The velvet moved, and suddenly, I was revealed to the now completely calm backstage. Everyone was watching us, keeping us completely still. I felt like an animal display, that was, until another representative walked out.
She wasted no time, moving gracefully across the floor and standing on the large X on the furthest side. And so I followed.
One foot in front of the other, shoulders back, chin high and face unreadable as I made my way, standing on the second X. As I did so, I turned my head back to see the third representative moving forward and taking his place on my right.
I turned away, staring at the black curtain separating us from the stage.
I couldn't be bothered sparing them a glance, sparing them my time and focus. The only thing on my mind was the stage beyond, what was waiting and what has to happen next.
Out of the blue, the man next to me began to speak. "Congratulations," He said warmly, his voice deep, running over his tongue like honey. "I'm assuming you're the wolf representative? And you, the fae?"
The girl clicked her tongue. "Of course, you don't exactly see me rolling around in the dirt and eating raw animals now do you?"
My head whipped in her direction. Really? I opened my mouth to speak, but was quickly cut off.
"My name is Arnav Dhar I'm... very pleased to be here." He finished with a small bow.
In respect, I lowered my head too. "Cassandra Verano. Wolf Representative."
One couldn't deny that Arnav was attractive. Shoulder length hair that was swept up in a crown of shells and seaweed, tying it back and out of his face completely. Chestnut eyes, soft nose and the same midnight skin that Cora had. My mind began to spin, maybe they were from the same choir? Perhaps the same area?
Engraved on his skin was whorls of blue-tinted ink, covering the entirety of both arms and moving onto his pecs and then continuing down the side of his ribcage. On his arms were solid bands of green, while all that covered the top of his thighs was a collection of blue and white material, reminding me of the waves. Of course, done on purpose.
The fae scrunched her nose. "Odette Fedorov." I could hear an accent faint on her tongue, causing her words to come out sharper, quicker. I chose not to bring it up.
I had never seen a more stunning dress. It covered her collarbones to the very tip of her thigh, the entire dress white and accented with sparkling sequins, thin lines of chainmail down her centre. All magnificent patterns of silver and gold that continued down her back and far out on the floor in the form of an extravagant cape. Her sleeves puffed up all the way to her elbow before the material came in, stuck to her skin as it moved all the way to her wrist. Massive diamonds fell from her ears, not a single platinum white hair out of place from her slicked-back ponytail. To finish the look, a thick white ribbon tied around her neck.
Of course, her eyes. They didn't change, more so stuck on the same kaleidoscope of colour. One was a mixture of blue and green, swirling into each other as they connected in her iris. The other eye was spilt, brown and grey.
I flexed my fingers, taking a breath.
Odette raised an eyebrow, "I didn't realise that this year we were swapping everyone around. If I had known, perhaps I wouldn't have tried to hard during trials."
While Arnavs face twisted with confusion, I was quick to bite back. "Power and ability is just that, regardless of who can manifest it. Does it really matter that the gender of your competitors isn't what you expected?"
Her nostrils flared, "Perhaps. At least my people had the respect to keep the tradition."
"And I'm sure next year everything will be back to normal." I spat. "Besides, that's not tradition, that's sexism."
Every word was said as an utter, but I barely realised just how quietly we were speaking until the main producer signalled towards the curtain.
I was smart enough to know what that meant.
I pushed my shoulders back, ignoring Odette and instead facing forward to where I knew the stage was about to be revealed. I could see the producer lowering his fingers one by one,
"And now, the moment you've all been waiting for, Our Representatives!" As if Alpha Montgomery's words were a magic command, the curtains came flying upwards in one, quick motion, revealing us toward the sea of people sitting below the stage.
Through the blaring lights, I could barely see. It was a range of colours and people, the room almost split into three separate sections. One erupted blue, like waves crashing against the rocky mountainside. Another pastel, light pinks, purples and greens that looked to be like a distant flower field, one that was always in sight but never in reach. Then, of course, the dark browns, reds and earthy greens. It was easy to figure who was where.
"Our Siren Representative, Arnav Dhar!" Respectful clapping, though particular louder from the section of Blue.
"Our Faerie Representative, Odette Fedorov!" Whistles and cheers from the flower fields, almost as if the musical sound of their voices were dripping down from the ceiling.
"Our Werewolf Representative, Cassandra Verano!" Loud whoops and joy and screams, a slow chant of my name coming from the very back. I held up my hand with a smile on my face, causing an even louder round of cheers.
I suppose it was easy to tell who was the most excited, the proudest.
"Arnav Dhar, coming from the Coral Choir has been selected by her Majesty, Anthia Eldoris. He is praised for outranking all other choir representatives, particularly in his own display of ability and hand to hand combat!"
Now introductions? How long was this to go on for?
"Odette Fedorov, coming from the Southern Court has been selected by High Ruler Regin Archmoon and his selected, Aubrette Archmoon. She has been selected for her particular affinity for the mind."
