Page 63 of Shade of Ruin

For the world he’s trying to build.

For his friends.

For me.

I don’t have words for him. Instead, I just smile and nod, and when he wraps his hands around me, I do my best to leash the emotions inside me. The fear and anger and compassion. I tie them together with steel chains and push them to the back of my mind. Tonight, I need to become just as cold as Cole is.

Chapter 29

I’ll burn for this, but that’s a sacrifice I’ll make to keep my people safe. The void already calls to me. It won’t be long before I join my father, but first, I must protect my House, my people… and my son.

~King Casimir, personal journals

I’ve seen Hazel andAunt Prudence wear beautiful dresses. Even some made of silk and exotic wools. What I step into Lorcan and Fiona’s showing room wearing is nothing like that. This one is something so stunning I couldn’t have dreamed it.

It’s a modest dress that is pulled in tight against my chest with a corset top, but it turns into a flowing, airy gown made of sheer fabrics stacked on top of each other that… burn. No, burn isn’t the right word. As the light shifts over them, it looks like there’s a fire right below the top layer, but if you move the top layer, the fires look like they’re hidden under the next layer.

No matter what, the fabric always seems to barely hide a fire that threatens to swallow me alive. Those fabrics flow from that beautiful bright red and orange mix into a shimmering silver along the hem of the dress, and instead of a fire, it looks almost metallic. It’s like a chain wrapping around the bottom hem and holding the dress down over the flames.

The red picks up black in the sleeves until it looks like my shadows have been turned into cloth.

I feel like the most beautiful woman in the world for the first time in my life. No, I couldn’t have imagined this dress, and the way it fits me is like it was made for me. Which, I guess it was. It’s more perfect than I could imagine.

When I see Cole’s face, he frowns just a little as he looks at the dress on me. “The earth?”

“It didn’t work well. And, Lord Cole, we wondered if that would be the right decision. The House of Earth was always the one that your father disagreed with the most. It might be best to respect that and not bring brown or green into his house. Beyond that, while this looks like a House of Flames dress, it also doesn’t.”

Cole nods his head, walking around me, and it takes everything in me not to blush at the feelings that run through me at how close he’s inspecting me. “As always,” he says to Lorcan, “you and your wife’s work is impeccable. You earn every spellstone I pay you.”

“Thank you,” Lorcan says. “We’re always happy to work with you.” Fiona’s ever serious look breaks into the slightest of smiles at the compliment.

Cole gives me a nod and a nearly imperceptible grin. “Well, there’s only one thing left to do.”

“Meet your father,” I whisper. I’d felt so out of place before, but like a warrior putting his armor on, I feel better about it now.I feel like I’m protected by this incredible dress, like it will hide the fact that I’m the last person who should sit at a king’s table.

Maybe it will. Maybe this dress will be the reason that Cole doesn’t have to receive any kind of punishment from his father. Maybe Cole’s father will even like me a little.

That thought almost makes me laugh, and when I slip my arm into Cole’s, it’s not fear or concern or even excitement that I feel. It’s acceptance. This is what we have to do, and we’re going to do it as best we can.

When we step into the public area of the Keep of Flames, I’m surprised at the people we see. I’d expected everyone to be High Fae. I don’t know why I’d expected that, but it felt like the obvious thing. I was wrong. There’s not a single High Fae amongst the servants. Not even the butler, a serpentine being with red and orange scales running the full length of his body, a long tail, and eyes that seem to look through me. Everything about the being is just a little less human and a little more reptilian. When he blinks, I see a second set of eyelids, just like a snake.

Wearing simple red robes, his appearance is confusing. The scales shine in the candlelight and draw attention to him, yet the robes make him seem unassuming. His silence is even louder because I can’t keep from looking at him.

“Nevan,” Cole says with a smile to the butler. “It’s been a long time.”

“It has,” the butler says softly, the “s” sound even more serpentine than I’d expected. “Your father has heard,” he says,pointedly looking at me. “He is… furious.” Again, the “s” sounds come out as a hiss.

Cole’s smile turns into a grim stubbornness. “Then I will have to convince him of what a wonderful idea my betrothal is. It’s time that the Cyrus household has a female in its midst.”

For only a moment, there’s a twinkle in Nevan’s eyes, but then it’s gone, back to the stoic butler. “Dinner will be served soon.”

Cole nods to Nevan and walks me toward the dining room, which is far too large for the three of us. I doubt it was built with only three people in mind. How rarely did Cole and his father eat here unless there were other people as well?

Cole sits down in the chair next to the head of the table, and he motions to the seat next to him, putting himself between me and where his father would sit. I do my best to sit down in the ornate wooden chair while wearing the formal dress. The dark wood looks so similar to cherry, yet it seems smoother. Each chair been carved with pieces of dragons. The armrests end in claws. The backs have been shaped into a pair of folded up wings. Flames adorn all of it.

The table matches the thirty chairs around it. Above us is a chandelier that holds balls of fire. Not candles or oil lamps. Just… balls of fire in glass dishes.

The same gold-streaked red marble makes up the floors, walls, and ceiling, but paintings have been hung from the walls, most of which have some sort of flame symbolism. Like the image of the hawk, they almost all are made to look like the flames are hunting down and burning everything. Especially the other Great Houses.

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