I barely had time to lie on the bed when I heard an abrupt knock at the door. Before I could answer, two very tall women opened the door and entered the room.
"We are here to prepare you for the ball", one of the women said.
"Oh, uhm, okay. Is there anything I can help with?" I was a bit tired considering I just fought a gryphon a few hours ago, but still, I agreed to attend the ball so I would do what needed to be done. Hopefully, my and Mike's attendance at this ball would pave the way for talks between the Gryphon kingdom and the Werewolf kingdom.
"Just follow us to the royal bathing room, please." The woman's voice was emotionless, but it also sounded amazing. Of all the magical creatures I've met thus far, the gryphons most definitely have the most attractive people. The women infront of me and the ones I saw infront of the castle, were all tall and lean. Their skin looks amazing and their hair is so luscious.
"The royal bathing room?", I muttered to myself.
The women just opened the bedroom door and walked out. I quickly followed them because I was in desperate need of a bath.
We got to a room and the two women just stood infront of two large doors. I was about to open the doors when someone opened them from inside. I couldn't believe what I saw.
I was standing inside a room made entirely of black and gold marble. There was a large square bath tub built into the floor in the middle of the room. The tub was as big as a little pool. At least six people could fit in there.
There were flowers and expensive looking vases decorating the large room. The tub was filled to the brim with hot water and foam and rose petals were floating on top of the water.
The two women started undressing me.
"No, no", I shouted at them. "I can take care of this part myself. Thank you very much!"
They gave me a confused look. "We were ordered to prepare you for the ball", one of the women said. "This is how we prepare the King's ma...uhm, the King's guests for the ball."
"I am more than capable of doing this part of the preparations alone" I gave an awkward chuckle. "You two can leave. I will find my way back to the room when I'm done. Thank you, though. This all looks very....elaborate for a bath."
The two women raised their eyebrows, but proceeded to leave the room as requested.
I descended into the large tub and almost melted into the water when it engulfed my whole body. I may not have known, but I needed this. The constant travelling, fighting and escaping near death was exciting, but also exhausting. To make things worse, I still have no clue what I am.
It turns out all books concerning the Sun Godess have been destroyed to dissuade people from thinking that she's real. It's been disappointing, but the experience has also been worthit. Even if I never find out what I am, I have made so many good friends. I have grown so much stronger physically, emotionally and mentally.
I was swimming in the bath tub and regularly going under the water to fully submerge myself in it. It felt like all my troubles were washing away.
When I was done, I opened the two large doors and found the two women who came with me, standing outside. I guess they didn't actually leave when I asked them to.
I followed the women back to my room and in there I found a gorgeous long red silky gown on the bed. Before I could pick up the gown and admire it, the women sat me down in a chair and started doing my make up, hair and nails.
They were nipping and prodding at me and I had no mirror infront of me so I just had to hope that everything would turn out good.
When they were done with me, they unzipped the dress and helped me get into it. This time I got a proper look at the gown. It was a red A-line evening gown. Pools of red fabric fell off my legs, except in one spot where a long slit stopped a few inches below my waist.
From the waist up the dress was tightly fitted and a long slit ran between my breasts, stopping before the slit reached the waist position of the dress. My breasts were firmly held up by the tight top half of the dress despite there being no straps holding the dress up.
One of the women opened a large door, revealing a large mirror infront of me. They had done a heck of an impressive job. I looked stunning.
I looked at the make up and appreciated that they didn't overdo it. It had a natural look that just enhanced my strongest and most beautiful features. When I looked closely, I saw a hint of silver sparkles on my face and body. My hair had been curled into long and shiny waves all the way up to my back. Had I not decided to cut my hair after leaving the Black Claw pack, I'm sure it would have taken longer to get this extra wavy effect.
"Now to complete the look", one of the women said.
They brought silver heels and put them on my feet. Then they put red lipstick on me and a gorgeous diamond necklace was hung around my neck. This seemed too much for a guest who's attending a ball.
"What do you think?", one of the women asked.
"I don't even know where to begin. You guys outdid yourselves. I look amazing!"
A smug smile appeared on their faces. "We'regryphons. Everything we do is perfect."
The two women took me to the large staircase where we entered the palace. When I looked down, I almost didn't recognise the man waiting for me at the bottom. It was Killian.
His long beard was now completely shaven ofd and the long hair was cut short into a very modern style. He looked much younger now and very handsome in his black tux.
He looked up at me from the bottom of the long staircase and clutched his chest like he couldn't believe I was standing infront of him.
He watched my every step as I descended from the long staircase. When I got down, the man's intense stare of adoration had increased tenfold.
"Elizabeth, you...you look breathtaking, my little Star fire. I am so lucky to have you as my ma..." I raised my eyebrow at him and he corrected himself.
"my guest of honour."
"Thank you", I said in response. "You, my red giant, don't look so bad yourself. Who knew you'd look this good in a tux?"
He smiled while looking intently at me.
"May I?", he raised my hand and gestured to kiss it.
I nodded my head and proceeded to kiss my hand.
"Do you like my gift?" His eyes were pointing at the large diamond necklace around my neck.
"I love it, but I'm not keeping it." We were walking to where the ball would be held and he suddenly stopped.
"My Star fire, that is one of many gifts that I want to give to you. Please do not reject it."
I just rolled my eyes and dragged him along so that we could get to the hall. I could already hear the music inside and I wanted to meet all the gryphons and see how Mike was doing.
We stood infront of the two big doors leading to the ballroom. I heard an announcement being made inside and sighed in relief when I was announced as the King's guest of honour.
