Lux
A moment later, Nyx and Aspen joined me. "Another secret door." Nyx looked inquisitively at the wall she had just walked through. She had moved far enough away to avoid obstructing the others, but she curiously examined the glyphs embedded in the walls that helped create and sustain this dimensional space.
"Is it a specialty of our family to have secret rooms, doors, and walls, or is this a common practice?" I overheard Nyx ask Aspen as Säntiägo, the last of our group, walked through the wall. Säntiägo took a moment to orient himself, then headed over to the dance game that Zenaida was excitedly suggesting to Elias and Raine that we hold a tournament on.
With Nyx engaging Aspen in a discussion about how often the elite of any region uses dimensional spaces and walls in their homes, thus distracting him—for tonight at least—from trying to maim me, I went over to set up the dance game from our impromptu dance tournament. If my future Velari wants to have a dance battle, then a dance battle she will have.
Nyxara
Our dance tournament turned out to be very competitive and fun. This world's version of Dance Dance Revolution was both very similar but different in execution. Not only did you have to follow the rhythm arrows, the dancer also had to accomplish essencecraft displays in sync too. So while matching the arrows in time, you had to make hearts, stars, essence rain showers, and other such displays when dictated.
Even when just playing a game, essence control is trained, so there is little to no excuse for anyone not to have basic-level control of their essence. It's brilliant and diabolical. I love it. I wonder who came up with the idea.
After casting a sober spell upon herself—Zen is a complete lightweight when it comes to alcohol, apparently—Zen declared she was going first so she would be less embarrassed if everyone else did exceedingly better than her since she is the only non-combatant in our group. After she pointed it out, I did notice that while Zen was able to defend herself, she was indeed the only one not heavily trained in combat.
Even Säntiägo was a trained fighter. Growing up in the militant region of Korr'Vellyn, there was no way he wouldn't be. Technically, I was only a few steps above Zen's skill level, but according to Elias, the gap would grow quickly once we started actually putting my techniques to work.
So we drew lots for the order of our dance offs. Raine would be next, then Elias, Säntiägo, Aspen, Me, with Lux being last. Once everything was set up, Zen chose normal mode and immediately killed it. I would like to say I wasn't shocked, but I was. I am learning so much about my bestie tonight. She drinks like a fish and she dances like it is her purpose in life. I wonder if she can sing too? Elias, Aspen, and I clapped and cheered for Zen when she finished with an excellent. She bowed and held her hands up, accepting our applause.
The other three contestants of our tournament just stared at Zen stunned at first then they slowly began clapping too as they came out of their stupor. I watched as they glanced at each other then turned their focus back to Zen. Interesting very interesting. Looks like Sänti might not be Byron's only competition. I'm here for the chaos. I just hope Zen will be ready for it the moment she breaks up with Byron. I glance to either side of me to see Elias and Aspen also noticing the reactions of the three men who had surrounded Zen praising her dancing abilities. We watched them all subtly touch her either physically (Lux and Sänti) or through essence (Raine).
I wouldn't have been able to see Raine's phantom essence touches if my eyes didn't naturally catch essence traces. Otherwise, I'd need to be Veil tier like Elias and Aspen to discern that level of fine control. Raine was that good at hiding his actions in plain sight.
"Aspen, is this what the beginning of courting looks like?" Elias must have heard my question because I felt his focus shift entirely onto me even if his head didn't turn. Aspen glanced at me then at Elias with a small smile. I narrowed my eyes, elbowing him in the side. With an unabashed grin, he finally answered my question.
"It can be. Especially if multiple compatible suitors have the potential to be Kaelin as well. You can see how they are aware of each other but aren't fighting each other for her attention. They are testing each other as they test Zen's responses to them."
Elias unexpectedly piped in while we gave them another minute to bond. "A lot of people focus on finding a Velari first and Kaelin second. This isn't a wrong approach, but it could make it harder for everyone who isn't fucking everyone else to figure out how they will all fit together."
He continued, his tone thoughtful. "That is an important aspect of a mating circle that many don't focus on until a year or two later, once the circle is pretty much formed. The Kaelin figuring out how they will work together long term."
I watched the three men around Zen again with new eyes, seeing the careful dance of awareness between them. They weren't just courting her—they were evaluating each other too. The realization settled something in my chest, though I wasn't sure what.
"It is my hope to be blessed with such an opportunity," Elias said quietly. "To find at least one Kaelin before I started pursuing a Velari."
My pulse kicked up for reasons I refused to examine.
"Fate does not always follow our mortal wishes, but I feel—" He glanced at me briefly before turning his attention back to Raine, who was finally taking his turn on the machine. "—Iwill greatly need help caring for my Velari. I suspect they will be a constant source of excitement. More excitement than I could handle on my own for too long anyway." He grinned with amusement.
I had to look away, or I would begin blushing. I caught Aspen's amused gaze when I turned. My blush of embarrassment shifted to one of irritation immediately. Deciding I needed some space from the two amused Betas, I stomped away from them. When they chuckled at my strategic retreat, my hands gave them the middle finger impulsively. The chuckling stopped, but I had the feeling if I looked over my shoulder, they would still be smiling. I like to think I'm emotionally intelligent, but right now, I feel like I'm descending into madness. I don't even know why I would assume he was talking about me.
