“Most people say hello when they walk into someone’s home,” I suggest. “Sometimes they add ‘how are you?’ or ‘what are you up to?’”
He shakes his head and slides into the stool next to me. I place my hand on his arm, and he practically jumps out of my way, standing up again.
I swallow the sharp pain that causes.
“I am sorry. Hello, Daesyn. I see you are ready for the common people’s ball tonight,” Finn replies, and he finally takes a second to look at me. I see the way his eyes widen, how he pauses with his mouth slightly open.
My dress is slutty. There is literally no other word to describe it. It’s an off-white dress that fits my body perfectly, with a low-cut neckline that shows off my decent boobs, and a long slit stops on my upper thigh. Above the slit, the dress is see-through up my sides. Everyone has to wear white tonight, and Poppy looks adorable in a cute knee-length dress with long sleeves.
I don’t know why the professor decided slutty was the way forward for me tonight, but with the way Finn is now looking at me, I’m very thankful.
“My eyes are up here,” I joke, my smile drifting off when Finn looks up and meets my gaze. I can feel his burning desire for me through one look, and my body is totally on board.
“Intemporel.”
The word brushes over me, a certain power in it I don’t know, but I like how it feels.
“Tell me what that means, Finn,” I softly ask.
“Your beauty is timeless,” he breathes out. “Timeless.”
Every inch of me wishes he would kiss me, wishes we could give us a try, because this is just painful. Being around him and not being able to touch, to tell him how I am feeling, is a slow form of torture.
Falling for a god is painful, and yet, I see why mortals wrote so many songs about loving them. You have to bleed the emotions out somehow.
Of course, he doesn’t kiss me, he closes his eyes, pain etched across his face before he turns away from me one more time. This time seems to hurt more than the last.
“Hey, Torfinn!” Poppy says, coming out of her room. She smiles at me, completely oblivious to the tension.
“How are you, Poppy?” he asks. I ignore their small talk and walk to the lift, pressing the button. The quicker I get to this ball, the quicker I can find fae wine and drink until I don’t recognise Finn’s name. Poppy and Finn come onto the lift after me, and I keep my eyes on the ground as the lift does its magic thing, and the doors reopen to the ballroom. As usual, it’s jam-packed with people, but this time it’s flooded with white. White tuxes, white dresses, sparkling crystals and gems reflecting off the lights. It’s all too white, too perfect, too lacking the flaws of our kind.
The darkness of the reapers.
“Dae!” Poppy calls after me as I leave her and Finn behind, disappearing into the crowds of reapers. Their laughter and joy get on my nerves pretty quickly, as do the many who try to catch my attention as I get to the bar. Which is, of course, jam-packed with people. It’s going to take me ages to get a drink from there.
Remembering the fae wine hidden behind the throne, I quickly come up with my plan B. I spin around and come face-to-face with Professor Artic.
“How is your training coming along, Miss Riverlite?” he questions with a gleaming smile. “It has been a while since we have spoken.”
“Well,” I say.
“I heard the recent training with spirits did not go to plan,” he questions. Ah, here is the real reason we are talking. “I heard a more disturbing rumour that Professor White intervened and saved your life.”
“Someone is telling you a lie, sir,” I say, smiling sweetly. “It wouldn’t have been Catherine, by any chance? She can be quite jealous of anyone better than her.”
“Catherine is my daughter,” he coldly tells me.
Whoops.
“I didn’t see the resemblance,” I reply with a smile. “Nice to chat with you.”
I walk past him, and he catches my arm tightly, bringing me to a halt. He leans closer, still smiling as he speaks. “If you break any of my daughter’s bones again, I will find a way to end you.”
“Careful now, sir.” I narrow my eyes on him as I calmly speak. “I never saw any rules that suggested I can’t kill the professors. If anything, I might get bonus points.”
I roughly tug my arm from his grip, signing a new enemy to my ever-growing list as I walk away through the crowds. I sneak behind the pillar and push the wall, letting it spin in a circle, and I step off in the throne room, but it’s not empty.
In front of the steps, the little girl from the roof is dancing and spinning around in a white dress, and sitting on the steps is Seb. He is playing the guitar, his usual stern expression gone and replaced with a light-heartedness I’ve only seen when he is drunk. The girl laughs as Seb actually sings a playful, melodic song about cats dancing with shadows. It’s not a song I’ve heard before, but it’s certainly a children’s song.
At the same time as the wall clicks back into place, Seb pauses mid-song and the girl spins around to face me.
“Hello, Daesyn,” the little girl says, her voice carrying across the throne room. Seb frowns, placing the guitar down and walking to the girl’s side. I walk over to them both, carefully taking in how Seb stands so close to the girl, protective over her.
“How do you know my little sister, vixen?” he demands, a tic appearing in his jaw.
“Sister?” I murmur to myself, pulling my eyes to the girl. “We met on the roof, kinda. I don’t even know her name.”
“Her name is Eira,” he tells me. “And she should be getting back to bed.”
“But—” She angrily stomps her foot. Seb picks her up and hugs her tightly.
“But nothing. I will come to you later, but no more songs if you’re not asleep soon,” he softly tells her. She pouts as he places her down, and she walks right to my side, looking up at me with her bright eyes.
“The spirits said if you gave them back what was taken, they will cease the hunt,” she tells me…in a super creepy way with a big smile on her lips.
“I’ve told you to stop speaking to those spirits, Eira. They are dangerous!” Seb spits out, walking and stopping right in front of me, leaning down and placing his hands on her shoulders. “Your connection to them isn’t normal.”
She looks down and pulls away from Seb. “I know.”
