blue and silver embellishments that flowed and twirled high when I spun around in it. I laughed in delight as I indulged in another spin, testing how high the skirt could fly. Priscilla bit her lip, trying to contain her laughter, but it was a lost cause. We giggled together as she encouraged me to twirl again.
We both sobered as Priscilla came from behind me to fasten a silver necklace around my neck. She smiled when she saw my ears were pierced, and added earrings that complimented the necklace. As a final touch, she slipped a bracelet over my hand and onto my wrist.
“Priscilla—” I began to protest. “This is far too much—”
Priscilla just raised a brow at me with her lips in a stern line, clearly telling me that it was, in fact, the expectation. I couldn’t believe the royal family dressed their slaves up like this just to stand behind them at dinner. It was ridiculous.
When Cyrus came back into the room, I was admittedly nervous, but when he saw me, he actually did a double take. The second look lingered for a while too. His eyes tracing every dip and curve of my body before following it up to my face and hair. He looked satisfied, and greedy. The lust in his eyes was not something I’d missed. I’d seen that look too many times.
Just never on someone who owned me before.
“You look perfect, Asteria.” Cyrus came up and took my hand, kissing the back of it. In my peripheral, I saw Priscilla’s jaw drop, before she quickly schooled her facial expression. It took all I had to stop my own jaw from falling to the floor.
A Fae, a crown prince at that, stooping to kiss the hand of a human?
