I understood immediately, my jaw dropping as I took in the room.
It looked nothing at all like the rest of the palace and was instead designed to look like a giant tree. A trunk came out from the middle of the table, reaching up to branches that stretched across the ceiling and fell down the sides of the walls. The table itself matched the trunk, made of a light wood, all its swirls and knots showing, the edges uneven but smoothed down. The chairs were made of the same wood but had green cushions that matched the color of the leaves falling down the walls. Thebottom of the walls were covered in all kinds of flowers. The room didn’t look like it belonged here at all, looking more like how I imagined the homes of the dryads of Weathrian.
The others were watching my reaction, smiling and laughing as I looked around, fascinated. All except Calix, who sat at the head of the table and watched me intently.
“What do you think?” Eryx called out as I walked forward, mesmerized.
“It’s—it’s incredible. How is this even…” I couldn’t form words. It seemed so out of place, yet somehow so natural. Eryx pulled a chair out for me, one directly next to him and Calix, and helped me into my seat with a smirk.
“Calix’s family built the palace to haveallaspects represented.” He replied vaguely, a sly smile on his face.
I narrowed my eyes at him, “That doesn’t explain as much as you seem to think it does.”
Harpina rolled her eyes and reached for the food being brought out and placed on the table by their servants. Paid servants, I had learned, not slaves. They weren’t even just human, but Fae as well. It was apparently quite a cushy job, and one many applied for whenever there was an opening. It was even more amazing to see than this room, in truth.
Liviana glared at Harpina but turned to face me. She was across from me, next to Calix. I was still trying to avoid looking at him and that inscrutable look on his face.
“The palace was designed to be a showcase of celestial power, but our ancestors wanted to honor all the gods as well.” Liviana informed me. “They built rooms scattered throughout the palace that are dedicated to them, each god having their own room that’s designed in a way to represent and honor that god’s power. This one is for Florus, clearly.”
I sent her a thankful smile for taking pity on me, and she returned it before she swept her silver hair over her shoulderand began to dig into her food. Her hair was more like liquid silver than white, unlike her brother’s, whose was a tad whiter, reminding me more of the moon. Paired with her silver seer’s eyes, it was almost unnerving, but her beauty prevented it from truly being so. Thinking of her explanation, I went completely still, before I looked at Calix.
He was watching me with a smirk, like he realized exactly what had occurred to me. I leaned over to him slightly, whispering, as moot as that was with Fae hearing.
“When she says all gods, does that mean—” I raised a brow and gave him a look. His smile widened as the rest of the table roared in laughter.
“Would you like me to show you the room dedicated to Hedone?” Baach wiggled his eyebrows at me as I turned to glare at him, but he just laughed joyfully.
I looked around the table, at the sly smiles they all shot at me, that let me know there was indeed a room dedicated to the god of sex. Ilta caught my eye down the table, where she was biting her lip and looking between me, Calix, and Baach. I turned back to look at Calix and found him glaring at his friend.
“You have a sex room?!” I hissed at him, and his eyes shot back to me immediately, smoldering with heat, even as the room erupted in laughter once more.
At least until Titan cleared his throat, “Enough of that. Eat, girl. You’re going to burn all that food off training in the morning.”
His gruff voice instantly brought the rest back in line, and I admired that ability immensely. I watched his eyes cut over to Calix in concern, but the king beside me just gave a winning smile to the man who was basically his father figure. My lips twitched, thinking of him flashing that smile at Titan as a child as he tried to get away with doing something he wasn’t supposed to.
Oh. Thatwaswhat he was doing, wasn’t it? He wasn’t supposed to be flirting or pinning those smoldering eyes on me. He had a mate out there somewhere, and his friends—his family—were making sure he didn’t do something he’d regret forever.
Me.
That thought bowed my shoulders, and I tucked into my food to avoid looking at Priscilla, who was shooting me concerned looks from down the table. When she wasn’t doing that, her head was tilting toward Callisto with rapt attention. Ilta was too busy flirting with Baach to pay much attention, and Lilith and Harpina were arguing once again. The softer, nature-loving Lilith and the harder, battle-loving Harpina seemed to butt heads constantly, though it was done with love. Eryx was caught up in conversation with Liv, and Titan was ignoring everyone as he pounded down more food than I could eat in an entire day.
But Calix—we seemed to be having the same struggle. I couldn’t keep my eyes from him, every other minute, I’d feel the pull to look over at him—to take in that silvery white hair that I wanted to run my fingers through and see if it was as soft as it looked, to see those eyes that filled with all the colors of the night sky when he was emotional. I wanted to see if he was the serious, reserved king at that moment or the playful flirt—or even the loving friend when among his people.
We both pointedly ignored any time we caught one another glancing over, our eyes meeting. Even though the instant our eyes locked it was like a spark catching—fire roaring in my veins. Looking away felt like a crime, but it had to be done. I tried to focus on the conversations around me, and everyone tried to include me, but my mind was firmly stuck on the man beside me.
When I looked up, Liv was smirking at me with thisknowing, in her eyes. I blushed, and studiously kept my eyes away from the sexy king beside me. I deserved a medal for that alone.
“We should totally do it!” Ilta squealed in happiness, clapping her hands together as she absolutely beamed at Baach. His cheeks were almost as red as his hair as his hazel eyes lit up at her smile.
“Do what?” I leaned forward, curious, and Ilta turned that beaming smile my way.
“Baach suggested we host a ball to celebrate your arrival!” She cheerfully replied. My lip started to curl, remembering the last ball I attended. I felt a hand land on my shoulder—Eryx—and I looked up at him, feeling my rising disgust recede.
“It won’t be like the balls you attended in Dusk, I promise.” He whispered quietly to me, and I pushed all those messy feelings about my time in Dusk away.
“Oh no, Asteria.” Ilta’s smile dimmed, and I hated myself a bit for that. “It will be nothing like that dreadful place.” Ilta sniffed, chin rising, “The balls here are so much fun! You’ll love it, I swear.” She aimed her puppy dog eyes at me as I ignored Calix and Eryx snickering beside me.
“She’s right.” Delia added, leaning further over to see me down the table. “You’ll have a great time, it’s not anything like Dusk.” She was backed up by the others and when Pris caught my eye, she gave me a hopeful look I could only sigh deeply at.
