Dusk of the Realm

17

Serena thought that it would feel strange, attempting to step back into her old role as princess after so long away, in such a parallel world. She was wrong.

Perhaps it was her royal blood flaring up within her, but she felt right now. It only took a few hours after her mother gave the servants enough orders to fill a book for Serena's closet to be full of beautiful gowns, shoes, and accessories; for Serena to have a warm bath and a hearty meal; for her to be given a replica of the circlet she had lost eleven years ago, except now with a large, beautifully faceted diamond taking the place of the opal.

After she had woken up, Tarin had left briefly to go and check on the state of the battle. He came back just minutes later with a shocked expression, explaining that the enemy Infernal army, as he called them, had just begun a retreat. He had ordered the companies who were in the best condition to remain in pursuit, their commanders in charge of getting any information on the Infernals that they could.

Her mother had seemed slightly overwhelmed. She stayed and talked to Serena for a long time, but eventually drifted out of the room to go and meet with all of the people she was sure were waiting to speak with her, as well as to tell the Fae still in the Keep that it was safe to go home now.

However, Tarin refused to leave her room until she explicitly ordered him out so that she could take her bath and change into something that was at least more comfortable than her mermaid gown. A girl named Stacia helped her draw up the bath, but she told the servant that she was more comfortable taking it by herself, and that she would even be able to dress herself afterwards. That last part was just a guess, as she had actually never dressed herself in a gown before last night, but she did not want somebody breathing down her neck.

It turned out that she did need Stacia's help, but just with a few of the knots. She was wearing a two-piece gown; a deep, dark purple bodysuit underneath an amethyst gown that hung over one of her shoulders and thinned out at one end as a ribbon to be secured around her neck, and draped towards the floor at the other end, serving as a skirt with a slit up a little more than half of one of her legs. She looked intimidating, and even without her magic to give her the extra touches of Fae heritage, she was pleased with her appearance.

Then, rather than letting Tarin back into her room, she exited and smiled when she saw him leaning against the wall just beside her door. He grinned upon seeing her, and offered her an arm, which she hooked hers through gladly. He had bathed and changed as well, which she thanked the heavens for - he had been coated in dirt and blood, and the servants had already been in and out of her room to change her bedding. While watching the fight had not bothered her - or rather, watching Infernals die had not bothered her - that did not mean that she was eager to see Tarin walking around with blood-covered clothes.

Besides, he smelled heavenly now, like pine needles and maple. He was wearing black trousers and a white tunic, and while it appeared exceedingly casual, Serena could only imagine how many weapons were hidden somewhere on his figure.

They talked, and they talked, and they talked. Tarin seemed to have a never-ending curiosity for everything she had experienced in the human world. Serena knew that he just wanted to know everything, no matter how boring she seemed to think it was. So she talked about her various foster homes, and how now, she had a feeling that the social worker who kept moving her around was actually an Infernal in disguise, determined to keep her location from being detected. Tarin's upper lip curled at that, but Serena hurried on before he could comment. She wanted all of his attention right now.

She talked about dancing, and the sort of release she had felt while doing it, though now she realized that it had been a sort of deep connection in her soul to her home and her blood. She talked about Lyla and her parents and how much she cared for them, and how she had no idea how she could pay them back for everything they had given her. Tarin agreed that their compensation was something that must be discussed, making Serena smile brightly at him.