I slid a calculated glance to her. She was gauging my reaction as much as I was gauging her intention with that final comment.
“Well.” I stood and moved toward the bathing chamber. “I’m glad my demeanor was so well received.”
I splashed water on my face, hoping it would drown any evidence of jealousy lingering in my features. Valta was painfully beautiful. I splashed my face again and again, each wave of water conjured a new image of Valta and Dommik entangled with each other.
“Enough.” I banished the images and wiped my face with a towel.
When I returned to my bedchamber, Alba was thumbing through the dresses in my armoire.
There would be no lessons with Oddo tonight. No private dining. No tense banter with Dommik. The entire day would be dedicated to my welcome ball. Starting now.
“You’ve got a difficult choice.” She held up two gowns, both beautifully made. Both emerald, Lorana’s—the eldest original sister’s—color. They boasted intricate beading throughout their bust, vined patterns interwoven through the corset, and miles of fabric in their skirts. Alba strained under the weight of them.
“Does every human guest get a welcome party?” I asked as I thumbed the beads between my fingers.
“I certainly didn’t.” She hung the dresses on the giant wooden doors of the armoire.
Embarrassment shivered through me. “I’m sorry.”
“No apologies necessary.” Her caramel eyes smiled between her veil. “What I should have said was, no, no one does. You’re His Majesty’s prospect. This is—” she exhaled “—quite a momentous event.”
As if the weight of my presence at the Hive wasn’t already hefty enough, the pedestal I’d been placed on rose another notch. I chewed on my cheek as I considered all the ways I could disappoint Rhazien.
One thing at a time,I coached myself.Just, pick a dress.
“Do you have a preference?”
I rubbed my thumb along my jaw. To think, I was in the Illica keep a week prior, preparing myself for the axe. Until Dommik showed up, masquerading as a Traveler, and threatened the safety of my family. Had Rhazien approved that manipulative tactic? Or had Dommik done it on his own?
The Commander would be there tonight, of course. He would see me in this dress. More importantly, I was being presented as Rhazien’s prospect—the first his Hive had ever seen. I wanted to make a lasting impression.
“If itwereyou, which would you choose?”
“Oh, I couldn’t.” She put her hands up in protest.
“Maybe this will help.” I quickly retrieved the one gift I’d opened from Rhazien. Alba’s eyes went wide at the sight of the sparkling black diamonds. “Rhazien gifted this to me. I think he would like it if I wore it. Which dress would complement it best?”
Her eyes drifted between the two gowns and she settled on the less modest of the two. “This one.” She took it off the door and held it up to me.
It was the kind of once in a lifetime gown that would make an impression worthy of tonight’s announcement. Glittering mesh held together its beaded seams. A bodice that my body wouldn’t have to battle against, but rather, would accentuate my natural curves. It might need some alterations to fit me just right, but the dress was fit for…a future queen.
“Thank you, Alba.”
“Of course, my lady.”
She moved the dress to a corner of the room with a privacy screen for changing and I sat to enjoy my sunset coffee. The evening bells chimed as I flipped through the pages ofNobles and Notablesand sipped the brew, still only able to recognize or recall about a third of the faces staring back at me.
Alba worked quickly. The fire re-stoked, a meal tray left behind, and the curtains peeled open, showing the last light of the fading day.
The orange tones were particularly brilliant as they stretched and reached across the darkening blue blanket of evening, as if they were struggling to hold tight to the edge of the day before falling away entirely. I made a point to commit it to memory, so its efforts to hold on as long as possible wouldn’t be in vain.
After the last of the daylight vanished beyond the horizon, I exhaled heavily.
I had a party to attend.
Rhazien looked devastatingly handsome in his formal attire.
His dark, gray-streaked hair fell into effortless waves beneath his simple golden crown. His black jacket featured a beaded design that matched the lace of my gown. My heart leapt when I saw him at the end of the hall and again when his attention flicked to me, as if he recognized my approaching heartbeat.