The doors opened to reveal a large ballroom where all the women were wearing blue long gowns. I was the only one wearing a red gown. Everyone was seated down and quiet despite all the noise I heard earlier. Mike was sitting on a table surrounded by a lot of women who were all clearly fighting for his attention.
I was about to ask Killian why all the other women were wearing blue dresses, but music started playing.
He gently took my hand and placed his other hand on my waist and started dancing to the music. Everyone was looking at us and no one dared to speak while we danced.
His sparkling blue eyes were looking at me with so much love and adoration. The man really thought I was his mate.
I felt him lace his hand around my waist and pull me closer to him. I could feel his nose almost brushing against my ear as he inhaled my scent.
"You smell...irresistible, my little Star fire." His voice was dripping in desire and I wasn't sure how I could create some distance between us without seeming rude.
The music luckily stopped and we went to take our seats while everyone else went to the dancing floor.
"Killian", I reprimanded. "I am not your mate. Back there on the dance floor you were acting a lot like I'm your mate. Please stop doing that. I...I don't want to hurt you. I'd like to think that you and I are friends now."
He didn't seem at all bothered by what I said. "Then we shall be friends who are also mates." He laughed to himself.
I jokingly hit his arm and he just pulled me in closer to him.
"Why am I the only one who's not wearing a blue dress?"
He groaned in my ear. "Because gryphons may belong in the sky, but you my little Star fire, belong with the sun."
I couldn't help but smile at what he said.
"How about I fetch us some drinks, my little Star fire?"
I gave up trying to remind the red giant that I'm not his mate and just nodded my head.
I chuckled when I looked at Mike. The man was fighting off a dozen women who were all getting way too close to him. If this were anyone else, they would have probably loved the attention, but not Mike. The man insists that he is waiting for his fated mate. I still needed to talk to him about what happened back at the Northern Inkling Kingdom. I understood why he did what he did, and I would have probably done the same thing if I were in his position.
Killian's dad and his mom were getting too cosy on the table. Anha was sitting in Maxwell's lap, stroking his long red hair while he rubbed his nose in the crook of her neck.
"You are not worthy of being our queen!"
I turned around and found a tall statuesque woman with short blond hair ready to fight me.
The music stopped and all eyes were on us.
I exhaled loudly and rolled my eyes. This was supposed to be a fun night of dancing and getting to know people. This was going to cause conflict when I hadn't even had a chance to know the gryphons.
"I am not your Queen, but I guarantee you if I wanted to be your queen, I would be worthy!" I stood up to talk to the woman and watched Killian rushing in our direction.
"What is the meaning of this Rene?", Killian hissed. "Do you want me to kill you, woman?"
A flash of fear appeared on the woman's face but it was quickly replaced by determination.
She looked around the hall, almost unsure of her next move while everyone was looking at us.
"I, Rene Inkheart, hereby issue an official challenge against Elizabeth...
"Elizabeth Stronghold", I said through gritted teeth.
"against Elizabeth Stronghold"
The crowd started buzzing with excitement. Mike had already gotten up from his chair and was standing next to me.
"Why? She hasn't done anything to you", Mike retorted.
"That doesn't matter", I heard Killian say. "An official challenge has been issued. As is our laws, if an outsider wins, the gryphon shall be punished by being sent to the winters of Mount Moria. However, if the gryphon wins, the outsider must die."
"No way! She JUST came back from fighting YOU. What the hell is wrong with you people? Are you trying to kill her?" Mike was holding a protective hand infront of me.
"Mike", I whispered to him. "I need to do this. If I don't, they'll never respect us. This could be the only way to get the gryphons to see others as their equal. Don't worry. I got this." I winked at him as I said that last part.
He reluctantly stepped aside and I saw everyone step away from us to give us some room. I thought we would perhaps go outside so as not to ruin this beautiful hall, but it seemed we were going to do this right here.
The girl infront of me looked at me with so much anger and disgust in her eyes. It wasn't just that I wasn't good enough to be her queen, this woman was disgusted that I was even in the same room as her.
"Shouldn't we step outside so that you can shift?", I asked her.
She scoffed and spat on the ground. This got a reaction from the crowd. They seemed to be approving of how she was acting.
"You are not worthy of meeting my beast!"
I looked around at the people in the hall, truly looked at them. For the first time, I realised that none of them actually wanted me here. The women may have lusted after Mike, but they didn't regard us as equals worthy of being in this kingdom, let alone worthy of attending this ball with them.
The same disgust that was in this woman's eyes, was in all the eyes that were looking at me. I thought back to the two women who helped me get ready and I realised their emotionless demeanour was nothing more than an attempt to hide how ashamed they were that their king would dare bring me into his castle.
This battle wasn't just me against a random gryphon. It was me against the superiority complex that is in the very fibre and culture of gryphons. If I lost today, I would be cementing their thoughts that they are better than all magical creatures and need not bother with them.
The woman lunged into the air in the blink of an eye the same way that Killian did when he first attacked me on Mount Moria. Like him, she pulled her hand back, preparing to land a fist as soon as she landed.
I hesitated, but thought against burning her mid-air. That would be too cruel. I wanted to beat her without actually hurting her. If her punishment would be flying to Mount Moria and surviving there, being injured would decrease the likelihood of her returning alive.
As soon as she landed where I previously stood, I spread out waves of fire around her. The fire was close enough for her to feel the pain and heat, but not close enough to hurt her.
I made the flames vicious and they threatened to engulf this entire hall, but I prevented them from spreading. Each time she tried getting out of my circle of fire, I increased the flames and trapped her inside.
The crowd's murmuring was getting louder.
I could tell the woman was in pain, but she wasn't screaming. Gryphons have way too much pride to ever do that.