Embers and Ashes

Chapter 19

Melona

  “You look absolutely beautiful”, Serephina gushes happily with herself as I stand in my ballroom dress before the full body mirror.

   I look like a giant pumpkin.

   It wasn’t all that bad. Thick lovely velvet of a deep burnt orange hug off my shoulders with a bit of a deeper dip between the breasts I would have expected, but only enough to see the shape of them with the corset holding them firmly in place. The skirts material thick enough to hold the a line shape on it’s own without any help of a cage, or extra goze. So I am free to move as much as I like.

    I like the way the fabric shimmers in the evening light.

    “Oh dear. They mixed up the colours on the shoes”, Sera gasps in horror when she pulls out the velvet slippers that she had asked to be made from the same material. Where I had asked for them to be turned a deep navy blue.

    “No, I asked for them to be like that”, I laugh softly taking them gently from her to place them on my feet. “Orange and blue are contrasting colour. One compliments the other.”

    “Why did you want them to be like that?”, she asks with slight confusion.

    “You’ll see”, I grin.

    She shakes her head softly and smiles as one of her ladies in waiting brings over a wooden box.

    “Thank you dearest. Set it over on the vanity please”, she ushers and I glance over at it.

    “What’s that?”, I ask curiously.

    “Your Laurel”, Sera smiles as she opens up the box to pull out a crown of apple leaves carved from thin sheets of bronze and frosted with copper.

   “It’s beautiful”, I gasp softly at the craftsmen’s skill as she holds it over my head before placing it softly on the blanket of my ashen chestnut hair.

    “It was the one I was given by Beron’s mother before wedding him. A family heirloom to the females of this court”, she smiles sadly. “It suits you.”

    “Thank you”, I smile with her. “And not for the laurel, but for everything. I never really had the chance to have a mother.”

    “Thank you for giving me a chance at having a daughter”, she laughs softly and gives my cheek a small peck. “Now, try not to be too nervous. I will guide you along as best I can, and Eris will also be there to guard you. Remember, most of the women there will unfortunately not like you as much as you hope. They’ve all been trying their best to gain what you have. They will see you as the enemy.”

   “Oh how lovely”, I sigh deeply. 

   “Things will get better as the years go by dearest. Promise”, she offers and selects a vile from her dresser. “And for my final gift. Eris has always been one for spices so I had a sent purchased from your home court.”

    “Baked pear and nutmeg?”, I beam at the familiar warm sent. “How did you know this is my favourite? They only ever make this scent during the Autumn months in my court”

    “Well consider it permanently stocked by my personal perfume blenders. I may or may not have sent letters to your brother. What a lovely young man”, she hums.

    “You’ve been getting letter’s from Thesan?”, I ask in astonishment. “How? I’ve been sending letters out all these weeks and I haven’t gotten anything.”

    “That is my husbands doing. He doesn’t like anything leaving the court that aren’t trading papers. I can offer my spy services if you’d like”, she offers.

    “Yes please”, I beam.

     “Whenever you need to speak with him, let me know”, she smiles and hands me the bottle that I take happily. Dabbing the sweet oils on my neck and wrists.

     “I think you’re ready”, she smiles.

~

    I really am not ready. I yell in my head when we arrive at the place that is filled to the brim with elaborately dressed fae.

   Everything that Serephina and I had been planning over the past months was finally laid out beautifully in golds, beige, and orange. The whole place shined and is filled with good cheers.

   Her majesty had been called away by Beron to speak with some very important court officials who demanded attention. Leaving me in the bellowing crowds of laughter and cheers. My heart wanting to give out from the sheer number of people I have to be around, but nothing a bit of ginger whisky can’t fix.

   Grabbing two glasses from one of the servers I down the first and give them back the empty glass. Keeping the other in hand to hug close.

    The burning liquid was enough to spark the needed warmth in my chest. Settling my nerves and bringing laughter back into my soul. Imagining I am a fire breathing drake clothed in fae skin. Every time my mouth burned against my breath I knew it was only the fire within keeping me safe.

