The Chessboard Undead Prince

Chapter the Eighth

So many tick-tocks on the clock. Ellius had to find some useless task until tonight. The Court?

She cringed. "No. Absolutely not."

Mother will hold court all day until the ball tonight. Do I have a dress sorted?

"Yasmine!" she shrilled. "We're going shopping!"

Yasmine appeared at the door of Ellius' chambers, bowing low. "Of course, Your Highness. What shall we be shopping for?"

"Dresses. Something that will make me look like a jewel among stones."

Yasmine nodded, a smile playing on her lips. "I shall make arrangements immediately."

As Ellius stepped out of her chambers and into the bustling corridors of the palace, she couldn't shake the image of the boy with the glass skin from her mind.

Resurrected from the dead? Nothing like this had ever happened before. Never.

Yet, he lived and breathed. Flesh-in-blood. Not shimmering crystal skin like her or all of the Empire.

Ellius had brushed the waves from his smooth cheeks. His face, even in sleep, was the most earth-shatteringly handsome she had ever seen. Yes, Adonis held high, chiselled cheekbones and a strong jaw, but this was different. He was almost ethereal... A perfect harmony of masculinity and femininity.

The thought sent shivers down her spine. But she pushed it aside, focusing instead on the upcoming ball. She needed to be the most dazzling presence there, to distract herself from the eerie events of the day.

"Your Highness, are you drooling?"

"NO!" Her head whipped to Yasmine. But a blush was rising from her heart.

"Are you sure?" She cocked an eyebrow. "You're not falling in love?"

"Are you in love with me?" had come a thread of a voice.

The boy had spoken.

Ellius' head had slowly turned.

He had sat up on the pallet, his fingers bracing the stone wall.

Cores of onyx burned into hers.

Hair the colour of golden wheat with roots of black. Ellius had realized when the sunlight hit his hair at a perfect angle, it was streaked with the faintest thread of red hues.

Glass skin, honey skin, cloudless skin dewy and glowy.

"You're awake."

"I heard your last words. I was floating between two worlds since resurrected from the dead by forces beyond my control in that graveyard." His voice was mildly musical. Ellius could have almost swayed to the lilting of it.

Violet, an apprentice healer, had squealed, dropping the jar. Clay smashed on the cold stone and a thick, dark emerald paste spilled out.

"Shh!" Joelle had pressed her ear against the door. "The servants might hear us from the ballroom!"

"Who are you?" Ellius had croaked.

He turned those beautiful black eyes to her. "I... don't recall anything?"

"Do you know your name?"

"Should I?"

"You remember you came from a graveyard?"

"That's what I can recall?" His brows furrowed. "I was buried underneath an old man, his chest was covering my throat. You led me back to the world of the living..." His voice trailed off as his touch absently touched his throat, coming away with wet blood.