Page 19 of Daughter of the Ninth Line, Part Two (The Lines of Ebrus #2)

Nineteen

Avalon

T he buzz around the Third Line’s party consumed most of Boellium for the next week.

Viana and Acacia were giddy with excitement, as were the rest of the Twelfth Line.

From what I could gather, the Upper Lines held parties regularly, but the Lower Lines were never invited.

Forever separated by not just the social divide, but the main landing of the atrium.

I’d been down in the bowels at least three times this week, just so they could try and dress me up like a child’s doll. Not just Viana and Acacia either—the whole Twelfth Line seemed to be invested in what I should wear. However, the party was tonight, so it was decision time.

“The blue. It brings out her eyes,” Elkie insisted, holding a dress up in front of her.

Not for my approval, despite the fact I would be wearing it, though I definitely had a vote.

They were a democracy through and through, especially once they’d decided I was a helpless lamb when it came to fashion. Honestly, they might be right.

“The purple—it’s the color of royalty, which she might eventually be if she gets it on with Vox Vylan,” someone called from behind me, I flushed red. I was already getting it on with Vox Vylan, but there was very little chance of me ever becoming his wife.

“We’re just friends,” I told them all for the thousandth time, but Elkie just gave me a knowing look and patted me on the head like I was some sweet summer child.

Someone was holding the purple dress in front of me, switching between that and the blue, when there was a knock at the door. Acacia strode over to answer it, then took a quick step back.

Standing stiffly at the door was Vox’s cousin, Shay. There was something inherently edgy, maybe a little wary about Shay, like she was always waiting for the next attack. She looked around the dorm room, but waited patiently over the threshold.

“May I come in?” she asked, unable to keep the haughtiness from her voice. There was no doubt that in every way, the First Line and the Twelfth Line were different. Their social standing, their hold on their magic, their community—it was all in stark contrast.

But while a conscript from the Twelfth Line at the door of the First Line dorm would have been turned away immediately, maybe even ridiculed, Acacia welcomed Shay into the dorm. “Sure. Want a drink?” Acacia’s voice was warm, almost a purr, and I frowned at her. That was weird.

“Thank you. I’d appreciate that.” The rigid formality in Shay’s tone sounded wrong down here.

Acacia laughed. “No worries.” As my friend walked toward the kitchen, I noted the way that Shay’s gaze ran over the other woman’s curves, before they shot back to my face.

I raised an eyebrow, but didn’t say anything. Instead, I gave her a warm smile. “I don’t want to be presumptuous, but I assume you’re down here for me?”

It was then that I noticed the black cardboard box suspended in the air beside her.

Shay heaved an annoyed groan. “I’ve been sent as an errand girl, yet again.

This is from Vox.” She floated the box to me, and as I took it from the air, she dropped her magic’s hold on it. It fell lightly into my arms.

I placed it on the long, communal table, and the rest of the Twelfth gathered around, like this was a present for us all, rather than just for me. Instead of feeling annoyed, I felt… loved.

Shifting off the lid, I separated the folds of tissue paper.

Inside was a dress. Not just any dress, though.

It was the most beautiful dress I’d ever seen.

A midnight-blue gown in a fabric so light, it felt almost unreal.

It had a bodice that threaded at the back with silky ribbon, and a knee-length skirt that defied gravity, pooling like mist.

“Wow,” I breathed, and Viana gripped my arm.

“Do you know what that is? ”

I slid my eyes to her. “A dress?”

She shook me gently. “Not just any dress. That’s a Liliana Ingmire original. She creates the fabric herself from some plant that’s a giant secret. That dress is so expensive, it could feed my entire village for a year.” She fingered the skirt, her eyes wide. “Maybe two years. It’s so beautiful.”

Acacia snorted. “Did I just watch Viana fall in love?” she teased, coming to stand beside Shay and handing her a glass of their homebrewed liquor.

It was so strong that it put me on my ass every time I drank a single glass.

“It is very pretty.” She seemed almost disapproving, with none of the awe that was in Viana’s expression.

I understood her reaction; it was a flagrant excess when they could barely eat, which was a little tone-deaf.

“Liliana is a bitch, but she makes pretty clothes, I guess,” Shay agreed. “I’d rather a set of daggers from the metalsmiths of the Eleventh Line, though.”

Acacia raised a brow. “You don’t think the First Line smiths could do better?”

The staring match between them was intense. “It has nothing to do with Line and everything to do with skill. Metalworking is in the bones of the Eleventh Line.”

They continued to stare at each other, and I realized that they weren’t antagonizing each other at all. They were… flirting? I mean, it was a weird form of flirting, but it seemed to work for them.

