Shadows Book 1 in the World of Shadows by Cheree Alsop Page A

booming voices met me before I reached the spy
hole. I turned the wood and saw a massive room, far bigger than our
great hall, which had been set with tables and food the likes of
which made my feast for breakfast look like a paltry morsel for an
ant. All of the chairs were occupied by Luminos men and women
wearing clothes finer than anything I had ever seen. Jewels, furs,
and intricately worked lace and leather covered every inch of their
bodies. Some even wore masks of feathers and fur inlaid with
sparkling stones. Each person seemed to be trying to talk louder
than their neighbors, creating a booming uproar that made me
stumble back and almost trip over the wooden beam behind me.
    I peered through the hole and searched for
Axon’s party. Axon was the easiest to find. He sat on a raised dais
along the front wall on the right hand side of a laughing,
overweight man in green with a jewel encrusted crown tipped to one
side of his head. The King sat next to a woman with flowing white
curls woven with beads and dyed feathers underneath a hat bejeweled
with green and red gems. I would have laughed at her crown if she
didn’t stare down every person who looked her way.
    The girl sitting next to her looked to be a
few years older than me with her mother’s fine white curls and
piercing green eyes. She kept leaning forward on the table to look
around her mother at Axon, and would have tipped over her glass of
wine on more than one occasion if not for the timeliness of the
servant who stood behind her and snatched it out of the way,
replacing it the moment the area was clear.
    Axon was all smiles, though it surprised me
to see that the smiles were more for show than they were real.
After our journey together, it was hard to forget the way a real
smile lit up his light blue eyes and brought out a dimple in his
right cheek. He glanced down to the tables below them and I
followed his gaze to Dathien, Marken, Jatha, Staden, Dyloth, and
Rasa. They joked and talked to the nobility around them, but still
managed to keep an aloofness that said even if they didn’t wear
their weapons, they were not to be trifled with.
    I turned my gaze back to the Princess who
contrived to drop her napkin behind her father, two seats down, so
that Axon would rise and retrieve it for her even though she had
servants waiting to do just that. Axon returned the napkin with a
look that was all charm, but eyes that studied her intensely.
    The Princess simpered and batted her
eyelashes which had been darkened to accentuate her green eyes. She
wore a deep golden dress with white lace at the sleeves and neck,
though not high enough to hide the line of her bosoms. I studied
her dress, aware of how it accentuated her figure in a way that my
shirt and pants never could. The rouge on her cheeks was a touch
too red for my liking, and I frowned at the way she took her napkin
back so that their fingers touched, then laughed lightly as though
it had been an accident. Axon bowed and returned to his seat. I
twisted the wood back to its original position and leaned against
the wall.
    Why did I care who he chose to marry? It
should be his decision and if he wanted to marry a twisted,
conniving girl who would end up exactly like her mother, staring
down any who dared even look up at their dais, then good for him. I
pushed off the wall and made my way back down the passage to our
rooms. I was less careful and stubbed my toe three times before I
stopped at the hidden door in my closet. I ran my hands through my
short hair to brush off any spider webs and dust, and couldn’t help
comparing my mismatched strands to the Princess’ long, beautiful
white curls. I shook the image from my mind and twisted the catch
to open the door.
    I crawled into the closet and rose, then
made my way to the empty great hall. I noted with a sigh that
someone had cleared away the tables and food. I still had some
cheese and meat left in my napkin, so I carried it back to my room
and went to the bowl