Ghost Silk (Ghost Perfume, Book 2) | ✔

18 - Dance with me - Part 3 (Alexander; Rose)

Alexander – Soul Realm

The great hall of the Birel castle was vast, and seemed even larger in the warm and shadowed lighting.

Talk droned on around me, punctuated by rolls and shrieks of laughter. The clink of glasses. The rustle of long robes and dresses dragging over the ground.

Almost every general we knew and a good deal of their entourage, not to mention hordes of the socialites of the capital city, were in attendance tonight.

I leaned against a pillar in the corner, staying out of the way.

"You made it," Gabriel said with an elated grin, the smile cheerful all the way to his warm sloping eyes, as he strolled over to me.

I saw that the slate between us was wiped clean; I'd passed the test.

Delightful.

The tiny muscles in my wrist and arm were still in a near-spasm from the enraging, exhausting motion they'd been engaged in for hours. But I would hide it even if it damn near killed me.

"Have a drink," he said, taking it from a passing server.

"You look like a king, Gabriel," I said quietly.

He did – as kingly as Michael, who I could glimpse in the crowd. Whereas Lukas and I had opted simply for doublets embroidered with diamonds, Michael and Gabriel also wore sapphire-blue velvet cloaks, the symbol of the eldest ruler of the Alistairs, as well as their crowns.

Gabriel looked surprised. "Thanks. Go on, Alexander, take it. I've been watching and I'm sure that no one has spiked the punch yet."

I took it with my left hand.

"Bored with it all?" he asked after a moment, glancing around us.

"Who wouldn't be? Couldn't Paulina have updated the music sometime in the last hundred years? If they've done nothing else, the humans have made some strides in that department," I grouched.

The last few months, I'd spent hours at a time with headphones and my eyes closed, doing nothing but listening.

"Try to see it differently," Gabriel murmured in my ear. "Imagine you have the world's prettiest eyes, and it's the first you ever see this."

Probably, Rose would like this. If only because it was as far as one could get from Mount Kyllene, a town she'd hardly left, and I'd seen that her eyes were hungry.

I tried to see with hungry eyes.

Intricate frescoes, faded in white and gold, whirled on the vaulted ceiling. Crystal chandeliers dripped down over our heads, and each looked like they weighed as much as a small elephant. Their light bounced back from the polished marble floors.

Tapestries in rich crimson and gold fell heavily down the walls. Sconces held candles between them, their flames swaying.

Here and there the walls opened up to the famous Birel balconies, secluded by overflowing plants, built for privacy.

The quartet played a lively waltz. Violin, viola, cello.

There was a heady aroma from the flowers that cascaded, heavy and dark pink amid long green leaves, from the rafters. The perfume was so sweet, I guessed its source was artificial.

"Gabriel," I grunted. I raised my glass to cover my lips, in case anyone was watching. "You need to watch the sunflowers you keep shoving home."

He was instantly displeased with me.