    So I became bold and took a chance in joining a group of chatting ladies.

    “Good evening everyone”, I smile cheerily. Even when their eyes burned in my direction when I disturbed their intense conversation, but since I am dressed like them I didn’t raise any suspicion. “What’s the gossip of the evening?”

    “The only topic there is. The female who dared come into this court like she owns it”, grumbles one of them.

    “Oh, you must be speaking of my mistress. Melona?”, I offer.

    “You’re mistress? You work for the High Lord’s daughter?”, another gasps with a wicked light. “You must tell us everything.”

    “Must I?”, I raise a brow.

    “Or we’ll have to tell her that you stold her dress and sticking your nose where it shouldn’t slave”, a nose crinkle in my direction.

    “My mistress is very kind. She knows I am here. She’s loaned me the dress”, I assure them. “Now what is this in you thinking I will be handing out information on my beloved royal so easily?”

     “Everybody has a price for betrayal”, sneers the ring leader. A tall female with  golden beige skin, dark brown eyes, and wheat blonde hair curled lusciously around her face. Clade in amethyst purple and gold accents.

    “Well, maybe you should all offer up something and I’ll decide what price fits what information. But I do not trade in gold or money”, I hum and sip from my drink.

    “I have an elder brother who has a thing for maid”, one offers as if it where easy to sell her family members soul.   

    “I have a cottage”, another offers.

    “You can choose anything from my wardrobes”, another offers.

    More go to offer up more items but I smile and hold up a hand for them to quiet.

    “Cottage. What would you like to know?”, I offer.

    She looks at the others for help as to what to ask.

     “You’ve been living with the two. How does Eris seem to treat her?”, asks the ring leader.

    “Hummmm”, I drawl thoughtfully. “Well he doesn’t seem to mind her too much. There hasn’t been any screaming or objects thrown. I take that as, he doesn’t hate her, but affection is surely lacking.”

    They all breath a deep sigh of relief.

   “We still have time”, one gushes excitedly.

    “Of course we do, Ladies. Eris is not a male who enjoys the company of simple females that have no experience in bed. He’ll be bored of her within another month, and he’ll come crawling back to us”, the leader grins. I have to stifle my growl with another fire breathing sip of whisky.

    “More like crawling back to you Thali”, her sheep beets. “If anyone of us has a chance it’ll be you. He’s been pining after you for hundreds of years.”

    Thali presses her lips to stop her smile. “I’m certain a mating bond is soon to form. We’ve been getting so close lately. He visited me just last week. His father had his wrung so thermally, and was desperate. Our dear Eris has such fire.” 

    My heart turns cold in my chest. This is her. The one Eris’ spent so much of his life with. This striking female who held herself like she ruled the world. I suddenly feel very very small compared to this group of girls.

    I was so trapped in myself I didn’t realize that their attention shifted until there is a hand at my waist. After startling me back into the present it slithering from my side to spread over my stomach. Pulling me flush against a broad chest. That familiar sent of cinnamon with the undertone of ancient leather bound paper engulfs me.

    “Hello there my little. . . pumpkin”, Eris purrs in my ear with a serpentine smile. His sharp nose nuzzling my temple and breathing in my hair.

    The group of them looked at us in startled confusion.

    “Eris”, Thali breaths in greeting with the pleasant smile plastered over her face.

    He doesn’t even shift his eyes in her direction as my eyes meet his. Focused.

    “Serpent”, I coo while drawing a figure over his pail cheek. His eyes shuttering in a quiet delight before he stands to face the group I find myself at.

    “What are you hens clucking about to my lovely Melona tonight”, he offers as both calm but a warning to behave themselves.

    “Wait, she’s . . .”, one of the followers look at me.

    “Of course she is”, he questions her.

    “I might have told them a tiny white lie”, I pinch my fingers up to show him how little it was. “I wanted their honest opinion of me.”

     “I see. Well, enough games for now. You will be staying with me for the rest of the night”, he says sternly. “Understood.”

    “Yes master”, I gushes teasingly.

