What Lurks Between the Fates (Of Flesh & Bone, #3)(43)
Nila ignored me, her brown eyes falling to the white mark upon my arm.
“Is it true they glowed gold when you healed yourself?” she asked, a bit of wonder leaking into her tone.
Being here, being different, it was everything I’d ever wanted to avoid. It was a reminder that I wasn’t the same as those around me and that I probably never would be. I didn’t want to be treated like the animals in the Royal Circus that traveled around Nothrek in the Spring. I didn’t want to be gawked and leered at for the rest of my suddenly very, very long life—locked in a cage until it came time for the people of the kingdom to lay eyes upon me.
“And if they did? What difference would that make?” I asked, pulling my arm back away from her trailing fingers. I wrapped the arm back in the cloth, doing my best to retie the ribbons she’d loosened.
“Then I would say that is all the more reason that you need to be protected. The hands of the Fates themselves have woven themselves into your very existence. You being here cannot be a coincidence. You are meant for great things, Princess Estrella. I cannot wait to see the day when you realize it,” she said, raising her other hand to untie the knots on my biceps all over again. She was persistent, but her fingers remained gentle, coaxing.
“I hardly think many in Mab’s court care to see me safe,” I said with a scoff, holding the fabric of my dress to my chest as she untied the final knot upon my shoulder. She stepped up to my other side, leaning over me as she began the process of freeing me from the confines of the simple dress, the back already torn to reveal more flesh than normal.
“You have more allies within this court than you have allowed yourself to see. Blending in has become necessary to our survival, but I assure you, we are here. Waiting for a chance to rise up and overthrow the queen who imprisons us,” Nila said.
I looked up at her face, at the seriousness with which she studied me. She was far taller than me, ethereal in her height and stunningly beautiful in her poise. Her shoulders remained straight even as she bent at the waist, her posture flawless.
“Perhaps that day finally approaches.” She stared at me meaningfully. Her deep brown eyes were wide and far-set, with charcoal lining them and accentuating the curve at the outer corner.
She finished with the knots, stepping toward the bath basin. She grasped a vial off one of the small, circular tables nearby, allowing a few drops of liquid to fall into the bath water. The steam rising from the warm water turned a deep purple hue, like the prettiest tone in the starlit sky.
“What is it?” I asked, stepping up beside the bath.
I peeked over the edge, staring down at the purple-tinted water in awe as I clutched my dress to my chest. Nila reached in, cupping a palmful of the jewel-toned water in her hand and raising it. She spread her fingers, letting it trail back into the basin.
It left a slight shimmer to her brown skin, making her sparkle like moonlight. She grasped my hand, touching the tips of her fingers against mine where they were painted black from my magic.
“You are a daughter of the night, Princess Estrella. It is time you experienced the luxuries of one.” She picked up one of the round tables, setting it closer to the bath and lining the surface with a collection of other vials. “Think of it as armor. Court life is not an easy one. There are no swords to protect you here. There is no magic for you to defend yourself so long as you wear that collar. Allow me to help you embrace what you were always meant to be. Allow me to show you the pampered ways of the Fae. I promise you will take Mab’s breath away the next time she sees you, as well as your mate. For entirely different reasons, but both are equal motivators in court life.”
“I am surprised that Mab would waste her energy on things such as beauty,” I said, reaching a hand in to touch the water. It was warm, the perfect temperature, and something about the texture of the water seemed to cling to my skin, moisturizing it even after the droplets fell from my hand. “Why bother when you have all the power in the world?”
“Because there is privilege in beauty. There is power in taking away the breath of your enemy so that they never see you ready to slit their throat, too fixated on the curve of your lip. There is strength in allowing yourself to appear fragile, all the while knowing that your pretty silken skirts hide a dagger that could carve the heart from a male’s chest,” she said, her lips curving into the sly smile of a woman who was well acquainted with such deceptions.
My eyes immediately dropped to her thighs, to what might be hidden beneath her dress. She’d been alone with me, had me at her mercy, and never moved to harm me. That was a first in the Court of Shadows.
“I’ve never been very good at playing the games of court,” I said.
I released the fabric at my chest. With the back torn, it fluttered to the floor at my feet into a pool of fabric. I fought to ignore the fact that I was nude with a stranger once again. The Fae were far more comfortable with their bodies, unbothered by nudity in the way humans were, and I would do my best to embrace it in spite of my upbringing.
Instead of a protest to the truth of her words, my statement was far more a warning. Her attempts to turn me into a beauty to rival hers would likely fail, because there was more to beauty than a bath. The confidence to carry such things was another story, the ability to manipulate with a smile and seduce with a single glance. I possessed none of those things.
“Well then, it’s a good thing that the Fates have blessed you with a good teacher,” she said, holding out a hand to me from the other side of the basin.