Nights of Fire & Ash

Chapter 13

That night in the theatre stay in my dreams for the next few weeks. I would find myself humming and dancing to the music. I continued my training and throughout the weeks. I found myself falling for Makiel. Further and further.

"Let me take you out tonight." We had been eating breakfast by ourselves this morning. We had snuck off to the library balcony.
"What would we do?" I had given up on avoiding his advances. I had also given up on acting like I wasn't loving the way that his attention made me feel. It was nice to feel like he was solely after my attention as well.
"There is a new performance at the dance theatre tonight. I was thinking we should leave early and have dinner in the city before we go and watch." My mind wandered to that last night at the theatre. The way he felt as he pushed my body against mine. The way his firm hand felt on my lower back, and how his strong arms held me tightly, so securely.
"I would love to." I smiled at him.

"Stop, whining. I am almost done." Echa pulled and tugged on my hair.
"I told you I wanted to look pretty, not like a plush doll." I whined. This was the most pampering and smearing that I had endured in a long time. Even the night of the Winter Solstice, it felt like she had barely touched.
"This is your first date. First impressions are the most important part of the courting experience." She lowered her gaze to see if my curls were evening out.
"Well, I would have thought that my first impression with him was when he cornered me and kidnapped me, but whatever." I breathed. She slapped the back of my head in that moment. "Ouch!"
"Don't make me do that again." She wagged her finger at me. "You and he have changed a lot over the past several months together, and I hope that you have grown together as friends. Four months ago, you wouldn't have even considered this sort of outing with him, so I think that you will find that doing all this will give you confidence."
"Okay, okay. I'll put up with all this to not have you hit me again. That kinda hurt." I crinkled my nose at her. She smiled, and we continued our little activity without another incident.
By the time I reached the garden to meet Makiel, I felt like a walking doll. He was inspecting a row of Lillies when I found him. He was in a dark blue suit and had his hair perfectly slicked back. His hair had grown out slightly since I had come to the Faerie Realm. It fell slowly below his ears now. He looked so refined and ravishing in it, and my mind started wandering, wanting to rip his suit off, run my fingers through those beautiful locks, and kissing those soft-
"You look absolutely stunning." He smiled at me. I had no words for him.
"Thank you." I looked down from his eyes. His compliments always rubbed me strangely, like they were loaded. It wasn't like he demanded anything from it, but I felt like he was only complimenting me to get something out of it.
"I'm serious. Human women don't look like you normally. They look just normal." Well, that was certainly a back handed compliment if I ever heard one.
"Uh, thanks?" Now, I felt like I should have just left the other one alone.
"No, I'm sorry. That was a stupid thing to say. I'm an ass." He shook his head, and I swear that under that perfect smile and strong face, I saw a blush like he was embarrassed. It inched me towards feeling even more open to the fact that we could have a sort of relationship.
"No, no, let's start over. I want this to be a great night too." I brushed my hand on his arm. His muscles filled out his jacket telling me that he was even stronger than he looked.
"You are beautiful. End of story." He gave me another, lighter, more hesitant smile.
"Thank you." He offered his arm, and he escorted me to the carriage. The ride to the theatre was nothing exciting, and we made plain small talk. The night in the theatre was just as spectacular as the previous one. I loved listening to the music and watching the performers. It was absolutely transforming. We had dinner at a restaurant that one of the ladies down the street informed me that it was the talk of the city. It was overall, a beautiful night.

"Thank you for the lovely night. Believe it or not, this is the only date I've ever been on." I mumbled to him. He looked at me with a strange look.
"You've never been- You've never had a-" With the strange tone in his voice, I could tell where this was going.
"I've been with a man back in the village- kissing and casual stuff, but I've never really dated or been 'courted' anyone before." I rolled my eyes at the stupid term. What were we? Damsels in distress being taken from their towers? Princesses being swapped for property and alliances in wars?
"We don't have to use that term. I am not a crown prince anymore. I'm not courting anyone." He smirked at me.
"What is that about? I don't understand how you lost the crown to the King anyways?" I hated calling him that. King Demairas was supposedly the most powerful of all the fairies in the Summer Court, but he was more like a brooding teenager to me.
"It's a long story. I will tell you about it some other time." He diverted me again. He always diverted me, about this, about the magic, about being a Changeling.
"Please, tell me something. You can't expect me to want to stay here if I am in the dark about everything." I was frustrated with the way that I was being sheltered. I wasn't some precious little flower that was going to be squashed by any passerby.
"Fine, he dueled me for it, and when I thought I had him beat, I got up and turned my back on him for two seconds. He almost killed me for the crown. He literally stuck a sword through my back. I was literally stabbed in the back by my brother." In that second, I felt horrible for pushing him to tell me. We stopped under the lights in the park. My heart ached for a few moments for him. I knew what it was like to lose a sister in the literal sense, but he lost a brother in the way that caused massive heart break.
"Oh, I'm- uh- I'm-" I lost my words.
"Please, don't say anything. It's not a big deal."
"It is a big deal. It is a huge deal. How can you say that? That is just disgusting. I can't believe that he would lose a brother just to have power. A crown is not worth a sibling. I would give anything to have my brothers and sister back. Anything at all." I looked him in the eye. I was fuming.
"It was forever ago. Let it go. It isn't worth it." He grabbed my shoulders and stared into the eyes.
"I will never be able to respect a male who can do such a disgusting thing." I looked down and shook my head. My head was throbbing with anger and my heart was beating so rapidly.
"Look at me, Raeva." I brought my eyes up to his.
"I'm okay. I really am. If I were king, I would be miserable. I wouldn't be able to be here with you. I would have never met you, and I would have never been able to do this." He put his hand behind my neck, brought me close to him, and pressed his lips into mine.