    He just chuckles and offers his arm to me.

    “Later ladies. Do try and be a bit more careful in what you say about others”, I warn as Eris leads me away. Feeling a bit smug at them being so desperate that they so easily fed out of my hands.

    “They look positively frightened of you”, Eris grins.

    “Well they shouldn’t have been so gullible”, I smirk and place my cheek against the dark navy velvet of his jacket. “You’re looking spiffy.”

    “Spiffy?”, he questions. “I look remarkable.”

     “Alright, unfurl those feathers of your peacock, why don’tcha”, I roll my eyes but smile.

    “You look divine tonight”, he hums while leaning over into my hair.

    “Oh stop”, I huff and pull at my hair. “Do I really look like a pumpkin?”

    “Yes, but a very pretty pumpkin”, he smiles. I grumble under my breath and try to cover my lips.

    “There’s so many people”, I mumble to him.

     “Don’t worry. I’ll keep them at bay”, he smiles.

     “Eris?”, I call softly.

     “Yes Melona?”, he asks back as if we were sharing a secret.

     “These past few days. You’ve been really. . . distant. After what happened while you were away. I really meant what I said. I really do forgive you. Please stop beating yourself over it”, I plead. He sighs and looks at the crowd before squeezing my hand.

    “I know you have, you shouldn’t, no female should have to put up with this”, he tells me. “But these past few days I have been thinking a lot about things. About everything, I suppose, and I’ve come to some final decisions. One being I want tonight to be good for you. Please, can we talk about the rest later while in. . . more pleasant company?”

    I look at the crowds to find eyes lingering in suspicions and eves droppers. He wanted to be alone when we talked. So I nod and lean into him a bit more. Showing all the world that I belonged here. I belonged beside this male. No matter his final decisions.

   When I caught sight of Serephina I lift up my skirt to point out my shoes excitedly and then point to Eris’ jacket. She nearly looked ready to burst into laughter. Happiness twinkling there in her eyes. Catching this Eris smiles.

    “So that’s why I found Pomona sneaking through my wardrobes”, he chuckles. “I thought that those days I had been gone you two had plotted my demise and she was planting explosives.”

   “Nope”, I beam. “Just wanted to surprize you with a little couple matching details.”

    “Well, I must say it is much better then finding a fire or poison”, he nods. “Dance?”

    “Now?”

    “Yes, right now.”

     “You really want to risk falling face first into the floor around all these fae?”

     “You’ve improved wonderfully these past few days. We’ll be fine.”

    “Oh, alright then. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

    He separates from me only to run his nimble fingers over my own. Twining them together as he cuts through the crowd. They all part for him and there is a space left behind for the two of us as the music starts.

(Autumn’s Child – Peter Gundry)

    The song soft but chipper like morning sparrows. Allowing us to move quickly but gracefully together. Even if I spent most of the song counting out the steps Eris leads me along. Seeing him smiling so pleasantly for a few moments I forgot there were other’s surrounding us.
It felt like we were back at the manor. Our own little slice of the world, and the part of me that still had hope, it saw a future. One where it was just the two of us. Taking on what may come, but we did it all together.

   All we had was to focus on each other. The meeting of our hands. The light touches and even lighter glances. Every now and then I’d catch him looking at me with such a soft smile I thought that he might start crying, but he never does. He just watches me as he leads us around the room encased in the music around us.  

I hope.

~

    We danced for hours until the songs comes all too quickly to the end and we end with my back fitting against his front. His one hand sprawled over my stomach and the other he holds my hand. Holding it up to his lips for the soft brush of a kiss that doesn’t come.

    Those that had been dancing with us clapped for the musicians and it breaks our trance. Especially when one is clapping much loader and longer then the others as he approaches. Bringing all attention to the three of us as he stops before us.

    Eris’ grip on me tightens.

    “My good subjects”, Beron starts. “I hope you have all been enjoying yourself on this blessed day of ours. Our Lammas harvest.”

    The crowd claps for him.

