Lucus lead Aella away from prying eyes, once he was sure they were far enough he began the conversation. "I am afraid I'm not sure how to start," he admitted. " How well do you know the Alpha of the Daimos pack?" Aella was not sure what she expected Lucus to speak on, but this was not it. It was a little irritating that Jarek was brought up once again.
"I don't know him at all. Like Penelope mentioned before, Rowan is the first wolf we have talked to. Why?"
"I don't know why but he seems very interested in the Ceremony this year. A few years ago, after his father passed away the King's Ambassador let it slip that he had a date with one of the girls from the Order. Jarek would not speak past pleasantries the whole visit till he brought it up. Do you know that when a wolf begins to shift, or his more bestial side takes over their eyes change?"
Aella did know this, the one time she lost her temper with Celest she told her she could have sworn her eyes changed color for a second. She had made sure to never let it happen again. She nodded her head, not offering any explanation.
"Jarek's eyes turned a dark red, I have never seen a wolf with red eyes. They say it's another sign he may be a Lycan."
"Do you think he is a Lycan?" Aella asked as she picked a flower from a nearby bush, she was sure the Viscount would be ok being one flower short.
"Many say it's just a bluff to try and scare Bastion into offering more land, but I think it is true."
"So why warn me about this? Why not tell Greta?"
"Greta cannot interfere with the Wolf's affairs. I was afraid because you are ..."
Aella's temper began to flare, she understood where this was going now. The winds picked up and knocked the flower out of her hand and whisked it away.
"You think I'm going to run off with the wolves and tell them all the tower secrets?" She accused.
"NO! It's not that! I swear!" He said talking over the wind. "I was afraid he may try and use that against you. I did not want you to get entangled with his unstable temper."
"And why should you care?" Her temper was running away from her, if she did not calm down then she would water Penelope's plants after all.
"Because my father was close with your mother. He used to tell me all kinds of stories about her. I have been wanting to meet you for years!"
This calmed Aella, and the winds died down, "Really?"
"Yes, they were to be engaged at one point, but she decided to join the order instead. Jarek is not like the other wolves. If he sees something he wants or thinks is rightfully his, he takes it. And he seems to think all the hybrids belong to him."
"Why would he think that?"
"After the war with Daimos. King Bastion made a deal with the past Alpha that all Hybrids were to be put under Daimos' care. They claimed we did not know how to raise a half-breed correctly. Alpha Rainer made an agreement with Greta to allow you to stay in the tower, and Jarek seems to think that it was a mistake. Do you know what the wolves claim Lycans can do?" He asked
"They can stand on their hind legs?" She answered as if it were a question.
"Yes but that's not all. If a Lycan bites a Sorceress they can block their magic temporarily. If what they claim is true, then the Daimos pack will pose more of a threat than ever. I'm not saying this to scare you," he added when he saw Aella fall silent. "I just don't want what happened to your mother to happen to you. On the night of the ball please, keep your distance from all of them."
"Don't worry, I don't plan on getting close to any of the wolves."
This seemed to satisfy Lucus, and he slowly reached to fix her hair. He hesitated for a moment but Aella did not stop him. He gently tucked a stray strand behind her ear, and Aella heard a low growl in the back of her mind.
"If I may be so bold, I would like to ask one more thing,"
Aella felt her cheeks redden a little, "What?"
"Will you save a dance for me? I would be honored to have a chance to dance with the next Tempest of the Sisterhood. I can brag about it to my kids just like my dad bragged about it to me."
Aella giggled and covered her mouth bashfully. "Sure, why stop tradition?" She heard the bestial growl even louder now. She concentrated on blocking it out, by thinking of a wall. This seemed to work. Lucus beamed brightly, "I look forward to it. Now I fear I have taken too much of your time." He offered his arm again and Aella took it. Once reunited with her friends, their carriage arrived and Lucus made a show of helping all three girls into their seats.
"It was a pleasure to meet you ladies, I look forward to seeing you again soon," He said as the door closed.
Once they were on their way home Celest saddled close to Aella, "So..."
"So...what?" Aella asked playing dumb.
"Don't try and be cute. What did Lucus want?!" Celest demanded.
"Well... he mostly just wanted to make sure I stayed away from the wolves. He said the new Alpha is very interested in getting all the Hybrids. Then he asked if ..." She blushed a little at this, "He asked if he could have a dance."
Calixta's eyes widened and she squealed ecstatically, "Aella! I think the future Duke might have a crush!"
"No. It's nothing like that, he is only doing it because his father was friends with my mother. Trust me there's nothing romantic there. Besides I will take my vows so that means no romance."
"That doesn't mean you can't have affairs," Celest stated. "Lots of sorceresses who joined the Sisterhood get with men and have children. They just don't marry them."
