“Draekon recruit all of the pretty girls. They make them companions and worship at their feet. Those humans should be thanking the elves for that handy infertility curse. Otherwise, the draekon wouldn’t have any need for them.”
The stranger’s eyes swung to me. “I’m surprised you weren’t selected. How old are you? Nineteen? You’ve been eligible long enough. How come no draekon snatched you up as their companion?”
My eyelids closed in one long blink. The life this man described might be true for some, but I couldn’t help but think of the king’s harem. So many stunning humans and draekon females were subjected to a bleak existence as one of the king’s chosen companions; their only purpose was to please the king whenever he felt the desire to call upon them. Even if the human companions birthed children, they weren’t given extra favor. The king’s half-draekon offspring would never rule the continent. Not while he had three grown full-draekon heirs.
But the stranger couldn’t know any of that. He hadn’t grown up in Caldiri. He’d never lived in the capital.
And, as far as the people of Avelin knew, neither did I.
I took a steadying breath. “I’m sorry. Do I know you?”
The man dipped his head in friendly acknowledgement. “No, Miss Amelissa, but we all know of you. My name is Kurtis.”
“Don’t mind his rude questions,” Rachel spoke up, shoving Kurtis in the chest, forcing him to pull his head out from between us. “Kurtis has a nasty habit of speaking before thinking.”
Kurtis regained his balance and frowned. “I’m sorry. Was that rude?” He scratched his scalp. “Apologies, Miss Amelissa. I didn’t think my questions would offend.”
I gauged his sincerity and found it genuine. “I wouldn’t expect you to know this as a resident of Avelin, but many humans in Draekon don’t wish to be recruited to the capital.”
“Kurtis is not a resident of Avelin,” Rachel said distractedly. A quick glance confirmed Erwin was back to bending over.
“What?” I asked, forcing my eyes, once again, to remain far away from my cousin.
“I live on Eelie,” Kurtis responded. His cheeks tinged slight pink. “But I am not a resident of Avelin.”
“I thought Eelie was a part of Avelin.” Did the elven continent have strict citizenship rules or something? Must you be born on the mainland to count as a true Avelin subject?
“It is,” he replied. “But my family’s not considered part of the king’s people.”
Before I could as why not, Kurtis said, “My great-great-great-great grandfather was from Draekon. He came to Avelin and married a human on Avelin.”
He watched my face for my reaction. My surprise was genuine, as was my confusion as I digested the information. “You aren’t a resident of Avelin because one of your ancestors was draekon?”
“Precisely.”
“That’s absurd.”
Both Rachel and Kurtis raised their brows.
I motioned toward him. “You had nothing to do with your ancestor’s choice. You live here. You should be a citizen.”
“Unfortunately, that’s not how King Aquin sees it. Anyone with the bloodline of his enemy is considered an enemy as well. I’m just lucky Lord Erwin doesn’t share the same prejudices. And that no one in my bloodline has shown any draekon characteristics since the second generation. I’m sure the king wouldn’t let us keep living after his daughter went missing if that were the case.”
Mention of my mother made me gulp. Kurtis misunderstood the reaction.
“Come now, Miss Amelissa. Don’t look so glum. My life on Eelie is great.”
I forced a smile, shoving away thoughts of my grandfather and the news he could be just as cruel and prejudiced as King Roderick. “I’m glad to hear it. And I am glad to know my boss isn’t a bigot.”
All three of us turned to look at Erwin. He faced our direction, speaking with another elven male. Both held wooden rackets, so I assumed the stranger was Erwin’s opponent.
As if sensing the extra pairs of eyes on him, he looked up. Erwin’s mouth broke into a wide grin. He lifted a hand and waved enthusiastically. I hadn’t told him I was coming to see him play. By the looks of it, he was happy with the surprise.
I lifted a timid hand and returned the greeting with a short, quick wave, before dropping my hand and looking away. Already, our exchange garnered too much attention. The whole point of watching from the standing space with the other humans was to go unnoticed.