Viana smirked in their direction, but then her eyes caught on the dress again. “Go and try it on! I need to see how it looks on you before I go crazy.” She shoved me toward her room, and I went, carefully carrying the dress. It was the nicest thing I’d ever owned, but what did it mean?

Quickly shedding my own clothes, I held my breath as I pulled the dress up over my ass and hips. It seemed to defy gravity, floating around me. There were no sleeves, but I couldn’t pull the ribbons tight at the back.

“Viana?” I called, and she burst in before I’d even finished her name. She’d definitely been standing just on the other side of the door. She slammed it as she strode into the room, a gasp on her lips.

“You look like a queen ,” she breathed, then came around behind me, gripping the ribbon laces. “Now breathe in, Your Majesty, because you’re about to bring the entire kingdom to their knees with this waistline.”

An hour later, Viana had strapped me into the dress and used little rods warmed on the stovetop to curl my hair. Acacia had dragged me out to the main room and done my makeup with an artful hand, and I’d been surprised to see Shay still there. Her eyes ran over me, and she gave a satisfied nod.

“Okay, maybe I see it. You look good, Ninth.” High praise from the surly First Liner indeed.

I grinned at her. “Thanks, Shay.”

She climbed from the couch, walking over to place her glass in the sink like she’d been to the bowels a hundred times before. “Thank you for your hospitality,” she said politely, but she wasn’t looking at Viana or the others. Her eyes were snagged on Acacia.

“Visit anytime,” Acacia purred.

Shay dipped her chin. “I’ll see you on the beach.” Her gaze was on me now, but she was clearly talking to Acacia.

Oh, yeah. Definitely flirting.

Shay’s departure was like a kicked ant nest. People were running around everywhere.

Acacia finished my makeup, then disappeared into her room to change.

At some point during my grand makeover, the rest of the Twelfth Line had gotten ready for our first ever Line party and they looked festive in their brightly colored clothes, dyed with plants native to their region.

Viana had told me what plants they used to make each color, but honestly, I had no clue what any of them were.

Botany hadn’t been my forte during my tutelage back home.

I smiled at my new friends, these people who’d accepted me so easily. “You guys look great.”

Viana slung an arm around my shoulders, careful not to muss my hair. “Not as great as you do. Let’s go stun the heck out of a Heir or two, shall we?” She led us from the room, and as we climbed the stairs, more and more of the Lower Line conscripts joined us.

The atrium was overflowing with people making their way down to the beach, and I could already hear music in the wind.

Something smelled amazing, and I wondered if the Third Line had managed to convince the cooks to serve dinner down on the rocks.

If anyone could convince the curmudgeonly kitchen staff to do something against the rules, it’d be Hayle.

“I can’t wait to dance,” Viana said, shimmying her way between her two boyfriends. I was beginning to think her boyfriends were also boyfriends with each other. I mean, it made sense, in a weird kind of way. At least then no one felt left out then, right?

As we walked, people’s eyes lingered on me. I pushed my shoulders back, like wearing this beautiful dress was an everyday occurrence for me. I was the Heir to the Ninth Line. They couldn’t know that our Barony was dirt poor from my father’s excessive drinking and bad choices.

The dress itself floated around me like a midnight storm cloud, and I was truly in love. I mean, not as in love as Viana, but definitely in love.

There was a small line down to the beach as we all hurried, and we had the unfortunate luck to be behind Ephily from the Fifth Line. She took one look at my dress, her eyes narrowing. “I wonder if my cousin Liliana knows her creations are being put on a pig?”

That would have hurt once upon a time, but now, I just smiled at her with too many teeth. “Give her my compliments. This dress is beautiful.”

She opened her mouth to say something cutting and cruel in return, but Vox appeared, and his eyes were filled with equal amounts of wonder and lust. “Avalon, you look like a dream.” He leaned closer, until his lips were beside my ear.

“A wet dream.” Standing back to his full height, he nodded respectfully to Viana and Acacia, then glared at the girl from the Fifth Line. “Ephily.”

Then he surprised the fuck out of me by gripping me around the waist and pulling me tightly to his body, kissing me with so much authority, there was no doubt it was a claiming. I kissed him back, clinging to his shoulders as warmth consumed me. It ran through my veins and burned in my chest.

Finally, when my lungs were on fire and my thighs felt like they were made of pudding, he pulled back.

“The image of you in this dress is going to be etched in my mind forever. Every time I close my eyes, I’ll picture you this way,” he murmured against my lips.

Then he uncurled to his full height and moved his hand down to grip mine.

As he dragged me down to the beach, I realized I was a fool of the worst kind.

I’d gone and fallen in love with Vox Vylan.

I was in love with the one person in this world I couldn’t ever have.