"I don't know if that's for me. I just want to focus on getting through the ceremony and then learning some real magic," Aella confessed as she sat back in her seat.
"I don't know, I don't see why we can't have our cake and eat it too, but I guess education is more important," Celest mused more to herself.
"One thing is for certain! We have to make sure our dresses are perfect! Greta says we can go pick out designs tomorrow! And the mating ball is going to be a masquerade!! How fabulous is that?!" Calixta was lost in the world of romance and gowns. The rest of the ride was talked about what each girl wanted to wear. Aella still was not sure what she wanted to do, she wanted to see what the dressmaker suggested first, but it was fun to listen in on Celest and Calixta being excited about something.
The atmosphere in the tower was tense. Aella could sense something was wrong, very wrong. Both Celest and Calixta could feel it too. The girls slowly made their way into the main hall and paused when they saw Greta and the three young girls that had wanted to be in their room before the party. They were looking at their feet, trembling in fear.
"Darla," Greta's voice was crisp and direct. Darla, the one with the blue ribbon, slowly made her way to the front. She fidgeted with something in her pocket, as tears threatened her eyes. "It was an accident," She stated as she pulled out the broken Emerald necklace. Aella was horror-struck, her hands shook as she gently took the necklace. Strong gales began to surround her, pushing everyone a few steps away from her.
'Oh no. What am I going to do?! The Ceremony is still a few weeks away!' The winds picked up as her panic rose.
"Aella!" Greta shouted. "You will calm yourself now!"
Aella nodded and took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down.
"Did you see her eyes?" Sarah whispered to Stacy. "They turned red!"Stacy muttered back nodding.
Red, like Jarek's. Red like a Lycan. Aella held the broken necklace close and ran to her room. She knew this was unbecoming of her, but she was finding it hard to breathe, she needed to be alone. She slammed the door shut and frantically tried to fix the necklace. But the Emerald was in pieces. She wished she knew how the kids managed to do that. Perhaps Darla was holding it when she tapped into her magic by accident. She had the power to make bad things happen, they called her a jinx. This would be the worst thing that could happen to Aella.
The door opened and she heard her friends rush to her side. "Hey it's ok babe," Celest cooed.
"NO, it's not!
"Yes, it is! You were fine all Afternoon. This thing was nothing more than a crutch," Celest argued.
"We don't know that!"
"No we don't, but we can't fix it now. Aella, look at me," Celest demanded as she bent by Aella's chair. "We are here with you. If you feel anything wolflike tell us, and we will help you through it. Did you hear anything at all today?"
Aella nodded, "I did but I thought of a wall and he went away."
"Then just do that. You just have to last a few more weeks," Aella felt her heart begin to calm. Celest was right, no matter how angry she got she would not be able to fix the gem. She just needed to work through it. "I'm sorry for losing my temper back there," she said wiping away a tear. Celeste held her close, "it's ok. You calmed yourself down, everything will be fine. Now let's forget all this and start working on our sketches for our dresses."
"Yes, Celest and I have decided what animals we wanted to make our masks from. I am going to be a peacock!" Calixta stated.
"I'm going with a blue rabbit," Celest stated.
"You, a rabbit?" Aella asked in disbelief.
"What they are cute! We had an idea for you. A sliver Fox."
"What?! That makes me sound like an old man!"
"Silver will go so good with your hair, and it will make your red lipstick pop! At least see what we have planned out before you say no," Celest urged. Aella sighed and for the rest of the night, she went over many sketches. She tried playing with other ideas, but the sketch for the fox did catch her eye. Perhaps she would see the fabric that will help make up her mind.
When Aella finally fell asleep her dreams were anything but restful. She felt as if her soul had left her body and she was in another realm. She was surrounded by fog in a dense forest. The only light offered was from the moon. Everywhere Aella ran, there was nothing but more fog. She felt exposed in her flimsy nightgown as she wandered around aimlessly.
A howl pierced the night, it sent a shiver through her whole body. She ran in the other direction, till she hit a dead end. The trees seemed to enclose her, till she was stuck in a circular opening. She heard footsteps around her, but the fog blocked whoever it was from view.
"Hello, Ariel."
She hated the power that deep voice had over her. After all these years, he still had some kind of hold on her, and he knew it. Each time she turned to face him, he moved in another direction, like a hunter circling his prey.
"Would you stand still?" she asked
"I'm not moving. You are. I don't think we will be able to see each other till we meet in person."
"We aren't going to meet."
"You don't have much say in that tempest."
"What do you want!" Wherever she was, she did not have access to her magic and the winds would not heed her call.
"Temper. You don't have any magic here."
"How are you able to do this?" She asked. "Is it something to do with the mark?"
