No, he would be off serving a high lord in a castle in Skyshire far away and I’ll likely be at my own patron’s palace in the sky. No matter how this banquet goes we’re destined to go our own separate ways. And for some reason at this moment that thought worries me more than the one that Byron might serve Menavillion instead of me.
“Marvin!” I hear Byron call as my friend steps into the banquet hall. “Glad you made it, but you might want to be careful, or Willow will think that you have designs on Menavillion and decide that you’re her enemy as well.”
I draw in a shaky breath as I step into the room behind Marvin and plastering on a smile. “No, I already know that Marvin is only attending today because he wants to have another look at the fae who has stolen his fancy. And it’srival,Byron Coalbiter, not enemy.”
I pause again because as soon as I stepped out from behind Marvin. The smirk falls off Byron’s face and is replaced by a look that I can’t quite interpret. It’s a tentative mixture of surprise and fear. He swallows so hard that I can see his Adam’s apple bob.
“What?” I demand, glancing down at myself wondering if I have something staining my skirts.
He blinks once, that’s the only half a second I have where his eyes are not trained on me. He is frozen in place a little like a deer caught in the hunter’s sights who is too afraid to move and draw even more attention to it. “Nothing. It’s just… I don’t think I’ve ever seen you in a dress before.”
I glance down at myself, rubbing at my skirts. I look back up at him wrinkling my nose. The shoulders that I always thought made me fit to be a knight looking clunky and too broad in this dainty and beautiful gown. “Does my lack of experience in dressing up show? Marvin told me I look fine, but I feel like a rainbow duck all preened like this.”
Byron is still staring at me before he blinks once and clears his throat, the floor finally drawing his attention away from me. “No, that isn’t it at all. You look beautiful, Lo…” he grimaces. “Willow, I mean.”
I nod my head, feeling my stomach twist a little bit. He said it so begrudgingly… The Byron I knew back in Woodsbury would never have hesitated to compliment a person, least of all a beautiful woman.
So, either he doesn’t actually see me as beautiful and is simply saying this to be nice, or he doesn’t actually want to be nice to the likes of me and he hates that he has to compliment me.
I don’t know which I’d rather have be true, both seem like pretty bleak outcomes to me.
I move past Byron into the banquet hall. Two of the tables have been removed and now only one single table remains down the center of the room. It is laden with trays of food and flickering candles which provide some much needed light to the room.
Now that the room is not full of clambering, hungry academy students I realize that one wall is entirely made up of windows with a glass door in the center that leads out into what appears to be a balcony. Through them I can make out the beautiful pink hues of the setting sun, some stars are already visible in the blue above the pink where night is descending slowly.
The room is not nearly as crowded as I had feared, perhaps other potential knights were deterred by rumors of Menavillion’s upcoming departure. They likely figured that they would have better chances with a different fae lord who will actually take the time to remain at the academy longer to watch their growth and better make his choice. There are three or four other knights here, I don’t recognize their faces, but then I haven’t exactly socialized. I guess, I’m a little more like my roommate Chastmir than I’d thought, I’m just less open and honest about it. I’m not here to make friends or get distracted. I’m here to become a knight and that’s it.
And yet I’ve allowed Byron to drive me to utter distraction. How frustrating.
Istaria is standing off to the side having a low, heated conversation with the golden knight. Menavillion appears to be reading a letter at the end of the table, and the dining hasn’t started yet so I take this as an opportunity to finally go up and speak with him.
However, I slow a step as I pass Istaria when I realize just how agitated she looks. The glitter sparkling around her eyes catches in the light as she gives her head a sharp jerk. “This is exactly the answer we have been looking for to free you from your service without anyone having to get hurt. I have riskedeverything,and you cannot even riskhim?” she hisses. “Do you even care about—” at just that moment she looks up, her eyes narrowing as she sees me. “What do you want, wild fae?”
“Well, actually my name is Willow… and as far as I know, I’m not actually a wild fae,” I say nervously, wondering what I just walked up on. Clearly, it wasn’t something that Istaria wanted me to overhear, then she also usually acts this cold towards me. I swallow as I glance between Istaria and the golden knight then back to Istaria my smile slipping away when I take in her hair whipping through the air like angry snakes, despite the fact that they have been bound up in braids. “You’re still cursed.”
“You’re just as observant as ever,” she says with a sniff. “Yes, mybeloved,” she says this with a pointed look at the golden knight, “fiancé is eager to bring me back to his court because nothing he has tried here has managed to free me from this curse.”
“Oh,” I say, eyeing her hair wondering how long it took her to get it braided with that harsh wind surrounding her whipping it every which way. I can imagine that it would get to be quite annoying after a while, even if it doesn’t appear to actually hurt her. I wonder why the cultists would put such a harmless curse on her, but then I suppose there is much about the occult that I do not understand.
The knight steps forward. “I’m actually happy you came over here, I’ve been meaning to speak with you.”
“You have?” I squeak, pointing to myself. Does he remember that night we arrived at the academy and were named as Istaria’s saviors? How else would he know me out of the group?
“Don’t you dare talk to her,” Istaria hisses. The knight ignores me and reaches up, pulling his helmet off. For a second, I think Byron has figured out some way to play a prank on me, but when I look over my shoulder I see that Byron is still behind me. Speaking to Marvin. I turn back around to find myself looking into a very familiar and yet slightly off face. This man… he’s identical to Byron. Only his hair is black instead of dark brown and a little shorter than Byron’s, but his eyes, his face… hissmirk.
My mouth drops open, and he lets out a chuckle. “My name is Calder Coalbiter. As I’m sure you’ve already noticed, I’m Byron’s twin.”
“Twin?”is all I’m capable of gasping out.
“Indeed, and I was hoping that you would talk my brother out of his foolish notion of taking my place as Menavillion’s servant since I apparently cannot.”
“She certainly will not!” Istaria snaps loudly.
“Calder!” Byron says as he hurries across the room. “What are you doing?”
“Twin?” I say again like some sort of mimiceer bird.
Byron turns to me as he reaches me. His eyes pleading and look far more vulnerable than I’ve seen him since I said those horrible things to him in the library. “Please, ignore whatever it is my brother is trying to tell you.”
