Darkness and Beauty (The Fated Series, #1)

Chapter 40 - Fauna - Strangers in the Night

My heart has been beating a different rhythm since yesterday. Even as the pain from trying to make a droplet appear in one hand and a flower in the other makes my body shake, it's still calm and controlled.
It's the fourth day of sitting in the tunnel and listening to Ella try and guide us through the process. We're down here twice a day now. Once in the morning to practice summoning, and once at night to train our bodies because there is no relying on these powers as of right now. Both are taxing, and Darius and I shove food down our throats afterward as if we haven't eaten in decades after each session.
I only ever let Kat into the room if she's here to help me get dressed to play Lily. If she isn't, then I subtly kick her out so that she goes to the Queen's chambers to "knit." I may not be able to directly influence her relationship with my brother, but that doesn't mean I can't meddle. Darius is all for it. He told me as much when I told Kat that I didn't need her for the rest of the day yesterday. Gabe offered to venture to the Queen's chambers to see what was really going on, and I was inclined to let him, but Darius convinced us to leave them be. After that, the Bhaltayr – Gods I love that name – made bets on when they'd likely get together. I didn't make a bet because I knew that if I did, I'd start meddling so that I could gain some gold.
Looking at her in the mirror, I know nothing too touchy has happened. She's gotten perkier, but she's still not glowing. Either Lance lost his touch, or he's treading carefully out of fear of ruining it. I'm hoping for the latter, because if it's the former then everyone's going to lose the bet.
She waltzed in here with a new silk, pine green dress. The shoulders and sleeves are lace, and there's a small white floral design on my right hip that snakes halfway down my thigh and skims my ribs. The simplicity of it is stunning, and Kat knows just how to pull one side of my hair back with silver leaf pins to compliment it. She adds a long drop earring that brushes the side of my neck when I turn my head this way and that, and the finishing touch is the gold and green mask. It has a jewel right between my eyes, and several more rise above it in a triangle, making it look like I'm wearing a diadem along with it. It's simple, yet regal.
I beam at her as she takes her final proud look at my whole attire with her hands on her hips."You always perform miracles, Kat."
"Oh please, like it's hard with your perfect body structure."
"My structure is not perfect."
Her shoulder raises in feigned disinterest. "If you say so."
I shake my head at her, knowing damn well that the last time I tried to tell her that her curvy body is that of a fucking Queen's, she refused to hear a single word of it. Bet she would listen if Lance was the one telling her she's as hot as a fucking volcano erupting, burning everyone she comes in contact with. I like her curves and the way all her dresses never hide any of them. With all that ass, she should be strutting around, not still trying to make it all look bland in the drab clothing. For all its hugs and compliments, the make and finish of it could improve - and it will if I have anything to say about it, and I always have something to say about everything.
I've been trying not to think about the slight changes that have been showing with my own increase in power usage. Since last night's training, Darius and I have started shifting into our "elemental bodies." Siscilla is loving it, inspecting every change and writing it down. We, however, are not exactly fans. My skin has cleared up, lips becoming fuller and pinker. I don't think Kat has noticed, but I can tell that my waist has shrunk a little. The first thing that she did notice was that my boobs have filled out more. I try to stay away from the low neckline dresses, but Kat's stubbornness when it comes to the subject is unrelenting. But despite all the good, my guts always feel like their being shifted into places they're not supposed to be. Things cramp or feel tender, and sometimes my appetite changes like the flip of a coin.
Siscilla calls them growing pains. I call them the equivalent of my monthly cycle without the blood.
Darius has similar changes. Clearer skin, brighter eyes, shinier hair, leaner muscles, and a somehow sharper jawline. Speaking of eyes, neither of us has gotten the heterochromia iridium yet, but Ella says that they may just show up one night without warning. Now we both wake up and instantly search each other's eyes for any changes. Our first few moments of every day start with anxiety and a breath of relief.
"Are you finished?" I ask Kat just as Darius and Thomas walk in.
Seeing Darius again has my breath catching. He woke up this morning looking more Godlike than ever. I had to roll off the bed and walk straight into the bathroom where I jumped in the cold tub, clothes and all, and held my breath underwater until my lungs burned. Kat followed a few minutes after I resurfaced, wide-eyed and flushed, saying she was inclined to join me. Then Thomas followed a minute later and just stared at us for five minutes before walking back into the room. Everyone kept silent about it during our morning session with Ella, and I'm kind of grateful that Siscilla wasn't able to make her morning check-in with us. We've all tried avoiding his gaze since then, but both Kat and I fail now. Her fingers dig into my shoulder painfully.
"Yep. I'm done." She practically sprints out of the room, Thomas awkwardly following her with his eyes pinned to the floor. Where he goes when he's not here, I don't know, but I start listing ideas to distract myself from the way the sun's light perfectly shines on the contours of his face.
