Discovery: Altera Realm Trilogy (32 page)

"How tight is this thing supposed to be?" Syney managed to get out, even though Noelle was pretty sure she wasn't breathing.

"Um, just a little. Hold on. I almost have it all tied up," Noelle said, pulling at the strings on the back of Syney's ball gown. It was the prettiest dress either girl ever had seen—a white silk dress covered in black lace. The skirt, as with any ball gown, was large and stiff, with layers upon layers of petticoats. It was the corset top that was the trouble. From her training, Noelle knew it needed to be as tight as it could go, and then you had to pull it even tighter. It was all about keeping up a certain posture at dinner and during the dances. Once she finally tied the last knot, she spun Syney around so that she faced the full-length mirror.

"Wow," Syney breathed. She fingered the skirt then ran her hands over the corset top before landing on her cleavage, which jiggled a little. "Is it supposed to do that?"

Noelle laughed. "Yes, it is." She looked at herself in the mirror next to Syney. Her dress was a ball gown as well, just not as flashy as the Princess's. The annual ball was always a big event for the palace. The only time that royals, non-royals, and Lycins came together was at balls and parties, and this one was always the biggest.

"So how do you dance at these things? I'm guessing no mosh pit or fist pumping," Syney said, as she started to wiggle around. Noelle assumed she was dancing, but she couldn't be sure.

"Mostly waltzes," she responded, as Gabe walked into the room without a knock. He hadn't been around for the past day, which Noelle couldn't have been happier about. After their incident in the hall the other day, she was still trying to cool herself down.

"Nice boobs," he said, flashing Syney as smile and jumping onto the couch closest to them.

"Thank you!" Syney said, still moving to whatever music she had going in her head.

"They don't dance like that here, Princess," Gabe said. He was wearing his usual black suit and looking as handsome as ever.

Syney stopped and looked at Noelle. "This is going to be a disaster. I'm seeing it now. How about I just skip it?"

Noelle shook her head. "It's kind of required. Sorry. But they're usually a lot of fun. Everyone is masked, so they dance with whomever they want, and you generally don't know who your partner is. So you could...dance with Hunter, and no one could say anything." She watched as Syney's face fell and she turned away. Noelle hadn't asked what was going on with Hunter after she had seen Fern at the dining hall, but Syney's moods had been spotty ever since, so she assumed everything hadn't gone well. "Sorry. I shouldn't have said anything."

"No, no. It's OK," Syney looked back and smiled at her. "Don't worry about it." She glanced at Gabe, who seemed bored with the conversation. "You coming?"

"God, no. Magic Users don't know how to throw a real party. All lavish clothes and decorations but absolutely no naked women in cages or on poles. They have no taste."

Syney laughed, but Noelle was horrified. "You really go to parties like that?"

Gabe looked at her for the first time since he had entered the room. "I hosted them. All heat and passion and lust."

Noelle got caught in his eyes for a few moments but forced herself to look away. He was bad news for her, at the very least. She needed to stop thinking such dirty thoughts about him. Growing up, she had heard a lot of things about Vampires. They had a way of getting into people's heads and not just by compulsion. Her mother always had warned her about them. She said that their bites were actually euphoric, and some even begged for a bite after a while. And then there was the sex thing. She had heard that they all were amazing lovers, but it was the promise of that treasured bite during sex that some women sought out. Noelle had to admit she was curious, but it was more than that—and that's what scared her. "Sounds depraved."

"Oh, it was."

"Sounds better than this," Syney said, pulling on her black-feathered mask. "I look like a freak."

"You look amazing," Noelle said, fixing a few hairs that had fallen out of place. She pulled a few strands behind Syney's ear and whispered, "He's an idiot."

Syney gave her a sad smile. "He's not—that's the problem."

There was a knock at the door, and Noelle quickly went to answer it. Leaf stepped in wearing a black suit. His black dress jacket was buttoned almost all the way to his chin with golden buttons. He looked extremely handsome. This was Noelle's favorite part of the ball, getting to see everyone dressed up. It was like they were the best versions of themselves for the night.

Leaf shot a look to Gabe and bowed to both women. "Are you ready?"

Syney nodded. "Yup. As ready as I'll ever be."

"Oh, wait!" Noelle hurried over to Syney's vanity and pulled out the Vilori family crest. "I found this when I unpacked your stuff. You should wear it to all of the major events." She pulled the amulet around Syney's neck and hooked it in the back. "It shows that you're head of the house."

Syney looked down at the amulet and fingered it. "That's makes sense. I've seen the queen with a blue one."

Noelle gave Syney a once-over look before nodding in approval. "Now you're ready."

Syney gave her a hug. Noelle stiffened for a moment, not used to the gesture, especially from a royal, before accepting it. It felt nice to have a friend again. She knew a lot of other handmaidens in the palace, but she wasn't very close to any of them. She loved having Syney around.

"I'll see you down there, right?" Syney asked.

Noelle nodded and watched her sweep out of the room with Leaf.

"What do you say we throw our own depraved party?"

She looked over at Gabe, who sent her his devilish smile. "No, thank you. I actually like the ball." She looked into the mirror and checked her own hair and clothes before heading for the door. Something stopped her from leaving. She shouldn't care what Gabe thought or did, but she couldn't help it. She turned around and found him staring out onto the balcony. "Why don't you come with me?" she said.

