*Book One of The Accursed Chronicles*
August was a man from a normal world, living a mundane life until one night everything changed, and he was sent spiraling into a world stuck forever in winter, full of magic, creatures, and a curse that has grip...
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I'd been to better parties and seen more entertaining bar fights than what I had witnessed at the ball. It was too elegant and uptight for me, too much bowing, friendly gestures, and discussions about things I didn't know about, like policies. I also seemed to miss the part where dancing here was slow and required classes to master, leaving me to watch the beautifully twirling and spinning dancers while I sat glued in my seat.
I rapped my fingers on the table and then sighed heavily as I sunk into my chair. Maybe we were early but there weren't that many people. I'd counted fifteen and that wasn't including the servants or Cassian and his band who hadn't announced themselves yet. It left me with no one to talk to except Ronan and Leuthar and that was... tedious.
Earlier, Ronan had reluctantly told me who the two women were who had been glancing at him all night, both were from Lorge. Endora was the older woman and was the mother of Klarissa. Leuthar had disclosed that Endora had been pissed off by Ronan in the past because he hadn't helped her daughter into Darrose's court to earn the kings' and queen's favor. The information had eased the tinge of jealously I'd had every time Klarissa had stared at Ronan a little too long.
At least there was nothing between them... but there was nothing between me and Ronan either so I didn't know what I was going on about.
I squirmed in my seat when I felt my cheeks flush. Ronan was right beside me and here I was crushing on him. Wasn't he my boss? I hated to think about it that way because while he was the leader of The Remnant, he did have a tendency to act more than that even if he didn't want to acknowledge it.
We were friends even though he didn't believe that.
"What ever happened to the human that was with you?"
At the slimy tone, I crinkled my nose and side eyed Eirith from across Ronan. Why of all the people had he been invited? He was better off being pecked to death by crows, starting with his dick.
"He was sent to Aulander to seek passage through the Old King's Road," Ronan replied, blatantly lying because I was sitting right next to him.
"Who's he, then?" Eirith pointed towards me, then lowered his finger as his face wrinkled in suspicion. "You haven't had a new recruit in say over... eighty years give or take."
Ronan tensed his shoulders as his fingernails bit into the wood of the table. "He is none of your concern, just as the matters of The Remnant aren't. You should worry about your own self and how long you can keep up your lying scheme."
I snorted, but then stifled it when Eirith glanced my way again and Ronan clenched his fist. What was under Ronan's skin? He was snappier than usual and that was saying something because he almost always was that way. You'd be lucky to go a day without him cutting your head clean off or schooling your ass and not in the good way either.
When Eirith had been silenced and then rose from his seat to talk to someone, I huffed and leaned forward, gaze drifting across the hall. My eyebrows crossed when I saw Altair entering the ball, having come back from somewhere. I hadn't even noticed he'd left until now.
