Demonic

2 | ALTER EGO

I RESTED MY head in my hands, trying to avoid smudging my makeup or ruffling my hair. Parisa might slap me if I walked into her ballroom with one eyelash out of place, and the thought sent my heart pounding in my chest as I swallowed.

Leaning my back against the wall, I took a long breath, closing my eyes as I focused on who I needed to be tonight, who she needed me to be. Collected. Charming. Mysterious. An untouchable, beautiful enigma.

"Two minutes." The fairy, Daphne, said softly from where she stood in front of me.

Opening my eyes, I took a new breath of air, one that filled my chest to the brim. The fresh air that seeped into my lungs seemed to change me, metamorphosing my body and mind with each passing moment.

My fear dwindled, my spine straightening as an unsettling calm rolled through my veins like early morning fog. When I broke through the grey, I could see the light, its warmth kissing my new skin fresh from its cocoon. Now I was prepared to be the woman Parisa demanded of me.

"Are you ready for your entrance, Princess Cybele?" She asked me, and I felt the white wings that rested across my backbone cross over one another in preparation.

"Indeed, I am." I replied, my voice echoing between us with a power that only showed itself in me in these moments. The version of me that I put on display during these parties always could fake the confidence that my real self lacked.

Daphne nodded her head, eyes calm as she went to the doors; she was not the one who would have to walk through the door. I followed, the sound of my heels clicking in the empty hallway as the faint melody of music sung in my ears. Her small fingers grasping the door handles, she pulled them back before receding behind one to hide herself from the dinner guests.

Light shone in through the doorway, the gleam of chandeliers and sparkle off each woman's dress nearly blinding my eyes. I didn't squint. My skin was on fire as I stepped out onto the carpet leading down the marble staircase, my dress fanning out behind me with the glamour of a peacock's tail.

I kept my eyes forward, taking one step down as my heel let out the first whisper of my arrival. In that moment, I felt the atmosphere of the room shift, the music playing louder in my ears as the sounds of conversation began to fade away with each step I took.

My gaze found Parisa's from where she sat across the room in her throne encrusted in as many diamonds as stars in the night sky. Those blue eyes of her's bore into mine as they told me all I needed to know. They said to me stand straighter, look into the crowd but not into a single pair of eyes, and don't move too quickly.

Following her instruction, I scanned the ballroom, seeing a forest of suits and fine dresses adorning beautiful people whose attention had now fallen to me. They almost seemed to lean in closer without knowing it as I walked down the staircase, each pair of eyes pleading to make contact with mine but I wouldn't allow it.

On the last step, I raised my head, my chin high when I felt like I was close to being sick. As the ballad reached its crescendo, I let my wings rise with the melody, my feathers revealing themselves from behind my back as though I were ready to take flight. They were free, beautiful in the light as they dominated the air all around me. All my courage was needed in this moment, every part of me fighting the urge to hide them.

When I reached the floor, each man and woman took a step back, parting like a sweet fruit cut straight through its center. My wings fell with the tempo, sinking low in a duet with the music's calando.

I glided through the crowd, the green wave of my dress rippling behind me as my golden hair followed like a sun beam across the ocean. Among the guests I spotted many that I knew, but I wasn't allowed to meet their gaze just yet. It was against the dance, against what Parisa had taught me.