"Finally, Cassandra Verano, coming from the Bloodlust Pack, nominated by her Alpha and mate, Alexander Cain and selected by myself. Our decision was made from her hand to hand combat and quite frankly, the natural ability to put on a show."
A smug grin on my face, my head still staying high.
"As of tomorrow morning, the Games will officially have begun! Our first event beginning at 9 am with a final winner being decided by the afternoon. Our Witch judges will be arriving promptly around 4 am, to which myself and my mate will be waiting to welcome them. As always, our representatives shall be organised and while the morning can be spent however they choose, we ask that they are waiting at the Games Location by Eight o'clock tomorrow morning."
A schedule was beginning to build in my head, lining up just how everything was going to be working. I needed to make sure that everything went perfect. I needed to be ready.
Just when I thought Alpha Montgomery would be finished, his voice continued to ring through the room.
"I now invite our representatives to move from the stage, down the stage to take their place with their leaders. The rest of the night will be spent here, dinner shall end at nine and the rest of the time is to be used as you please. Enjoy," As he moved his arm outwards, slow music began to play, as if an entire orchestra was tucked away in the walls.
Gracefully, I moved myself down from the stage and onto the floor, walking in a straight line behind Odette, Arnav waiting patiently behind me as I took each step.
Suddenly, everything was much clearer, three long tables with each filled to the brim full of important and high-status Wolves, Sirens and Fae. Just like that, we split, walking down the individual Isles to where a large seat lay empty at the furthest end of the table. Well, for the wolves. At the other two tables, said seat was filled and the empty one lay on their left side. Just as Alpha Montgomery had mentioned before, monarchs. A glamourously decorated Siren Queen and a malicious, cunning Fae Ruler and his pet.
So, I made my way down and took the seat, Alexander immediately catching my eye as he was already waiting in the seat next to me. I sat down, the weight lifting off my legs, causing me to stifle a groan.
The doors behind us burst open, waiters rushing in and placing plates of food and jugs of an assortment of drinks.
We wasted no time, ripping apart the chickens and logs of lamb as we piled the meat and vegetables onto our plates. I noticed that the High Ruler, his selected and Odette were watching us distastefully, their nose high in the air.
I couldn't even bring myself to care.
Once again, cameras were whizzing around the room, taking snapshots and videos as I heard the quiet, high-pitched squeak of voices, most likely running a presentation.
Perhaps when I was back in my room, I would turn on the TV and see a news segment just about the fabric of my dress. Quite honestly, it wouldn't be that much of a surprise.
"You looked beautiful on the stage," I heard Alexander say.
I snapped back into reality, "Thank you."
"That fae representative, Odette. She doesn't seem very nice." Harmony brought up, sparing a glance across the room.
I grimaced, "After the few minutes that I've spent with her, I think I'd have to agree."
"Her dress is gorgeous though, and those earrings, she'd be worth a million dollars at the moment with the number of diamonds she's wearing." She then added.
"And the Siren- Triton, sorry." Vance started, "Look at those tattoos, makes you wonder about just how extensive his power is."
I raised an eyebrow, "Really?"
Vance nodded eagerly. "Those things hurt, like, really hurt. People have died during the sessions just from how intense the pain is. However, the more magic they have, the more powerful they are, the less it hurts. Considering the fact that he's practically covered in them..."
Another flailing thought. You could already measure Odettes power, extensive but fixed, never to be changed or expanded upon. And now Arnav, thinking back, I could almost see how deeply the needles would have pricked to have the ink stay strong. I stared down at my hands, my fingernails still just as sharp as other. I needed to change the subject, so I started talking about the one thing thathad been on my mind since the Introductions on stage.
I slowed my chewing anxiously before swallowing. "What happened to the Werewolf Monarchs? I never learnt things like that, but I think it's strange that almost everyone else have a set of royal leaders and yet we down. I mean like overall,"
While the rest of the room stayed jolly, the atmosphere between the four of us darkened.
"I suppose there was no real reason that are soceity stopped being a monarchy." Xander started slowly, "I suppose we just felt that this style of governing would be more appropriate due to the size of the population."
"It's a subject that's been causing quite a bit of debate recently." Vance admitted. "People are beginning to wish we'd never stopped, that we should make an active desision in attempting to reinstate it."
I finished off the final bite of my plate. "And who do they want as a replacement?"
"Me." Xander shrugged. "They first asked when I took the Alpha postition from my father and have asked mayeb two, three times since then. Similiarly with my father, and my grandfather. In fact, they've been heckling us for decades."
I raised a brow, "And what, you've said no?"
"Every time. I could do it, and I know I would be a good Alpha King. But it does sound rather pretentious." He said, unbearably casually.
"So you would never do it?" I asked, almost in relief.
Alexander paused. "The world would have needed to become a very bad place for me to ever step up into that position"
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