“This is a ball gown,” I corrected but he did not seem to care.
“It’s a sea-foam green dress and you are all adorned,” he returned my gaze. But when he saw the stunned expression on my face, he added. “We get married in sea-foam green. It looks like you are chasing Ansgar in a wedding dress.”
“Shit,” I replied. “That was not my intention.”
“Intention or not, keepers came to me to report it. You are already drawing attention upon yourself,” he reprimanded as he let go of my hand.
I mumbled a low “sorry” but he seemed to be having an internal debate with himself. “Fuck... Ansgar’s marking... Damaris... blessing... shit... silly human.”
“That would be me,” I pointed a finger at myself to draw back his attention. “Help me?”
He huffed, then grabbed my arm once again, pulling me away from the gathering crowd outside the treeline as I heard him mumble another “Fuck,” through his teeth.
Vikram walked me through the outskirts of the town, making sure to stay far away from the massive gatherings and continuing to swear through his breath from time to time, until, about half an hour later, we were standing in front of the palace doors. A massive conglomerate of stone and expertly carved wood, all filled with gardenia decorations—identical to the ones in Evigt—rose in front of us. But I was not given enough time to admire my surroundings. I was shoved through gigantic sculpted wooden doors and up towards a staircase, all while Vikram held my arm tightly and pushed me in front of him as quickly as he could.
Only when we stepped through another impressively decorated set of doors, on the second floor, did he let go of his hold and allowed me to take a break. He had dragged me so much that I had almost been jogging alongside him for the past half hour. I was sweating and dirty and needed to catch my breath, so I sat on a chair, completely uninvited and grabbed a crystal glass from the table, pouring myself a drink of whatever the amber liquid was.
“Stay here,” Vikram ordered, the first words he had deigned to address me with during our hurried tour through the town—or city, I didn't exactly know what it was.
Sylvan Regnum,Ansgar’s voice trembled in my mind. This was his hometown.His home. A wave of warmth dropped in my stomach, and I knew for a fact it was not from the liquid I drank, which turned out to be some kind of brandy or whisky, I never knew the difference. They all burnt the same.
I looked around at the room, several ornate doors opened various chambers from the sitting room, one displaying a very large baldaquin bed, covered by dark silk and chiffon curtains. All around me, weapons and maps decorated the walls, swords and shields, all carved and wonderfully designed in such a way to not only adorn the chambers but offer the room a commanding stance. These were Vikram’s chambers, I realised, as I took in the pieces of silver armour distributed in one of the rooms, along with dozens of swords and shields.
I wanted to make my way into the chamber that had been converted into an armoury, when the big doors opened and Vikram’s voice echoed, “Make sure this...female,” he forced the words out of his mouth, “gets something suitable to wear, arrange her hair and have her ready in half an hour. I will collect her myself.”
The two faeries that accompanied him nodded and quickly made their way towards me. “She does not go anywhere else, and she is not to be asked any questions,” he continued, the females only nodding in agreement as they already started picking at my dress. “If she tries to engage in conversation, she is not to be answered,” the prince finished before closing the door with a hard slam.
Well, that made it clear, I had to shut my mouth until he came back for me. Point taken. So I allowed the ladies to undress me and undo my hair, combing at it quickly to destroy every single wave I struggled to create and support with hairspray, while another grabbed my face and wiped away the makeup. They brought to me three dresses, one light blue, another dark green and a soft purple, all of them more similar to cropped pieces of fabric than actual designs. I pointed at the light blue one and lifted my arms while they wrapped me in pieces of silk and chiffon, tying intricate knots and sutures until one of them made me step in front of a mirror.
I looked stunning, they had made me truly look like a princess and I scoffed at my previous effort. Compared to the ball gown I had brought with me, now discarded onto the marble floor, this dress had a deep cut décolletage that made its way to my stomach, my breast supported by wide interweavings of chiffon that decorated a path up to my collarbone. The waist was high and tight, allowing an influx of chiffon to create waves all the way to my ankles, arranged in such a way that the fabric fell over the silk underneath to create different hues and shades of blue, all intricate and glinting in splendour. My hair was loose, slightly curving onto my shoulders with only two braids at the sides that had been pulled in some sort of flower design at my nape, held together with a small green broach.
“That's more like it,” Vikram’s voice announced his return. I thanked the ladies who helped me. They nodded and made their way out, bowing to the prince. He closed the door and stepped towards me, stopping mere inches away and glowering at me. “If you want to have any chance out there, you will do as I say.”
I nodded, silently awaiting his command. “You are Anwen of Amethya—a small town in the West. You came here for the celebration. You will stay with the crowd until the ceremony is over. You will engage in small talk only and not give any personal details about yourself. You can ask questions about the city as this is your first visit. And yes, everyone speaks the common tongue at gatherings, so you’ll be able to converse at will.”
He paused to make sure I was capable of collecting the information in my human brain. “Go on,” I pushed.
“Only when the celebration is over, that is when Ansgar’s mark will appear into the kingdom, will I come find you and take you to him.” He paused as my face relaxed and a smile curled my lips. I was going to see Ansgar.
“You are not to address him directly or search for him until I take you to him,” he emphasized. “When and if you are talking about him with the others, you are to keep your personal relation hidden and refer to him as ‘the young prince’ or ‘His Highness Prince Ansgar’, not ‘daddy’ or ‘baby’ nor ‘booboo’ or whatever things your human customs make you call him.”
I snorted. “Women call you ‘booboo’?” I asked, unable to contain my laugh.
He didn’t seem to find it funny, but asked, “Am I to understand you just call him by his name? When you humans are so passionate about changing the word meanings to refer to your lovers?” he admonished.
“I cannot take credit for what the human race does, but yes, I call him Ansgar.” Vikram looked at me incredulously. “We’d been together for like a month when you came in and destroyed everything. We didn’t have time to pick names.” I paused. “Well, he has one for me. He calls me fahrenor. It means my starlight,” I exclaimed proudly.
Surprise flourished in Vikram’s eyes, only for a moment, before he grunted. “I do not care what my brother calls you, you are still human.”
“And his mate,” I urged. “I can prove it.”
Vikram snorted and started walking towards the door, so I followed his trail.
“Hey, could you translate some things for me so I can tell Ansgar and surprise him?” I asked it more as a joke but it made Vikram sigh deeply. I followed him to the massive, sculpted doors—they were battle scenes, I realised—when he paused and turned back to me, throwing me a look that said, ‘don’t do anything stupid.’
“Tell me again,” he demanded.
I knew what he meant, so I repeated the information back to him for a third time, “I am Anwen of Amethya, first time visitor, small talk only, no personal details, eat and drink with the people. Once the mark is visible, the party is over and you will take me to see booboo.”