“Are you sure he’s only your boss? OW!”
I turned in time to Rachel retracting her elbow.
Kurtis clutched his side. “What did you do that for?” He looked around us, searching for someone to come to his defense. Most people had gone back to watching the competitors prepare for the game. He was on his own.
“Stop asking rude questions,” Rachel hissed.
I smirked. I liked Rachel. She had spunk. She reminded me of my friends Bitty and Kenzie from the castle. They, too, weren’t afraid to speak their mind or put people in their place.
Kurtis scowled. “It was a legitimate question. You didn’t need to bruise my rib for it.”
“I’ll hit you somewhere more precious if you insult Miss Amelissa with another one of your questions.”
The image Rachel’s words painted, along with the paling of Kurtis’s face, made me lose it. I laughed—hard.
My stomach muscles began to hurt, but I couldn’t stop laughing. Rachel and Kurtis eventually joined in—the tension broken between them.
I didn’t care that my reaction garnered more attention. I didn’t care if people thought I was mad. It’d been so long since I found something so funny. For the first time in weeks, I had the flicker of hope that not all of life’s enjoyments were lost. Not if I could still find humor in such a small, ridiculous thing.
No… hope wasn’t lost at all.
4
One small blessing about being forced to attend the tournament’s evening banquet: I didn’t have to go alone. All of Erwin’s servants were invited to the event. He’d hired humans from the city to serve the food and drinks for the night, allowing those who usually worked for him to enjoy the festivities themselves. It was a kind and thoughtful gesture.
There were four more matches in the day’s tournament after the match between Erwin and his opponent ended. Erwin had lost, but the majority of the crowd hadn’t acted disappointed by that at all. Most had rooted for the other elf. Based on their cheers, his name was Lerick.
Somewhere during the last match, Rachel had asked if I would like to sit with her and some other young women during the banquet that evening. We’d been chatting during the tournament, and by that time, a companionable comfort had developed between us. It was a nice feeling, and I found I could not reject her invitation.
So, there I was, standing in a group of stunning young women, trying by best to go unnoticed by the guests meandering throughout the parlor. Elves and humans socialized easily during the cocktail hour, all wearing similar styles of dress.
The women, including myself, wore light, breezy gowns. The pale blue material cinched at my waist, but flowed down comfortably over my legs, brushing the top of my flat-sandaled feet. The top had a modest cut, and the satin fabric covered my clavicle to my shoulder. Sheer sleeves attached to the material, covering my naked arms except for two well-placed slits to allow for movement. The sheer fabric gathered at golden cuffs around my wrists. The gown felt exotic, but free. I much preferred it to the tight, revealing style in Draek.
My fingers were wrapped around a flute filled with a tart, yet sweet, pink liquid. I sipped it absentmindedly, barely listening to the chatter of the women around me. Rachel had introduced me. And for a brief moment, the conversation was stilted and awkward. They hadn’t known what to make of me.
Thankfully, the uncomfortable air lifted as one of the women—Ida, I believe—began swooning over Erwin’s performance during the tournament. She twirled her pale-blonde braid around her fingers, oohing and awing over
this play or that play. It hadn’t mattered that he lost, Ida and the others were overly proud of their boss. It took all of my self-control not to give them my signature eye roll.
The conversation moved on to admiring the noble guests the women spotted throughout the elegant room. No one asked me to contribute. They knew where I came from. I wouldn’t know the identity of an important person even if they were standing right in front of my face.
“What is it that you did in Mar?”
Hearing the name of the draekon region, I pulled my gaze away from the oil painting of a white cliff overlooking the ocean. It made me think of the painting in the draekon prince’s dining room: the one Brion had painted.
I met the woman’s gaze. I think her name was Crista.
“I was a healer.”
“Oh, that’s right.” Ida bobbed her head. “That’s why Lord Erwin brought you over. You’re his apprentice. He’s so talented at healing.”