He turned to her, surprised. He didn't speak for a moment—he just stared at her—but Noelle was pretty sure she wasn't what he was looking at. Finally he blinked and slipped into his smile. "Not my scene, like I said. But enjoy yourself...just not too much."

Noelle waited for a moment, even though she knew he wouldn't change his mind. Once she was down in the Great Hall with hundreds of masked people all around, she actually debated going back to find Gabe. Out of everyone in the palace, he was the only one she wanted to spend time with.

Cass

Cass was bored. She shifted in her seat next to Helen and tried to discreetly pull at the bodice of her dress. Truth be told, she wasn't a fan of these things. She loved dresses and chose to wear them every day, but these ball gowns were different. They poked and prodded in places Cass didn't know she had. She sighed in frustration and looked at Helen.

"This almost over?" she whined.

Helen laughed. "It hasn't even started."

Cass grumbled and watched as everyone started to file into the room. The ball had two different parts. The first started in the Grand Dining Hall, where she was now with Helen, and then after dinner they all filed into the Grand Ballroom next door, where there was dancing and lots of drinking. That part wasn't so bad, but Cass still wasn't a fan. Most people in the Village were scared to even talk to her let alone ask her to dance, merely because she was a royal princess. Most of the time, at these balls, she stood alone against the wall with Helen, drinking copious amounts of vinum, which then caused the humiliated ride back to her room in Raine's arms. To his credit at least he took some not-so-usual routes and avoided as many people as possible, but her pride was still wounded every time. Every year she swore she wouldn't drink and even would ask someone to dance—just try to have a blast—but it never worked.

"This year will be different," she said to herself.

Helen laughed. "You say that every year."

"But this year I mean it," she said, as she saw Syney walk in with Leaf. She waved her over and motioned to the seat next to her.

"Wow, this is kinda crazy," Syney said, sitting down.

Leaf gave a bow to the three of them. "I'll come back to escort you to the ballroom."

"Sure. Thank you," Syney said.

"That was nice of Leaf to escort you," Helen said, after he had left.

"Yeah, he's a pretty special guy," Syney replied, pouring herself some vinum.

"Just be careful with that stuff," Cass warned. "It can be pretty deadly."

Syney laughed. "I found that out the hard way, but it's so darn good."

Cass joined in on her laugher. She had come to enjoy having Syney around. She didn't spend as much time with her as Helen did, but they had shared enough time to bond. It was almost like there were now four seated royal sisters, which was nice, and not just because it tipped the scales against Adanna and their mother.

"It's nice to see the Vilori crest," Helen said, gesturing toward the amulet around Syney's neck.

Cass smiled. "I remember when I first saw that in your things. I knew right then that you were the lost Vilori."

"At least one of us did." Syney laughed nervously.

"Are you still having trouble here? I thought all of the rumors had stopped," Cass said with concern.

"Oh, they did, I guess... I've just got other things on my mind."

"I know what you mean. I was a little nervous about the report on Shifter activity," Helen said.

Cass's smile fell immediately. "Shifters?" She didn't talk about it much, but the Shifter attack in the Human Realm had left a big impact on her. She still had some nightmares about it, which caused her to wake up in a cold sweat.

"The report from the Guards' scouting party was given at the council meeting today that you missed. They said there was increased activity along the northern border," Helen said.

Cass's heartbeat picked up. This wasn't good. Everyone assumed that the palace was the safest place in the Realm, but what if the Shifters attacked? They were out there just waiting to attack, and here they were having a dance. Cass sighed in frustration and stood up, almost knocking over her chair.

"Cass, what's wrong?" Helen asked, putting her hand on her sister's arm.

"I just... I need to go. I forgot that I have to get something done."

"You're leaving? I was told this was mandatory," Syney said.

"It is...probably. I just... I have to go. Mother won't mind. She tells me every year that her respect level for me drops. I hate this thing, and I'd rather
just go to my room." Cass took a deep breath. "I'll be fine. I'll see you both tomorrow. And stay off the vinum."

She took off without listening to them and headed to the library. If the Shifters were coming—if they wanted to fight—then she would have to learn to fight. She unlocked the main door and marched right up to the secured section. After yanking her skirt through the door, she went to the section of books she hadn't yet gotten to and stared at it. She wasn't sure what spell was on it. It definitely wasn't the same spell that was on the other shelves. "Damn!" she yelled, and smacked the shelf with her hand. When she did, an invisible barrier formed in front of it, with several symbols on it. She gasped, not only from the pain in her hand but also the symbols. There wasn't one spell on the shelf; there were at least seven. She quickly wrote them down on the paper that was on the table. The only way she was going to get through this was one spell at a time. There were three that she recognized. They were all spells that could lock a door, which she had learned during her basic training. Two more she had come across in the other books in the secured section. But the last two—they were going to be tricky. She grabbed a few books from the other shelves and started to look through them. She needed to find a way to get to that shelf, and there was no way she wouldn't.

Syney

Dinner was nothing special. Syney had expected everyone to mingle as Noelle had said, but royals stuck with royals and Guards with Guards. It wasn't until they went into the larger room next door that everyone started to come together to talk and dance. Leaf had walked her in and left her with Helen, although he promised to come back for a dance. Syney was glad for him not to ask for one right away. She wanted to not only scope out the whole place but also watch a few dances to make sure she actually could do them. They didn't seem too hard—more of a slow dance than the dances she had done at the festival at Rose's house.