Chapter 25
Iltaand Lilith joined Delia and I as we went up to my room to change. They both insisted on helping pick my outfit, and I’d already decided to try befriending them, so I didn’t bother to fight them on it. Priscilla promised to join us once she changed her outfit, while Eris begged off to stay with Emmie. She’d refused to leave her room, crying and demanding they let her go back. It broke my heart, and I resolved to go soon to talk to her and try to help her see reason.
I was thoroughly distracted though as the three women descended into my cavern of a closet and began pulling out outfits and holding them up against me, then trying another, and another. I was a bit bewildered by the whirlwind but let them do their thing. They looked too delighted to interfere or ruin their fun.
“By Nox, this is perfect!” Ilta squealed, and we all looked at her as she held up a dress. I assumed it was a dress anyway, but—
“Why is it so short?” I questioned, my eyes going so wide, I was sure my eyes might fall out of my head. She held the dress up against my body, confirming it would hit me at mid-thigh. I’d never even considered wearing something so short before.
“It’s in style here, trust us!” Delia giggled, as she browsed through my jewelry.
“We’re not as stuffy as the other kingdoms.” Lilith added with a sly smile. “Oh, don’t get me wrong, we abide by court protocols and dress codes when needed—but for a night out….” She trailed off with a raised brow, and I sighed in defeat, taking the dress from Ilta and making her clap in excitement.
I changed quickly, pulling down the skirt as much as possible. Looking in the mirror, I stopped short at the sight of myself. I looked—amazing. The dress fell down to my thigh in a swirl of blackish purple colored fabric, the colors of the Night Kingdom—it appeared to shift from one color to the other as I twirled in the mirror. Making it look like I was wearing the night sky, which made me love it even more.
The sweetheart neckline and the inch-wide straps only added to the allure of the dress, somehow managing to be sexy, while not making me feel overly exposed—even with more skin showing than the dresses Cyrus put me in. All three women smiled at how enamored I was with the dress.
“I knew it!” Ilta proudly proclaimed as she grabbed my shoulders, meeting my eyes in the mirror. “Let’s do your hair and makeup!” I couldn’t help matching her smile. We all talked and laughed as we got ready. And when Priscilla arrived, bringing everyone else’s outfits as was apparently requested, Delia sent for champagne.
“A toast!” She called out. The rest of us quieted and held our glasses, looking at Delia expectantly. “To new friendsand freedom. To finding a home.” Her words choked me up immediately. I raised my glass, and we clinked them together. Bringing it to my mouth, I repeated her toast in my mind, and drank. The champagne bubbled like happiness down my throat, like a faraway dream realized in the flesh. I brushed away the tear leaking from my eye before anyone could see it.
Priscilla bumped her shoulder with mine, giving me an understanding smile. She looked as flustered as I was.
“How are you doing?” I managed to ask her, my throat tight from emotion.
“I’m—overwhelmed.” Priscilla laughed softly. “But in the best way? If that makes sense?”
I nodded in agreement, “Completely. This is all—a lot, but it’s more than I ever imagined we could have. When I set out to ensure we got free, I had no idea what to do afterwards. I told myself to worry about it later.” I chuckled wryly. “Thank the Old Gods for Calix and Kian, I honestly have no idea how we would have managed it otherwise.”
Priscilla was quiet for a moment, before she laid her head on my shoulder, blonde hair spilling into my dark tresses. I rested my head lightly on top of hers.
“I think you would have found a way, Asteria.” She said confidently. “I knew when I met you that you were a force to be reckoned with. I even thought that Cyrus had no idea what kind of woman he was trying to chain to him.” I snorted a laugh, and she giggled softly. “You would have found a way and look at everything you accomplished already—you need to give yourself more credit.”
I nodded, brushing my head along hers as I promised to try. We finished our glasses of champagne—watching the others get ready as we giggled between ourselves—and then made our way to the palace entryway, where we would meet up with everyone to leave.
“Is this normal?”I asked, tilting my head towards Lilith. “For the king to just—go out?”
“Calix is different from any king you’ve met before.” Lilith chuckled, leaning back to meet my eyes. “He prefers his friends to be more casual when we’re not on duty. The people love him, and unlike some of the other royals, he’s able to go out into the city without worrying about any revolts from the disenfranchised because, well—the Night Kingdom doesn’t have any.”
“At least, not anymore.” Harpina chimed in, and I swung my head towards her, my brows furrowed in question.
“Things weren’t always this way.” She explained, shrugging. “Calix took over as king when he was only one hundred and twenty, after his father was killed in battle. There was a war fought during that time between the kingdoms, with Sunrise and Sunset on one side and Dawn and Dusk on the other. Night and Day both stepped in to try to put a stop to it. King Orion, Calix’s father, and King Diell, Aelius’s father, didn’t like that trade was being suffocated because of the war, but King Orion was unfortunately killed in one of the battles.”
“Calix’s mother, Jemisha, had died birthing Liv not long before.” Ilta added softly, her eyes glinting with a sadness that seemed incongruous on the excitable Fae. “Calix thinks he was seeking death, unable to go on without his mate.”
Lilith nodded in agreement, as we all huddled in a group to ensure no one else heard us. “Calix was young, suddenly king, and he had a baby sister to raise on top of everything. He had been raised a warrior, and after his father’s death, he threw himself into it even more. He developed quite a reputation on the battlefield for the beautiful brutality he exhibited. Not to mention, his magic, his darkness, was more potent and powerfulthan anything they’d seen before. And as any young, powerful boy—” Lilith smirked, but Ilta picked up her hanging thread.
“He gained quite the ego.” Ilta laughed with a wink.
“As ridiculous as they’re making it sound, it is true.” Harpina shook her head at them both, rolling her eyes with a loud sigh. “Calix was a bit of a womanizer. Women just threw themselves at that pretty, powerful king, either hoping to be queen or just to warm his bed.” I could feel my cheeks burning harshly at her words.
I was not jealous. No. It was just—fuck. I couldn’t even think of a justification.
“But despite everything, he was serious in his duties.” Harpina emphasized. “Partying, fucking—those were the times he allowed himself to let go. There was too much on his shoulders, and he never thought further about issues like slavery because he was barely keeping his wings in the air with everything else he felt was his responsibility.”
I could easily picture it. Calix had those moments when he switched between serious and playful—both parts of him were real, I now recognized, he had just compartmentalized himself to be able to take on everything he was given.
He’d been forced to take up kingship and raise his little sister all on his own. I couldn’t imagine the pressure he must have felt. Could I truly blame him for not thinking of humans earlier? When he was the first Fae who ever bothered to step back and actually think about us in the first place?
