Page 29 of The Coveted
For now.
“What’s human sex like?” Christine, the girl who’d sat on Lucius’s lap in the throne room, asked me. We sat at a dining table in Christine’s chambers, which were decorated in hues of rose gold and extremely luxurious. The glass table was lined with untouched sweets and hors d'oeuvres. I was the only one not drinking elixir. “And is it true that all human men pay currency to watch other people they don’t even know have it?” she continued. She then fired off a couple of other questions that made me almost spit out my tea.
“Um, it works the same, I’d say,” I said to answer the first question, weary of all the eyes on me. “To your second question, I’d say sort of, but that’s not universal. And no to your third and fourth… at least not for everyone.” I wasn’t really up for explaining the ins and outs of internet porn at noon.
“But it isn’t as good, I’d imagine,” Taryn said, eyeing me knowingly. “Because they’re prudish. And the men only care about their own pleasure.”
The women all wrinkled their noses and stared at me expectantly.
I gulped another mouthful of tea. “I don’t think it’s that generalizable, but yes, those are some real… issues.” My experience with witch sex was definitely better than human, but I couldn’t say that without them digging deeper until they figured out the only person who I could’ve possibly tested out that theory with. And also, I was pretty sure my experience was more so about Daelon himself than anything else. With him, there was a level of intimacy that I couldn’t even imagine sharing with any other soul.
There were six women here other than me and Taryn. I’d already forgotten some of their names, but I remembered Christine, Serena, and Jasmine. Serena was the oldest, probably in her mid-thirties, with curly blond hair. She was much more reserved than the others, which was why she was already my favorite. Jasmine had beautiful, long black hair and light brown skin—and she bore a great deal of resemblance to the Disney princess of the same name, which was amusing only to me.
Christine blinked at me, unsatisfied. Her energy recoiled and turned gray, and her tiny, delicate features glassed over with boredom. “Why aren’t you drinking?” she asked faux-sweetly, and all eyes were back on me.
Well, I was clearly already failing at this. I forced a smile, relaxing my shoulders. “It was just a bit too intense for me the first time I tried it.” It might’ve been the wrong thing to say, because I was met with incredulity.
“That’s what Lucius says,” Christine murmured, and my heart stopped, but soon she shifted her gaze to the ornate, rose-tinted crystal chandelier above us. “He had a renowned decorator manifest that for me. Isn’t it wonderful?” She looked at us expectantly until the ladies mirrored her enthusiasm. She smirked, tapping her long, pink fingernails on the glass table.
Manifest?Like when I conjured that dagger out of thin air when I was trying to kill Lucius? I definitely wanted to ask Daelon or Amos about that later. There was still so much I had to learn.
“Renata!” Jasmine exclaimed, jumping up from her seat next to me when a woman entered the room and stepped to us.
Taryn cast a glance my way from across the table, and I stiffened. The woman smiled softly. She had dark brown hair that fell past her shoulders in waves, light, grayish-blue eyes, and a slim frame. She was very pretty, and even though I knew it was unfair and childish, her beautyannoyed the shit out of me. So much for being an evolved, mystical being of ethereal light.
Lucius said she’d been persistently asking about Daelon, which juxtaposed harshly with Daelon’s insistence that their relationship was long past and meaningless. My power stirred, and the cutlery and fine china began to rattle lightly on the white tablecloth. Now Taryn was really staring at me, cocking her head slightly. I took a deep breath as Renata joined us at the opposite side of the table, and the ladies all exchanged puzzled glances. I worked through a quick grounding technique, taking back control. I was shocked something so minor made me lose stability that easily. After Daelon’s training, I thought I’d become exceptionally good at detaching my emotions from my power. In this place, I couldn’t afford any more magickal outbursts.
“The King must be up to something?” Jasmine said with a frown, and the others shrugged and nodded in agreement.
Something about unleashing that tiny bit of power reminded me who I was, and I clung to that feeling rather than the petty jealousy of my ego. I stared at Renata to find she was already looking my way.
“Hi, I’m Áine,” I said, letting confidence lace my words even if I didn’t quite feel it.
Her smile didn’t reach her eyes. “Renata.” She paused, looking me over as if conducting a risk assessment. “So, you’re the reason the Commander was away for so long.”
This piqued the table’s interest, and I remembered how Taryn said rumors were flying. I still had no idea what those had been. “I suppose I was.”
Christine snapped her fingers, and soon a servant appeared with a glass of elixir. She pointed to Renata, whose hand was already outstretched.
“He found me in the human realm,” I said. I cursed myself for not ever getting our story straight about what supposedly happened in Lucius’s fake narrative. But then again, these people were used to being in the dark. They were all drinking plenty of magickal happy juice, anyway.
“I heard you fucked,” Christine blurted, in her apparently characteristic crass fashion. Renata pursed her lips. “And now you hate each other, probably because you discovered what the rest of us already have.” She raised her brows.
Taryn set down her glass a bit too forcefully. “And what would that be, Christine?” she asked sweetly, but her aura was spitting fire. Renata looked like she wanted to speak, her aura hot and red like Taryn’s, but she stayed silent.
Christine looked at the others for support. “Well, that there’s something not quite right about him. He’s strange. And cold. I mean look at how he treated Renata, over here.”
Renata opened her mouth then closed it. She took a sip of her drink, and then finally found her voice. “He treated me just fine,” she said, a double-meaning in her tone that kind of made me want to cause another earthquake. “He just wants nothing to do with me now, I suppose.”
“Well, he is basically Lucius’sbrother,” Taryn pointed out, leaning back in her chair.
I tried hard not to make a face, but her words were effective in shutting Christine up. It was apparent that no one wanted to be caught questioning the King or anyone close to him.
“You should ask him to escort you to the ball,” Christine said quickly to Renata while continuing to seethe at Taryn, her features taut.
Renata took another swig. “Maybe I will.”
Um, no you will not, I thought. And…ball?They were a little too committed to this out-of-touch aristocracy bit. I might’ve needed some special witch ecstasy after all.