The group took turns seconding the statement, complimenting the elf on his natural ability. They weren’t wrong. In Draek, I’d been the victim of jealous draekon females who’d thought I was having an affair with the princes. They gave me a brutal beating, but Erwin had mended every cracked rib and bruise with only a lingering touch of his hands.
“You must be talented as well,” Rachel remarked with a kind smile.
“Yes,” another—Hannah—added. “Why else would Lord Erwin bring you all this way?” There was a skeptical gleam in her eye. It was like she knew there was more to my story than I let on. At least one of the young women wasn’t so easily deceived out of loyalty for their master.
But her doubt hardly boded well for me.
I shrugged and donned an impassive expression. “I have no family. I’m not sure what possessed Lord Erwin to take me on, but I am glad he did. Life on Eelie is far superior to Draekon.”
“Of course it is,” Rachel agreed.
“I can’t imagine living among those barbarians.” Ida shuddered.
“I bet it was just awful,” Crista commiserated.
Hannah was the only one to remain silent. She watched me with a knowing look.
Then, her expression brightened as she looked over my shoulder. “Oh, look! There’s Kurtis and Charles. I’ll be right back.” With what I guessed was an uncharacteristic pep in her step, Hannah bounded across the room, towards the men nestled near the open balcony doors, smoking briar wood pipes.
I watched Hannah leave with growing suspicion. I’d have to talk to Erwin about that one. She might be harmless, but I couldn’t risk anyone finding out why I really was in Eelie.
Ida gasped and latched onto my arm, shocking me into abandoning my observation. The sheer sleeve did nothing to protect me from her nails as they dug into my skin. “There he is!”
“There who is?”
“Him,” Rachel breathed, grabbing onto my other arm. I looked between the two women latched onto me with a bewildered expression. I tried to follow their gazes across the room, but there were no less than ten males in their line of sight. I had no idea who they were talking about.
“Who are you looking at?” I asked, trying to sound like I wasn’t in pain. Their nails were no joke. Mine had never had the chance to grow long with all the manual labor I did in Draekon. I’d intentionally kept them short to keep them out of the way. Neither Rachel nor Ida could say the same.
“The prince,” Ida released a dreamy sigh.
My traitorous heart flipped in my chest before my hope was immediately extinguished by pure reason. The women couldn’t be speaking of Brion. One, there was no way the Draekon prince could show up in Avelin territory without causing an uproar. And two, I doubted these women would swoon over the formidable, broody prince. They’d find him attractive, but their fear of the shifter race wouldn’t permit them to admire his looks for long.
No, they couldn’t be talking about a draekon prince. That meant…
My senses shifted to high alert.
A prince of Avelin was here. A member of the royal family was in the room. As was I.
The need to hide myself overwhelmed me. As covertly as I could manage, I began assessing the parlor for exits and hiding places. I’d gotten good at staying out of notice in Draek. My skills should work in Eelie as well.
Crista turned around so she, too, could see the male. I shifted myself so I was concealed by the taller girl’s frame. “Oh my! He’s even more glorious when he’s not playing Gap Ball.”
The prince played Gap Ball?
Shaking my head, I reminded myself to focus. I kept my attention away from the direction the women stared. I barely remembered what my mother looked like, but if there was any resemblance between me and the missing elven princess, I felt confident a member of the royal family would notice.
I had to get out of there.
Where was Erwin? How could he invite the prince to attend the event and not warn me?
A swift perusal of the room didn’t reveal the brazen elf. Oh well, I’d have it out with him later.
Just as I was about to turn on my heel and head toward the small, servant door I’d seen the cocktail servers use, musical chimes filled the air. The conversation in the room ceased and all eyes turned toward the young man wearing a crisp white shirt tucked into midnight blue trousers—marking him as one of the event’s servers.
“Dinner is served. Please, everyone, make your way to the banquet hall.”
Ida and Rachel retracted their claws. Before I had the chance to slip away, they wrapped their arms around mine, clutching onto me like a life raft, pulling me forward.
