AO 7 Ch 36

I whistled happily as Maribelle and Ditzy spiffed me up for my meeting with Gabriella, as well as the dinner afterwards. Though I was going to be in attire suitable for mourning, it didn’t matter.

"You're never this happy, particularly about getting dressed up," Emlyn squinted at me suspiciously. 

"Of course I'm happy. We're gonna go to a dinner," I said my voice practically bouncing. 

"Nuh-uh. You can't fool me," Emlyn tutted. "There's something more to this." 

"What?" I said and put a hand against my chest. "But it's dinner with an important princess, one that's not bald." 

Maribelle chuckled. "See, that was a good one.” She was in her anchor-like maid outfit made from azurbloom infused leather. Which meant it healed almost as fast as she did. Also, she looked good in blue, it made her skin seem almost unnaturally white and her blonde hair nearly gold.

“Regardless, Ard, why are you so happy?" Emlyn repeated. She was in a dress with a leather corset that I’d bet money on had some iron in that ribbing to protect her if she got in a fight. The skirt wasn’t so poofy that it would get in the way of her keeping a sword strapped to her hip, thankfully everyone respected my anchors would stay close to me.

"Am I not supposed to be happy?" I said, crossing my arms, a sly smirk spreading across my face as I tried to catch her. 

"You're allowed to be happy, but not this happy about this type of event. Something is wrong." She pushed and checked her long braid to make sure it was secure.

"Fine." I sighed. And even decided not to pitch a fit when they pulled out the black veil again. "Someone's going to die. It's just gonna be sudden and it's gonna be dramatic," I said excitedly. 

Emlyn's face dropped from suspicion to disbelief. "Are you serious right now?" 

"You could say I am dead serious." I emphasized and laughed, only for Emlyn to smack her face and drag her palm down. 

"You are. You are, aren't you?" Emlyn muttered to herself. "Okay, so please tell me how is someone going to die at dinner?" 

"Well, it's like a murder mystery." I went into it, panning my hand across the horizon. "It's going to be dramatic. We're going to be eating or we're going to be discussing something. Maybe there'll be high tension in another point in the room, and then wham," I slap my hands together. "They're going to drop dead. And before anyone realizes what's happening, it's just going to be over. Kaput. Dead. Maybe even more than one." I grinned. It would start the next round of mystery-ing.

"Please stop smiling about the idea of people dying." She huffed enough to blow the strands that artfully framed her face to the side.

"I'm not smiling about them dying. I'm smiling about the excitement of a murder mystery. Emlyn, please get with the program." 

Emlyn glanced at the two ladies getting me dressed for help. 

"Don't look at me." Ditzy held her hands up. "At this point, I've been around him long enough to know when he gets like this, just to let him coast." 

"First off," Emlyn turned back to me and held a finger up. "You are not to kill anyone." 

"Oh yeah, of course. If I killed someone in all of this, it would be a pretty significant problem, Emlyn. I’m not the murder in this mystery, that’s their job."

She closed her eyes in a silent prayer. Probably for the dinner to go off without a hitch, dramatic death included. "Second, if disaster happens, you will stay with me." 

"Yeah, of course, you are my anchor. Unfortunately, me and Eva can both only bring one, so you and Maribelle get the absolute joy of guarding us tonight." 

"Yes, joy. Absolute joy," Emlyn said, her voice not matching her words. 

"And we will be on call," Ditzy said, trying to reassure Emlyn. 

"Thank you,” my anchor sighed. “Some days I'm not sure if I'm still sane." 

"That is completely understandable." Ditzy empathized, and I found myself frowning at her. 

"And why is that understandable?" I put my hands on my hips. Who wouldn’t be this excited to actually have a part in a murder mystery. Well, besides the dying ones, those were probably rather void of joy.

"Simply because it is, Ard. You may thrive in chaos, but the rest of us do appreciate knowing what's coming. It’s very reassuring when things go as you expect," Emlyn said.

"Well, that's easy enough. Just join me in the chaos. Expect the unexpected," I waved my hands about.

"Is that an invitation, Arden?" Ditzy asked. "Careful, you might bite off more than you can chew when I actually accept your offer." 

I grabbed Ditzy, intending to tease her as I pulled her close.

However, the goddess took it a step further and planted her lips on mine.

My eyes went wide as I felt the sparks rip through me, making my toes curl inside my fancy shoes.

She pulled back with a satisfied smirk. “A taste of later if you behave.” She promised.

Emlyn whistled low. "Damn, I wish he made a face like that when I kissed him. Not to mention, can you hear that?" Emlyn cupped her ears.

I listened too, but there wasn’t anything. “Huh?”

“For a moment, there was nothing. Perfect silence.” Emlyn let out a sigh of content. 

"Funny, Em," I said, clearing my throat and straightening my collar. 

"What's supposed to be funny?" She shrugged. "Silence is golden. It's so blissfully wonderful to get it from time to time." 

I shook my head, ignoring Emlyn, and was ready to dig into Ditzy, only to find the goddess had her face painted pink with a girlish blush. 