I pulled Zen away from Lux and Sänti to their dismay. I glared at them, making it clear trying to take her back from me right now would lead to them losing limbs. Zen giggled as we cuddled together on the nearby sofas. We watched as Raine proved he was shockingly competent at this game he had told us he had never played before. He got the highest good level score as his final evaluation. We congratulated him on doing so well for his first time playing.
"This game is surprisingly more complicated than I first assumed. I always thought River was ridiculous for insisting I include it in my training regimen since I don't get involved in direct combat often." Raine seemed way more interested in the machine than he was before. He was muttering to himself in an adorable manner.
Zen must have especially thought so too. "Not sure if you noticed, but the game also scanned you to determine your race. After confirming you as a vampire, it adjusted to accommodate how you would be able to display your essence control and how fast your vampire reflexes were capable of reacting. I couldn't have handled your normal at all. You were so fast both in movement and essence control."
Her praise actually made the man blush. His tiny smile—this was the first smile I had seen—made his cold demeanor thaw a bit, increasing his already attractive appearance. "I'll attempt to do better in the first official round since this was just the pre-tournament round." Raine's smile had vanished, but in its place was a smugness from being praised by Zen.
Zen, adorably, was stunned by the increasing attractiveness of Raine as he relaxed more. So I, as a helpful friend, pinched her side to help bring her out of her stupor before Raine's ego caused his head to expand. My effort was understandably not well received if the yelp and glare directed at me were any indication. The men I was becoming convinced would be Zen's future mates reacted instantly to her yelp. They paused in whatever they were whispering about to approach us concerned.
Finally, I could see when it clicked for Zen that the three weren't just being friendly to her. Her mocha skin tone displayed a flush, richer than wine, that crept toward her ears. She quickly waved the men away before they got close.
She pinched me back a moment later, making me yelp. Now we were both glaring and pouting. This had all the men looking at us strangely, wondering what we were doing over here. In sync, we gave innocent smiles while we covertly poked each other in the sides.
From there, Elias displayed his skills by claiming 2nd place, but then Sänti smacked him down to 3rd when he beat Zen's score. His celebration moonwalk made us all laugh. At some point, Lux placed multiple appetizer trays that he had gotten from somewhere on the big coffee table in front of Zen and me. Aspen brought over jugs of water and spiked punch. The mystery of where the food and drinks came was solved when Keir and Venus crowded onto the huge sofa with Zen and me. They had brought over a cart of refreshments as a bribe to let them hide with all us cool kids. Their words, not mine.Sullivan Dillard's name had come up during my last painful confrontation with my ex—he'd mentioned Sullivan was helping him work through some recent betrayals. At the time, it had sparked my curiosity, but I'd filed it away with all the other emotional wreckage from that conversation. Now, hearing that Sullivan had actively helped Keir and Venus escape the political feeding frenzy? My interest sharpened considerably.
The truth of the matter was that the party had temporarily shifted into a political playground for the next hour or so, and they didn't want to give anyone the impression that they were looking to add to their mating circle tonight.
One, it would be rude to do so during Aspen and Lux's party since neither of the birthday boys had officially rejected any of the candidates. Two, Venus had told me she had done a divination just to check if any potentials for them would be here tonight and she had gotten a negative. Keir was a bit disappointed by this result but perked up soon saying he wasn't ready to share her quite yet anyway.
Keir and Venus are so sickeningly in love I honestly wouldn't be surprised if they just stayed a couple. While I made a small plate of snacks, they were telling us that they invited Jasper Reign to join us but he declined saying he had business to handle tonight then left. It was Sullivan Dillard who suggested they come hide with us before they got sucked into a scandal. The candidates were looking feral according to him.
Sullivan Dillard's name had come up during my last painful confrontation with Koba—he'd mentioned Sullivan was helping him work through some recent betrayals. At the time, it had sparked my curiosity, but I'd filed it away with all the other emotional wreckage from that conversation. Now, hearing that Sullivan had actively helped Keir and Venus escape the political feeding frenzy? My interest sharpened considerably.
I was thankful to the man for facilitating my brother and sister-in-law's escape. It was actually comforting to encounter in this strange new world, a familiar face from Earth that represented some of the good memories I had after the death of my family. At some point I want to talk to him. Even in this world he appears to still be an honorable good guy like his Earth counterpart.
However, I wonder if the honorable good guy perception is a mask. After all, in this life, on this world, he is mated to that woman as her 1st Crown Consort. On Earth, he was an amusement Maeve Dillard had set her sights on. When he rejected her arrangement, she attempted to ruin his life. He hated her with a passion that compelled me to go against my foster family.
When I helped him escape from the basement on a night when everyone was out of the house, he told me he wanted to leave a "surprise" for Maeve and Xerxes in their bathroom to thank them for his time there. So I guided him to it. I didn't ask, and he didn't tell me what he did. My quick glance did not show anything out of the ordinary.
He tried to convince me to leave with him, that he would gladly adopt me as his daughter. I however felt obligated to stay. I didn't want to leave my best friend and the guy I was crushing on just because their parents were psychopaths.
He gave me a card with his phone number on it, then he left. I left too. Back to Zen's house, who had been my alibi for the night. Whatever Sullivan had done that night, caused Maeve Dillard of Earth to never again attempted to coerce a lover again.
I sent a direct order from my phone to Líma to discretely schedule a meeting with Sullivan Dillard for the month of Nexora. It gives me enough time to do a bit of research, and if my sync ratio keeps progressing at its rate, I will have successfully obtained Grey's memories to use by that time.
I hope you won't disappoint me, Sullivan Dillard.