     “Now I know you are all eager for my announcement. Most of you are aware that we are making strong ties with the Dawn Court through the marriage of my eldest, and the High Lord’s only daughter. I present, the Darling of Dawning, Melona  Eanimilis.”

     He presents me to the court with a sweeping motion and again a very dry appose. A little lost I give a dipping curtsey and kind smile.

    After that he came barreling towards me so steadily I thought for a moment he was going to hit me and flinch as he grasps my wrist. Holding up my hand for all to see as he rams a ring of gold with a large ruby embedded in a ring of small diamonds.

    “She now belongs to the Vanserra name and will be wedded to my son this Mabon. All court officials must attend to witness”, his words stern as a general’s order. Everyone bowing their head obediently.  

     And to my utter surprize that seemed to be the extent of it.

    “That wasn’t as bad as I thought it’s be”, I sigh with relief.

    “That was insulting”, Eris grinds his teeth and I have to hold onto his wrist for fear he might actually attack his father for it. “He introdused you like one would a roasted cow for supper.”

    “Eris please, calm down, it’s okay. I’m thankful for the simplicity”, I tell him.

    “But this is your first formal introduction. You’ll be remembered as the one my father couldn’t have wasted breath on. I don’t want that for you”, he sneers and looks angrily at the floor as I pull him to a wall for some privacy.

   “Eris, if these fae see me as nothing but a piece of meat then they have another thing coming when they try to take advantage”, I explain. “You know this. That I wont let them see me that way for long. I know this, and that should be all that matters.

    Let him treat me inferior, and weak, it’ll shock them all the more when they find out I have claws of my own.”

    “I suppose”, he grumbles.

    “Please Eris, let this battle go. I don’t want to see you flogged tonight. Or any other time for that matter, but please not tonight.”

    He growls but takes my hand in his. “I wanted to give you the ring. Not him. You’re marrying me, and not him. You do not belong to the Court like some trophy.”

    I look down at the grandness of the ring and sigh. Just another thing that makes me feel like a child trying to ware her mother’s shoes.     

    “Well, I sure hope you’ll be the one at the alter to give me my real one”, I smile and hold his cheek in my free hand. His eyes shuttering as he leans into the touch.

    “I will”, he smiles and presses his lips to the inner part of my wrist. “How is it you can settle my fire so easily?”

    “Well, this isn’t the first time I’ve played with fire”, I admit. Eris gives me a concerned look but that’s when Tyren decides to make his presence abundantly clear. Having pushed several fae out of his way to get to the two of us, and a crazed look I haven’t seen in him before.

    “You did not tell me Hybern had come for you”, he snarls.

    “Tyren?”, I put up my hands to try and calm him but he swats my hands away.

   Eris reacting on instinct grabs Tyren by his wrists and snarls at him. “Don’t you touch her like that.”

    “Eris”, I gasp and try to calm him again. But once again Tyren had crossed a line, but this time it wasn’t me he had crossed.

    “You dare touch the future Lady of this Court?”, Eris seethes and Tyren draws a dagger from under his jacket.

    Gasping I fling up my shield. Sending Tryen from Eris’ grip and onto the hard floor. Fae moved out of the way as he sprawls out over the glossed wood floor of the ballroom. The guards instantly on top of him. Ripping the dagger frim his grip as he shrieked like a banshee.

    “Something’s wrong with him”, I say urgently. Gripping Eris sleeve to grab his attention. “Tyren is a good male. He’s never been violent. Even at his angriest. Please Eris, he sick.”

    Eris has to shake his head to get out of the whatever feral state of mind he had shifted in to guard me. He glances over the struggling male.

    “He hit you. He tried to attack me”, he snarls.

    “That isn’t Tyren”, I plead with a whimper. “Please Eris.”

      Sighing heavily he orders the guards to take him to the healers immediately. Eris stepping between the view of Tyren being dragged away and me. Gently clutching at my hair and kissing it. I let out a shaky breath and hold onto him.  

    “Let me go get us something to drink. Calm us down a bit”, he offers and I nod. Reluctantly letting him go.

