Page 40 of A Kingdom of Shadows

I leave my chambers, turning to each of the echoing halls of leaf-painted walls, partly confused and lost in this grand castle. A bright light flickers when I wander into another section, and I'm welcomed by laughter as I finally enter the dining room. A long table fills the entire place. Maids and guards stand at each corner as Dusan sits by the chair at the head of the table. Darius is smiling at the other end and now wearing a fine dark green jacket. He dangles a glass of wine between his fingers as Tibith sits on the marble floor, eating his bread. Aais laughs at something the king says while a woman in a white gown sits beside Dusan and Arlayna to her right.

"Nara," Dusan greets me as he spots me loitering by the entrance. Darius's head whirls to me, and his eyes trace the finery of my dress. I inhale the bit of air around me. "Would you prefer it if I call you Nara or Naralía? Darius says you are quite... opinionated over names."

I cast Darius a glare, and he chuckles, sipping from his glass. I don't think he will ever forget the Misty name incident. "Nara is just fine," I say and sit beside Darius. The table hosts heaps of meats, cheeseboards, fruits, and spices that make me lick my lips, and my stomach growls in hunger.

I have not had a proper meal in so long that I have forgotten how much I adore it.

Serving myself to an abundance of it all, my gaze lodges on Arlayna's. She stares straight-faced as I plop a piece of bread onto my plate. Her turquoise silk gown differs from mine. It's beautiful with a halter neckline and off-shoulder sleeves. A sapphire circlet adorns her head, and I can truly see the resemblance of royalty in her, not the hunting attire she'd worn earlier.

"So, this is the mortal you have been so fondly speaking of," the woman in white beside Dusan says, and I almost drop all the food I have. I look at her, and a sense of enjoyment pierces her expression as she sets her grey eyes on Darius.

I bite my cheek with silly amusement. I almost feel superior for a moment, like I have the upper hand on him and can make fun of it. I lean in, whispering to Darius, "Fondly?"

He rests a fist under his chin, smirking in response. "Don't get too ahead of yourself, Goldie."

"Oh, I could never reach your standards of arrogance."

We look at each other with conspiratorial smiles before my eyes are on the woman again.

She tips her head to the side. "I am Meriel, Arlayna's mother."

My eyes go round, and I'm instantly embarrassed by my reaction. Well, I certainly see the resemblance. They are bronzed skin, wearing their dark hair up with tight curls framing their sharp faces.

"Apologies for my tardiness," someone else announces, barging past a few maids. A slim girl, wearing a gown decorated in colorful flowers, grinning, with her raven hair wildly unkempt. "I would have been here sooner, but Thallan opposed my greeting the guests naked."

I almost let loose a laugh as Aias starts choking on some of his food, and a man with long brown hair tied in a low ponytail comes through the doors. Judging pale green eyes wander around the table before he walks over to Dusan and plants himself by his side.

Dusan coughs away the sudden awkward atmosphere as he looks at me with a strained smile. "Nara, Darius, this is my emissary, Thallan." He gestures to the male beside him, and Thallan sends us a curt nod, though his expression tells me he might never be pleased by anything. "You have already met one of my nieces," Dusan adds, "So let me introduce you to Faye." His gaze cuts to the girl that had just entered as her grin grows. "They are daughters of my late brother."

The Fallcrown Princesses. "You're sisters," I say.

"Unfortunately." Faye sighs dramatically.

"Faye," Meriel scolds her, raising a brow.

Faye lifts a shoulder and pouts mockingly at her mother. "What? She is the favored one, is she not?" She reaches across the table, grabs a strawberry, and turns to me.

I stiffen as she picks up a strand of my hair like I am a toy she can fiddle with and bites into her fruit.

"Humans are so remarkable," she murmurs. "They are us yet with no power—"

"Faye, will you just sit down already," Arlayna hisses, her knuckles turning white on the table.

Faye groans. "Oh, you are such a bore Arlayna." She draws out the seat on my left and plops herself down on it. "I am only messing around. I am glad we finally have visitors that aren't our cousins or—" She shivers "—Edwyrd."

'Faye," the king warns, and the table goes quiet save for Tibith's gnawing noises on his bread. I turn to Faye as she slouches in her chair.

"Well, I am sure your cousins think the same way about visiting you," I say casually, grabbing an apple as Faye's head turns to me.

She starts smiling and straightens her back as she glances at everyone else. "I like her."

I crack a smile as she says that before Dusan changes the subject, swirling the mead inside his chalice. His ashen hair, like pure silk, flows down his shoulder, accentuating the sharp contours of his cheeks. "Have your powers come through yet?" he directs the question at Darius, and my eyes flick toward him.

He nods once. "I felt them once I passed the threshold from the forest into Olcar."

I let a frown slip.

He didn't tell me.

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