"What the hell is going on with everyone today?" He turns to look at me and I pull a Thomas and duck my head before I find the need to jump in the water again. I like this dress too much to risk ruining it.
"It's...weird weather," I answer. I instantly want to kick myself for the upmost ridiculous excuse I've ever given anyone about anything.
The weather?
He glances at the windows, brows puckering in the same question. "It's the same weather as yesterday."
"Uh-huh," I mumble and quickly head for the foyer.
Vladimir is the only one waiting there and I silently curse the others for chickening out and staying in the stairwell. "Ready?" he asks, perfectly calm. He's the only one who seems to have enough control over his mind to speak normally.
"Yepserdoosle." And now would be a good time for someone to shoot me. Through the head. Quickly.
He squints at me. "Okay."
His eyes linger on me for a second too long before he turns on his heel and heads for the doors. I'd sigh in relief if Darius wasn't still staring at me in confusion. None of the idiots in the stairwell make eye contact with either one of us. I'd outright call them chickens if I weren't avoiding the same thing as them. When we reach the bottom and Darius takes my hand in his, I try not to cringe.
He's just a boy, Fey. Chill the fuck out.
Yeah, a really fucking hot drop dead fuck his brains out, boy, snides a stupid voice in my head. I mean he looked carved by the most talented artist in all of Ker. His usual good looks turned pristine into something entirely indescribable. He just...respawned a fucking chilled, glowing man.
Gods and their Saints keep me from extreme idiocy.
That prayer is answered for about twenty minutes until we run into Eleanor and Charles in the Queen's Garden. I spot Blight and Reynald hidden in the shadows a few alcoves down. I wouldn't have seen them if they hadn't slipped up at the sight of us – or rather Darius. Eleanor and Charles have the same shocked expressions as I did this morning, but then Eleanor's gaze turns ravenous and I nearly lose my shit. Rather than chuck the knife in my pocket at her, I just lift my chin and step closer to Darius. He's not necessarily mine, but I'd need to be dead in order for her to get her hands on him. I don't mean like I died and went to see Helias, I mean that I'd need to die in both this world and the underworld and whatever comes after that, to be stopped.
Fucking wench.
"Darius," Charles dazedly says, mouth still agape.
I hope a bug flies in and he chokes hard enough that it shuts his windpipe until his heart stops dead. I try to picture it and the smile that rises on my cheeks might be considered a response to the devil's spawn's presence. That is, if I didn't know they were the devil's spawns and actually liked them - which I didn't even when I didn't know they were the devil's spawns.
"Charles. Everything alright?"
"It's perfect," Eleanor answers, sounding just as out of breath. I don't like the look in her eyes and pointedly shift on my feet. She catches it, and I smile pleasantly at her, calling upon a small sliver of the elements to lighten my skin and make it look like it's just the angle of the sun making us glow.
"I heard you can ride a horse's back standing." Her voice is tight and smug. She's clearly not bothering to hide her disdain for me anymore and likely expects me to respond in the same way. Sharp and stabby. It's exactly why I do the exact opposite.
Slipping on another mask, I school my face into soft kindness with gentle edges and an award-winning Lady's smile. "My father used to have horses, and I was a curious child with a wild side."
"So you decided to stand on top of a horse?"
"Only after riding sitting down got boring. It's actually really easy if you have great balance and a strong horse to do it on."
Take the bait, swine.
"A strong horse. Like Melody."
Yesssss.
I lean into Darius. A small signal for him to jump in and make the little shit crack wide open. "She's the strongest I know."
"They've grown rather attached to each other," Darius chimes as he lets go of my hand to put his arm around my waist. His fingers squeeze just a little in answer. "I'm finding myself becoming the third wheel when they're together. It's unsettling."
I roll my eyes in fake annoyance and look up at him. A big mistake seeing as my little tug on the elements worked a little too well. I have to answer on muscle memory and the last working brain cell whose knees are quivering with its last efforts to stay standing. "Oh don't act so lonesome, you've been perfectly content with me befriending her."
"Only because I enjoy seeing the smile it gives you." My cheeks burn with the truth in his eyes. "And the fact that I get to watch every guard and servant's eyes widen when they see you," he adds.
"They do gawk an awful lot," I tell the two dickwads, taking the opportunity to drag my eyes away from the walking siren's song.
"Well, considering that you're a woman and doing it in a dress, I can see why," Charles says as he looks me up and down. Slowly. Eleanor hasn't stopped glaring since she said Melody's name. It's the only thing that's kept me from finishing up the job.
Darius takes notice of Charles's continued assessment and makes quick work of saying goodbye. They don't move right away which makes me edge into anger, but he ignores it, pulling me back against his chest and nipping my ear. It tickles, running shivers down my neck that doesn't feel entirely uncomfortable. I laugh when he goes to do it again, not used to the small and intimate nook being touched.
I believe I am well and thoroughly, fucked.