"Yes. You never asked me what the mark meant. My father told me after my first shift, and I never forgot our pinky promise." Hearing about pinky promises sounded silly coming from him now. But Aella did remember the night they first met and they made the promise in the dark.
"What does it mean?" She finally asked.
"It means you belong to me."
"Liar."
"I have never lied to you Ariel, but you continue to lie to yourself, " he was calm but Aella could tell he was losing his patience. The tempest was playing with fire but she could not stop herself. She wanted to make him angry. She wanted him to feel the same frustration she felt all these years.
"You think you have never made me frustrated?" He asked, he was still able to read her mind even in the dream.
"When I heard you were alone with Lucus, how he touched your hair, I wanted to rip his limbs off. "
"That is a little extreme"
"I know. The longer we wait to complete the mark, the worse my beast gets. I won't be able to wait much longer."
"Complete the mark, how do you do that?" She was almost afraid to ask, but she needed to know. However, she was starting to fade away. Whatever was keeping her in the wood was starting to wear off.
"Jarek! What do you plan to do?!" She shouted, but the wolf would not answer her no matter how many times she begged.
Celest shook Aella roughly till she finally woke up. "What?!" She demanded as she pushed Celest off of her. The sun was aggressively bright and Aella just wanted to hide under the covers.
"Aella wake up!" Celest shouted as she ripped the covers off of her. "We are going to be late for our fitting! So hurry up sleeping beauty!"
Aella jumped out of bed, she had overslept but it felt like it was not near enough sleep. "I'm so sorry guys!" She shouted as she grabbed the first thing from her closet and quickly dressed. "I didn't sleep well, I had a terrible nightmare!"
"We could tell, we almost went to get Greta. What were you dreaming about?" Calixta asked.
"It doesn't matter," Aella answered as she combed through her tangles. "Let's hurry before we miss the appointment."
As with every year, the Order offered a large allowance for the girls' dresses. Even though it was a ball mostly for the wolves, it was a good opportunity for them to make a lasting impression on society and show how powerful the Order was to the Wolves. So when the girls arrived at the best dressmaker in all of Autheria, they were given the best room, with fresh cakes to snack on while they went through fabrics and ideas.
They had mannequins lined up with different styles of gowns to choose from. Celest knew the style she wanted right away. It was a heart-shaped bodice, with short sleeves that started and ended just under the shoulder. There were layers of frills on the front of the skirt. Celest chose a beautiful midnight blue fabric, and she ordered gemstones to be sewn in randomly to give the illusion of a starry night sky. It was not very bunny-like in Aella's opinion but Celest did order a blue bunny mask to complete the outfit.
Calixta and Aella were a little less decisive. It took a while but Calixta finally settled on a sleeveless dress with a sea blue fabric. There would be a slit in the design that would expose multi-colored frills, giving the peacock effect. She ordered a simple mask that was decorated with large colorful feathers.
All that was left was Aella, she tried to entertain the silver fox idea, but it was not what she wanted. Soon she found herself going through the purple fabrics. She liked the designs the others sketched but this was her dress, and she was going to pick what she wanted.
"If I may miss?" the designer asked. She had been watching Aella for a while and had paid close attention to what all the girls wanted, but she could tell Aella's heart was pulled to something different than what was being suggested. The designer sat next to Aella on the love seat, "I think purple will look lovely on you! You can still do a silver fox mask design if you wish. Silver goes wonderfully with purple."
Aella watched as the designer sketched some ideas, it was nice to see someone so passionate about their work. Aella could not help but smile as she looked over her shoulder. She showed her a sketch of a rich dark purple a-line dress with a tulle skirt that flowed elegantly to the ground. There was also a slit to show off a little bit of Aella's slender legs. The sleeves started just under her shoulders and ended her at her elbows. Around the waist was a sparkling silver belt with it. It would not be as poofy as the other gowns, but it would still flow a little when she moved. It was just the right mixture of flirtatious and elegant that Aella wanted.
"It's perfect!" She exclaimed, finally feeling excited about the dance. The seamstress smiled and closed her book, "I will have your dresses ready in two weeks.
"Two weeks?!! That is so soon are you sure?" Aella asked in disbelief.
"Of course I am sure. They do not say Red Moon Dresses are the best for no reason. Put your trust in me girls, and be back in one week for your fitting."
The girls thanked the seamstress and made their leave. "I can't wait to see my dress!" Celest said as she twirled in the street.
"Be careful!" Calixta said as she pulled Celest out of the way of a passers-by. "People are watching. Don't forget we represent the Order now."
Celest sighed but walked properly, "killjoy."
Aella rolled her eyes but locked arms with Celest as she walked to their carriage. With her dream far from her thoughts, she felt that things might actually go right for them and no wolf or Lycan was going to ruin their night.