Love Before Blood

Chapter 8

When the maids came to prepare us for the reception, we slipped our masks back on very quickly. That was definitely the fastest I’ve ever moved to hide my face. The white mask was replaced with a black mask decorated in silver rhinestones with a lunar design. The sun shaped diamond earrings were replaced with jewelry of the moon and stars. The maids undid my hair which was less curlier than earlier today. They quickly curled and braided my hair again. and a different crown was clipped onto the back of my head. To be honest, I was glad I didn’t have to wear the crown any longer. My neck hurts from wearing something so heavy on my head and my head was also itching. When I looked in the mirror, I saw that the headpiece looked like a pearl or a moon with a purplish tint to match the dress.

The reception dress was just like the wedding dress, snug but comfortable and black. There were tiny rhinestones spread out over the dress and the cape, with no hood, had different shades of purple streaks that trailed to the end. “May I ask, what the streaks on the cape are?”

The maids exchanged glances before they said,” They are the Dragon Lights miss. It is one of our ways to convey messages amongst the kingdom. Purple and blue usually mean there is a wedding occurring in the royal family.”

“Oh wow,” I said,” It’s beautiful.”

“If you are able to look out the windows during the reception, make sure to look at the lights. Sometimes, they bring good luck.”

When they finished, I met with Azriel outside of the room and he was dressed in the same attire but blue. He had a cape on too and he had blue dragon light streaks on it. He held his hand out for me to take, and I took it. 

The reception was held in the biggest ballroom I’ve ever seen. The sun was just sinking below the horizon when we arrived. I could see the different hues of twilight as the sun went down. 

I don’t think there was a ceiling in place, so we were literally under the sky with the colorful stars twinkling around us. I didn’t know that the night sky could be as beautiful as the morning sky. But how would I know? I practically lived under the grey clouds all my life.

All the nobles were dressed in a similar fashion to us, clothes that represented the night sky. When the sunlight was completely gone, a person announced,“ Princess Avalon and Prince Azriel have arrived.”

Purple and blue dragon lights streaked the sky. I saw the lights were in the shape of dragons, the ones without wings. They swirled around each other and when they met in the middle, the two dragons crashed down into the center of the ballroom where Azriel and I were standing. Making it look like the dragons dropped us off into the room.

When the lights were turned back on, everyone applauded at the performance. The music started and I knew what it was right away. The dance was something I had to practice during those six weeks. Surprisingly, it was one of the things I was actually good at other than reading. The steps were simple and easy. Much like the dragon lights we danced around each other, met in the center, and we went straight into ballroom dancing.

When the dance was over, I was panting a little. Azriel escorted me off the dance floor and towards a table on the side of the room. The king and queen were sitting in the center and two other boys were sitting on the king’s left side. Both were equally handsome and tall , but I could tell that they looked bored out of their mind. The boy sitting right next to the king had dark brown hair and green eyes. And the boy next to the first had silver hair with red eyes. Both were wearing similar attire to Azriel. 

Behind the table, I saw Bryce and Cassian talking to each other. I don’t know why but Bryce looked a little more pale than last night. Speaking of the devil, I haven’t seen him since we got here. Where the hell has he been? But why am I worried, I’ve gone longer than a day without talking to him.

“Princess Avalon,” Azriel said,” This is my father, King Storm, and my two older brothers, Peri and Grey.”

As he introduced me to his family, I saw how Peri was looking me up and down. “Well, Azriel, it looks like you’re lucky that your bride is beautiful. Otherwise you would’ve been stuck with an ugly human for a while.”

I was going to say a sharp comment, but I bit my tongue a little to stop me. “It wouldn’t have mattered, Peri,” Azriel said,” The war is finally over and peace is here.”

He scoffs and excuses himself to dance with some of the girls. “Sorry about that insult, Princess Avalon,” the boy with silver hair comes up to us. “I’m Prince Grey, the second oldest. And if you will excuse me, I will be joining some girls on the dance floor with Prince Peri.”

Those two aren’t bright at all. One likes to follow the other. Almost like a mother duck and her ducklings. I nodded my head. Queen Dia comes up and says,” The dress is beautiful on you.”

“Thank you, Your Highness,” I said.

“I was worried that it wouldn’t look good on you, but I’ve been proven wrong, especially with how you danced. You made the dress look much more elegant than all the girls in this room who have been trying to grab my sons’ attention.”

I curtsied as a thank you. “I agree with my queen,” King Storm said,” You danced very elegantly and flawlessly. You two looked like a perfect match.”

Thank god I was wearing this mask, otherwise they would have seen me blush, badly. “Anyway, we will be excusing ourselves for now.  We will be thanking our guests for coming.”

After they left, Azriel leaned in and said,” I’m sorry about my brothers. They can be rude on most days.”

“It’s alright,” I said,” Though, I do sometimes forget that you are basically immortal. You don’t really age after…,” I could barely form the words,” while I will end up dying, probably of old age.”

I think he whispered something under his breath, but the music was too loud for me to hear. We sat down and ate in silence. All the warmth from dancing is gone in an instant. “Just out of curiosity, but how long do we need to stay at this reception?”

He sighed and said,” We don’t have to stay for very long, though it would be rude if we just left right now.”

“Right,” I said.

“Unless, we sneak out the window right behind us and go flying around for a while,” he said with a devilish smile on his face.

The idea didn’t sound all that bad. I already miss the feeling of flying from this morning. Imagine the view at night. “Sorry, sir,” Cassian came up behind us. “I’m on strict orders from your mother to make sure you don’t do that. Bryce, too.”

I nearly choked on my food when he surprised us out of the blue. “Sorry, Your Highness,” Bryce said to me.

“You must be Avalon’s bodyguard, Bryce,” Azriel said,” I hope you’re feeling better after the long flight.”

“Much,” he said,” It seems like I’m not into flying.”

Azriel chuckled,” I’m confident you will get used to it soon. It is how we get around here.”

Bryce looked like he was about to throw up again just talking about it. After talking to them for a bit, Azriel and I did the last dance for the reception and everyone told us “good luck” and “congratulations” as we left the room. I have a feeling they were referring to something else when they said “ good luck” to us.

Wait, are we going to have to do…? Oh, no.