Chapter 33
When I came to a few hours later, the lights in my room had been dimmed. Thea sat in the corner by the fireplace with Nocturna, reading a book. The heavy weight shifting beside me let me know that Astra had settled in next to me while I rested. Barely able to see out of my left eye, I reached down and felt around for the nearest part of Astra to pet. I tried to sit up but immediately aborted the effort as I struggled to lift my head. The room spun around me, and I closed my eyes to stop the dizziness and oncoming nausea.
“Our little warrior finally wakes,” Thea announced.
She closed her book and made her way quietly over to my bedside. I felt Thea’s body settle onto the edge of the bed and lean over to inspect me. Her eyes appeared a shade duller than usual, with dark circles formed under them. “How are you feeling?” she asked, concern lacing her voice.
“I’ve definitely felt better. It’s hard to lift my head, and the room won’t stop spinning. But I at least know who I am and where I came from, so this concussion can’t be that bad.”
I could feel Thea rise from the bed, and shortly after, I heard the clinking of glass bottles. “Here, open your mouth. It’s a little something to help with the pain and nausea. In a few minutes, you should feel a bit better.”
Trying to be a good patient, I did as I was told and opened my mouth. Thea poured a sickly-sweet, thick liquid in. She helped raise my head as I struggled to swallow the mystery potion.
“It’s a bit tough to get down, but once you manage, it works wonders,” Thea offered reassuringly.
Once I was confident that I had gotten it all down and wasn’t going to regurgitate any of it, I looked at Thea and cringed. “Are there any healing potions in this realm that are easy to swallow? So far they’ve all been brutal.”
Thea chuckled dryly at my complaint and shook her head. After several seconds of quiet assessment, Thea reached out, placing her hand on my knee. “We can still stay in tonight if you wish. I can let the queen know that you had an accident today, and you are too unwell to join the festivities.”
I slowly shook my head. The effects of the elixir were already making a difference with the dizziness. “I appreciate what you’re trying to do, Thea, but no. I am going to make a point, and I will force them to listen.”
Thea shook her head and smiled wistfully. Placing the cork back onto the bottle of the healing elixir, she turned and looked at me. “Well, then. You’d better get up. It’s time to get ready.”
*
“The theme is ‘whimsical winter’s night,’ not ‘concussed harbinger of death,’” Thea snapped at me as I explained why I had changed my dress at the last minute.
“You know that I don’t care,” I shot back, adjusting the slim-fitting sleeves.
Thea made a mocking face at me. “I’m aware that you don’t care. You’ve said it several times tonight. I’m only trying to prevent you from upsetting and offending the queen. She takes party planning very seriously.”
I shrugged at her and turned to look at myself in the wardrobe mirror. No longer in the mood to play by the rules, I had passed on the flirty, glittery number Thea had created for me and gone withsomething simple that plainly spoke to my current feelings. I was now dressed in a floor-length sheer black dress with a high neck and long sleeves. Save for the parts covered by the simple black undergarments I had chosen, all my skin was visible through the barely there fabric. All the bruises, cuts, and scrapes I had sustained were on display for all to see.
Thea had offered to arrange for some of the house staff to assist with our hair and makeup, and as much as I had wanted to decline the offer, I knew better. I had already caused enough aggravation today. I didn’t need to try Thea’s patience any further.
When I asked why Thea couldn’t use her arcana to style our hair and makeup, she gave me a withering look that would have shrunk even the most battle-hardened warrior. She shared that using her arcana to teleport all four of us from the human quarter had exhausted her a great deal, and that she did not have the energy to exert her abilities further. Two handmaidens arrived shortly thereafter, and without so much as a word, they got to work. Thea’s transformation was effortless. She was already incredibly beautiful.
The handmaiden who assisted her barely had to break a sweat. Mine, on the other hand, had her work cut out for her. She all but withered away when I told her that the vision for my look tonight was darkness. I wanted my appearance to reflect how I was feeling, and at the moment, I was irritable and angry. The handmaiden working with me spoke only a few words the entirety of our time together. Most of that was toward the end, when she uttered the strangest thing to me. “May you never know peace in the light.” Her tone was cold and unfeeling.
I wrinkled my nose at the handmaiden, unsure of what to make of her words. “What is that supposed to mean?” I asked.
Before I could get an answer, the two exited the suite and left Thea and me to finish our preparations for the ball. I stared into the wardrobe mirror, assessing myself and mulling over what thehandmaiden had said to me. I had asked for my hair to be pinned up in an elaborate braided updo, so everyone could see the handprints that Thalos had left behind on my neck. I had also asked that she leave my eyes alone, as I thought the natural bruise-purple hue was perfect. For my lips, I had gone with a deep blood red. I looked like a roughed-up nightmare, and it was perfect.
“What do you think she meant by that?” I asked Thea after a few minutes of trying to figure the cryptic message out for myself.
“What did who mean by what?” Thea asked, confused, as she adjusted the straps on her dress—the silver one I had decided against. Thea had said it was a shame to waste such a beautiful dress on a night like this.
“She just said to me, ‘May you never know peace in the light.’ What do you think she meant by that?”
Thea placed some of the hair left framing her face behind her ear before she responded. “Honestly, Aurelia, I don’t know, but I’m going to assume it’s probably not something nice, given what they are and who you are.”
I could sense irritation in Thea’s tone, and I immediately felt hurt. “I’m sorry, Thea. I’m not sure what I did to annoy you. I just wasn’t sure if it meant something or—”
Thea reached out and grabbed my hand, gently pulling me toward her. “No. I should apologize to you. You’ve done nothing wrong. It’s this day, and how awful it’s been to you.” Thea paused, taking a deep breath and letting it loose. “I have had this gnawing feeling all day that something bad is about to happen. I thought for sure, after what happened at the healer’s or what happened with Captain Evergreen, that was it. But this dread is only increasing in intensity, and I worry that something awful will take place tonight. But I don’t know what. So I am powerless to stop it.” Her hands were clutched at her chest as a look of sadness came over her.
For the first time since meeting Thea, I sensed uncertainty andvulnerability. If whatever was coming had Thea this rattled, it had to be bad.
I reached for Thea, wrapping my hands around her clutched fists. “Whatever it is, it has no idea who it’s messing with. You and I have something no one else has: each other.” I gestured between us and the two mountain cats sleeping on my bed.