“Come on,” Ida urged us toward the twin set of mahogany doors, nudging aside those who tried to step in our path. “We should hurry if we want to get a seat close to the prince.”
Oh no.
“You go without me,” I blurted, tugging back, hoping the women would release me and go in on their own. “I need to use the ladies’ room.” And then run up to my rooms and hide until this stupid tournament was over and one of my long-lost family members left the island.
“Don’t be ridiculous.” Rachel joined Ida in forcing me towards the exit. “You will claim your seat and then you may go.”
I couldn’t escape the women without causing a scene, which is exactly what I needed to avoid.
Curse the gods and their lack of divine intervention. Did they want me to get caught?
5
It seemed not everything was different between Draekon and Avelin. Just like at the castle and Lord Meck’s home in Villam, the banquet hall featured a massive dark wood table which extended nearly the entire length of the room. Several dozen chairs with blue upholstered cushions were positioned on either side. Elaborate, floral arrangements were spaced methodically across the table, on top of a beautiful lace table runner. I recognized several tropical flowers, local to the island. They were pretty, but they did not give off the same enticing aroma as flowers on my home continent. Or perhaps they did, and my nostalgia was playing tricks on me.
Ida and Rachel didn’t manage to seat us very close to the prince, much to their disappointment and my relief. We were positioned about midway down the table. I sat in the middle with Ida to my left and Rachel to my right. Crista and Hannah were farther down the table. They hadn’t moved fast enough to secure a seat closer to our group. I wished I could switch places with them.
Erwin and the highest-ranking guests were seated at the head of the table to my right. I saw the lord briefly before quickly sitting down to escape notice. I wouldn’t put it past him to insist I take a seat near him if he saw me. It was the kind of thing he would do. Erwin was so sure that no one would question the facts he presented about who I was or why I left Draekon. I wasn’t so optimistic. I made a point to not allow my attention to stray to that side of the table. Both to avoid Erwin and the prince I had yet to identify.
The last I spoke with Erwin had been during my training that morning. I imagined I had the tournament to thank for that. Hosting such a large-
scale event had to keep him busy.
A bright green salad was placed in front of me, jolting me out of my thoughts.
“Thank you,” I called over my shoulder to the young woman already moving on to serve Ida’s plate. Matching the male servers, she wore a white blouse tucked into feminine-styled blue trousers. I remembered how much I enjoyed wearing pants as opposed to skirts when I worked in the castle.
The server smiled politely. “You’re welcome, Miss.” I watched her serve several more guests, marveling as each one thanked her. Erwin’s manners in Draek had always surprised me, but now I realized it was just the way people in Avelin behaved. I liked it very much. I wished draekon would be so polite to the humans who served them. We might be forced to serve the superior beings, but a little appreciation could make such a difference to us.
I shook my head. There I went, once again claiming to be human. It would take time, and probably more draekon or elven abilities, to drill into my head that I was much more than human.
“What are you looking at?” Rachel’s question filled my right ear. I turned to her, donning an innocent smile.
“Nothing. Just admiring all of the guests.” I noticed no one had picked up a fork to begin eating the salad.
All curiosity disappeared as Rachel jumped on the topic. “Aren’t they all grand? Elves are always gorgeous but look at all the humans here tonight. They are so glamorous. I envy them so much!”
The skin on my forehead creased. “There are other humans here?” I’d recognized all of Erwin’s employees. Their names might’ve escaped me, but their faces had become familiar these past weeks. Everyone else sported the flawless beauty of the elven bloodline. Or so I thought.
With fresh eyes, I observed the couple seated across the table. The woman’s blonde hair was typical for the continent, as was the man’s next to her. They looked to be in their mid-thirties, with only the slightest hint of wrinkles around their blue eyes. They couldn’t possibly be human. I tried to see their ears, but the woman’s updo concealed hers, and the man’s shaggy hairstyle hid his.
Freed Page 3