    The only problem was that he didn’t come back as quickly as expected. So I went to go find him, only to find Thali on one of the hidden balconies screaming at the top of her lungs, “COWARD!”, over and over into the dark.

  A streak of red flying through the gardens below before disappearing into the surrounding woods.

Eris?

    Thali looked over her shoulders with an angry furry at seeing me there, but all that I knew is that she had been brutal enough to have Eris run from her. I would not yield to her.

    “You think you’re oh so special, don’t you? You think because you live up in your pretty mountain castle that you’re better for him them we are. We’ll always have what you don’t. His affection”, she slurs.

    “Did you just make him jump off the balcony?”, I ask still watching where I had seen his vanish. “I think whatever affection still lingered jumped with him but landed face first into the concrete while he ran off.”

    She goes to retort, but I’ve already turned as she starts to scream after me. I ignore her and went to find the closest way that lead into the garden.

    Much to my surprize he was very easily found. His sent still strong of cinnamon, and there was something else in me. A tugging through the woods that I barely even registered as I slide through the woods with relative ease despite the heaviness of my dress.

    He lay in the grass on top a hill overlooking the forest tops and sweeping lands around the palace. Face turned towards the stars as his own stars speckle his cheeks from too much sun. A mirror almost.

    “Tonight is not going how I hoped it would”, he mutters. Knowing that I had stopped only a few feet away.

    “Me neither”, I sigh softly and come to sit beside him.

    His amber eyes looking up at me like ancient rocks. Tired and heavy. “I’m sorry you are stuck with me.”

    “Don’t be. It could be worse”, I smile. “I could be betrothed to Niran.”

    His nose twists at the mention of his brother as I lay down to look up at the stars.

    “And I think it’s fate that we are together”, I smile.

    “Why’s that?”, he asks.

    “ I’ve dreamt of a little curly red haired boy for as long as I can remember. For a long time I thought it was my future child since the dreams started after I spent time at the temple after a very bad point in my life. I was afraid that I would no longer have a future, and this little boy started showing up”, I hum.

    “And you think it’s ours?”, he asks plainly.

    “Not anymore”, I smile. “I think that little boy was you.”

    “Me?”

    “The child part of you. The part that was looking for the love it’s been denied for centuries. The part of you that still wanted to have a future.”

    His figures grazing my hand as I explain. Our hands lacing together.

    “I hope that’s true”, he smiles and closes his eyes to just enjoy the silence.

     “. . . Did you really just jump out a window for me?”, I ask softly.

     “Yes”, he cracks a smile but it doesn’t last long. “But I’m not ready to explain it. It’s not the right time. It wont matter the way I want it to right now.”

    “There is always tomorrow”, I offer as I breath in deeply the nights cool air.

    “Yeah”, he hums and I lift my hand into the air. Glowing embers of my light float from my finger tips to dance in the breeze above us. Eris smiling at them with peace settling over him.

    “Melona”, he calls in a whisper as if the grass could hear secrets. “Will you dance with me?”

   “Of course”, I beam and we help each other up out of the grass. “Here”, I grin and pull out the locket I’ve been keeping tucked away under my dress as it hung on my neck on a gold chain.

    “What is that?”, Eris questions.

    “It’s a music box locket. Thesan had it made for me. It plays the lullaby mother used to sing to me, and the song you played when we first danced together”, I admit as I open the small box. Music spilling from it and I place it on a near by bolder as Eris pulls me closer and we start to move.

    “Mother used to sing it to us as well”, he smiles. “Or at least she tried to. Music never seemed to work for us rowdy boys. Only stories of adventures.”

    “It’s my favourite song. There’s something deeply sweet but sad about a world being consumed by flames”, I hum and step on his feet. He laughs at the childishness of it but doesn’t seem to mind as he takes each step carefully to not have me topple over.

    “There is”, he nods.

    This was how Lammas was supposed to be. Just the two of us on a hill top with childhood music sweeping over grass land, field and forest. Embers of golden fae light swirling around us as we dance under blankets of stars.