A Court of Chaos and Confusion - An ACOTAR Rewrite

Chapter 5

The golden-haired High Fae and Lucien were lounging at the table when Alis returned me to the dining room. They no longer had plates before them, but still sipped from golden goblets. Real gold - not paint or foil. Our mismatched cutlery back home flashed through my mind as I paused in the middle of the room. Such wealth - such staggering wealth, when we had nothing.

Half-wild beasts, a woman in town had once called me and my sisters. But compared to them, compared to this place, compared to the elegant, easy way they held their goblets, the way the golden-haired one had called me human... we were all half-wild beasts to the High Fae. Even if they were the ones who could don fur and claws.

Food still remained on the table, the array of spices lingering in the air, beckoning. I was starving, my head unnervingly light, and I swayed on my feet slightly.

The golden-haired High Fae's mask gleamed with the last rays of the afternoon sunshine. "Before you ask again: the food is safe for you to eat." He pointed to the chair at the other end of the table. No sign of his claws. I already knew that, thanks to Alis, but it was still nice to hear from the Fae himself.

Lucien drawled from his seat along the length of the table, "I told you so, Tamlin." He flicked a glance toward his friend. "Your skills with females have definitely become rusty in recent decades."

Tamlin. He glowered at Lucien, shifting in his seat. "What do you want, then?" He directed at me, sighing sharply when I hadn't moved to take my seat. I tried not to stiffen at the other bit of information Lucien had given away. Decades.

Tamlin didn't look much older than me, but his kind was immortal. He could be hundreds of years old. Thousands. My mouth dried up as I carefully studied their strange, masked faces - unearthly, primal, and imperious. Like immovable gods or feral courtiers.

"Well," Lucien said, his remaining russet eye fixed on me, "you don't look half as bad now. A relief, I suppose, since you're to live with us. Though a dress would have been better dining attire."

"I prefer not to wear that dress," I said, all too aware of my diction, of the very breath I took as I said it. It was glaringly obvious I was far, far lower than the High Fae. I wasn't sure if they had the same society customs as we did on the other side of the Wall, but there was clearly a class hierarchy and I was at the very, very bottom of that hierarchy.

"And why not?" Lucien crooned.

It was Tamlin who answered for me. "Because killing us is easier in pants."

I rolled my eyes but looked at Tamlin directly when I said "No, actually, it's because velvet is stifling and it's fucking spring here, I didn't feel like roasting in the light from all these windows while I tried to eat for the first time in, oh, I can't be sure, because you knocked me out with magic." So much for keeping my tongue to myself. I bit my lower lip and looked away from the High Fae and focused instead on Lucien, who snorted.

Tamlin said, with a snarl of annoyance, "Just sit down."

An empty seat had been pulled out at the end of the table. So many foods, piping hot and wafting those enticing spices. The servants had probably brought out new food while I'd washed, or maybe it had been preserved with some type of magic for freshness from earlier.

"We're not going to bite." Lucien's white teeth gleamed in a way that suggested otherwise. I avoided his gaze, avoided that strange, animated metal eye that focused on me as I managed to get my shaky legs to move toward the open chair - my seat, Tamlin had said- and sat down.

The golden-masked High Fae stalked around the table - closer and closer, each movement smooth and lethal - a predator blooded with power. It was an effort to keep still in the plush chair - especially as he picked up a dish, brought it over to me, and piled some meat and sauce on the plate.