Page 7 of Heiress of Fire

Having no need to cross the other Bridges to travel through the islands, they arrived quickly at his manor. Beautifully carved gravel stones led their path to the entrance.

Davina turned and noticed the well-cut garden. Bushes filled with different sets of flowers filled the entrance of the mansion: roses, carnations, orchids, tulips, daisies, peonies, and lilies. Despite the garden belonging to Sadoc, she admitted to herself that it had been magnificent.

Auris was too burnt, too orange, too smokey to be considered beautiful in her opinion. She wondered whether others delved into the image of Auris and if someone else disagreed and loved Auris’s dull atmosphere.

Two uniformed servants stood at the entrance of the dark brown door. Carved vines spread across the polished entrance. Both men scanned Davina and Leilani without a signal of emotion; Davina watched the servants with their blank stares.

Leilani handed the man to her left the invitation.

His blonde hair shuffled as he curved his head slightly to examine the card before nodding at the other man. There was a similarity in their haircut, but a difference in their hair color. One was blonde, while the other was brunette. Both men had identical marble blue-green eyes. Their eyes were wonderful. Davina cursed their Basalan traits.

Simultaneously, they grabbed the latch on the front door and pulled. Davina and Leilani were then welcomed into the foyer. Emerald covered the walls of the entire foyer and manor, and a rich tanned carpet covered the polished wooden floor. Leilani beamed immediately as she examined the pots with plants set near the walls. Davina remained with her face still as they walked past the flight of stairs into the entrance of the living room. Leilani elbowed Davina’s ribcage. “Ow.”

“Change your face.”

“I can’t change my face. Unless you want me to get fire surgery. I’m no expert but I can do that right now—” Davina held a hand out in front of her face, and Leilani slapped her arm away. Rubbing the red spot that appeared from Leilani’s hit, Davina frowned.

“You know what I mean,” Leilani muttered before sending a smile to a Neptulan woman nearby. The woman had a drink in her hand, her silver eyes examining them. Davina felt the woman’s glare uncovering each little piece of her insecurities. She could see the judgment that passed through her mind by the look in her gaze, that was until the lady sent them a rather forced grin.

Probably wondering why Leilani would bring an Almenara to the celebration, Davina thought.

Davina spotted Snow, who was waiting by the end of the foyer holding two gold cups. Snow met eyes with Davina. The white-haired Neptulan wore a beautiful silver gown that meshed into a dark blue at the hem with different-shaped crystals serving as a belt around her waist. “Davina, I wasn’t aware Leilani would bring you since parties aren’t your thing. Want me to get you a drink as well?”

Davina’s chest heaved as she bit down on her tongue. The Aurisan in purple felt holes piercing through her back. There was amusement in Snow’s eyes as Davina struggled to keep her mouth shut. Her words were nice, but her tone was condescending.

The people here were already expecting an Almenara meltdown, and it seemed Snow wanted a show as well. She hated that they already expected the worst from her, that they always tried to provoke her into falling into their traps. But she wasn’t about to prove to everyone that their awful thoughts of her were correct. She had to show that she was different, no matter how much of this angered her. Davina formed a slight smile.

“Don’t worry, I’ll get it myself. Go ahead, Lani, I’ll catch up.”

“Are you sure?” Leilani asked while putting her hand over Davina’s arm.

“Yeah, go.” She smiled, patting her friend’s hand. Leilani nodded. Snow held a disdainful look in her eyes before locking arms with Leilani. They giggled as they walked past other guests of the party and deeper into the manor. Davina sighed.

She crossed her arms and headed to the nearest table that held the flavored waters from Neptulus’s famous store, Phantomwaters. She served herself a cup of delicious strawberry beverage.

Leilani’s laugh burst into the room. Davina was certain that it was a pleasant sound to the ears of all the guests. A man’s laugh followed after hers. Davina was able to glimpse the way Snow held a pleased look on her face as Leilani and Sadoc conversed.

Davina drank from the gold cup. Wanting to avoid another encounter with Snow, she remained by the water table, keeping her cup close to her lips. She felt the eyes of the other party guests watching her.

After what felt like the longest ten minutes of her life, she realized that no other guests had visited the water table.

“Help me understand why a pretty girl like you is standing all alone by the water table?” a voice interrupted her thoughts.

Immediately, she pivoted to meet a tall familiar face. Ron.

A smile formed over her lips.

“Oh, nothing, I just… didn’t want to come to this party.”

“Why not? Are you not fond of Sadoc?” he asked with a raised brow.

“No—no, it’s not that,” she stuttered.

“It’s all right to be sincere.” Ron smirked.

She pursed her lips with reddened cheeks, feeling as if he could see right through her. Could he really? Hopefully not.

He uncrossed his arms and held his hand out for her. “Shall we go someplace else? I’m not a fan of Sadoc, either.”

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