The Queen and her Wolf

Chapter Seven

    The smell of jasmine still seemed to linger around me, clinging to my skin and the inside of my nose. It smothered me in its' delicate undertones, attempting to draw me into a world of desire that I could not pursue. How I wanted to pursue though. With barely concealed desire I had gazed upon my soon to be Guardian; naked and bare as she'd been I'd seen her for everything she was.

    Flawless.

    Proud.

    Strong.

    Beautiful.

    How my body had fought me. All I'd wanted was to be closer to her. I'd wanted to hold her to me and take in every part of her, tasting with every sense. I could not allow that though. There were so many dangers in this castle and if I were to compromise my Guardians safety for such selfish reasons ...

    Alana seemed to be everything I wished to see in myself. She was good and she was pure. There was too little of that in the world these days, and for me to be so lucky as to find it on this retched island seemed almost too good to be true. I needed to protect her, not only from myself, but also from the dangers she already faced simply by being here.

    How I wished things could be different though.

    "Sorry."

    Confused, I snapped out of my melancholy. Sitting in front of my vanity mirror, a nameless Quiet stood behind me, worry clear on her face. One of her hands was tangled in my hair as she styled it for the ceremony, in her free hand was a hair pin and between her pale lips she held several more. I imagined her look of concern was a sternly placed hair pin in my loosely styled braid. She must have thought she'd hurt me bad enough that she'd opted to speak.

    "Do not worry yourself," I said reassuringly. "You have done a fine job."

    Removing the rest of the hair pins from her mouth, she smiled, admiring her work. Catching a few strands and replacing them where she thought they should sit, the Quiet gave her work a once over. Seemingly satisfied with it she took a step back, respectfully gesturing for me to stand so that she could inspect the rest of me. I obeyed, careful not to undo all of her hard work.

    The Quiet scrutinised every aspect of my appearance from head to toe, circling as she did and adjusting where she thought best. The floor length, strapless dress I wore was an intricately designed one. It simply flowed over my skin like water and was as black as a starless night. There were, of course, undertones of red which appeared under certain angles of light and a deftly crafted corset had been integrated into the top half to give it a strong finish. I felt the Quiet tug on the back of the dress once or twice but she seemed content with how it sat and moved on to my hair once more. Taking far less time on it this time though, she simply swept the end of my braid to cradle the left side of my neck, following it around she came to stand in front of me to inspect my visage. She had applied simple yet elegant makeup to my face, accentuating my cheekbones and eyes as a priority though. A smile touched her lips and she stepped back.

    "Thank you for your help," I said gratefully.

    The Quiet curtsied low and gathered her instruments before slipping out of my chambers, silent as a ghost. Once she was gone I turned to the mirror one last time and heaved sigh. Admittedly the Quiet had done very good work, but I couldn't help but feel like this wasn't me. It was all very beautiful and elegant but I would much rather be wearing my pants and have my hair loose; the red of my eyes was so noticeable when my hair was away from my face.