"You had the sparks again, didn't you?" She asked. 

"Duh. I'm fairly sure you did that on purpose." I put my hands on my hips, careful not to disturb my suit too much, I shuddered to think about having to redo anything.

"Sparks?" Emlyn asked. 

"Uh-huh," I pointed at Ditzy. "She does godly magic sparks." I wiggled my fingers for effect. "It is..." I hesitated to describe it, "...a doozy." 

Instead of the expected effect, Emlyn was squinting at Ditzy. 

"It's not nefarious, I promise," the goddess said unexpectedly. If I didn't miss my mark, Emlyn was pissed. 

"It's nothing serious," I reassured Em, now understanding the situation. "Just a little godly zing, if you will." 

"Uh-huh," Emlyn didn't look away from Ditzy. "Let's hope it stays that way. I would hate," Emlyn emphasized, "for there to be a problem amongst Ard's harem." 

I looked at Emlyn for her serious demeanor, and then back at Ditzy. 

"Don't worry about it, Ard," Ditzy said, as the two women had a standoff. "Emlyn takes her role in protecting you incredibly seriously. That simply means even the possibility of someone like me affecting your mind gets her complete attention.”

“As it should." Emlyn's tone was harsh. Enough that I needed no imagination to know just how upset she was in this present moment. 

"Do you need a minute, or are we good?" I asked. 

"We're good," Emlyn said after a moment, shaking off the stare-off she had just been having with Ditzy. "I doubt you'll look after yourself against something like that. But we have to be careful that no one manipulates you."

"Hey now," I refuted, "that makes me sound like I’m unable to take care of myself." 

Every woman in the room deadpanned at my comment. The moment was only broken when Eva emerged from yet another room in her suite, which was, at this point, larger than Beth's inn, and seemed to be expanding every time I opened another door.

Then again, Missy might have been actually building it out with that magic of hers.

However, those thoughts fled from my mind as I took in Eva's appearance. She looked fantastic in black, even though she had decided to forgo her veil and go all black, including dark eyeshadow and lipstick. 

"Are your lips mourning too?" I asked, earning more scowls from the ladies present. 

"Don't listen to him. You look fantastic. You look..." Ditzy hesitated, searching for the right word, "dangerous." 

"Well, thank you," Eva said with a smile. "And I must admit, you guys have done a passable job getting Ard into that suit as well." 

"Oh, that's because Ard--" Ditzy started, only for Emlyn to cover the goddess's mouth. 

"Because, he's really excited to have dinner with you," Emlyn finished, a big smile on her face. 

Sometimes, I could be an idiot. This could have been one of those times, but I chose not to be. "You look beautiful, Eva," I said. "I was just stunned for words and you know me. Obnoxious things tend to spill out when I don't know what else to say. Sometimes I need to just drink you in for a moment to recover." 

Eva seemed to ponder my words for a moment before a smile spread across her face. "That's okay. We still love you, Ard." 

I nodded with a confident smile before frowning. "Does that imply under certain conditions the love would stop?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. 

"Huh? How would you ever get that from where we started?" Eva shook her head at me. "I mean, really, Em, where does he get these ideas?" 

"Your guess is as good as mine. If it helps, he was always this way, before and after he was dropped on his head," Emlyn chimed in. 

"Har har," I laughed humorlessly. "She's kidding. I was only like this after the drop." 

Emlyn began cracking up, and Eva rolled her eyes. "They are impossible," Eva said conspiratorially to the goddess in the room. 

"I don't know, they have a certain charm, don't they?" Ditzy watched me with a smile that reminded me of the jolt her kiss had given me.

It made me wonder if it would happen again if I tried right now. Suddenly, I remembered that there were a bunch of voyeurs always in my soul, and I cleared my throat. 

"Eva, if you will, would you be my dinner date tonight?" I held out my arm for her to take. We needed to get going, lest we miss our pre-dinner invite from Gabriella.

"That would be absolutely lovely," Eva said, taking my arm in turn. "Do you think it'll be a good show tonight?" 

"Show?" I frowned. Did I have someone else in with me on the murder mystery?

"Yes. There's going to be a show, isn't there? After all, all of my siblings are going to be fighting over the throne. How are they going to catch the Arden Aldis to support them?" 

I puffed myself up slightly. "You're right. How will they get my support indeed? They don't put on the best show." I chuckled and decided I was going to enjoy tonight. 

"Don't make him more insufferable," Emlyn warned.

"Insufferable, our Ard?" Eva played dumb and looked at me in confusion.

"Don't ask me. That's just Emlyn for you. She really goes off the deep end from time to time and you simply just have to suffer through it.” I shrugged helplessly.

“It must be so painful for you." Eva said in consultation.

Emlyn held out the veil with a smile. "Now hold still while I put this on you.”

“That is going to look rather fetching on you, Ard," Eva offered.

"You think so? I really don't think black is where I shine." I leaned back from the veil.

"But it contrasts so wonderfully with your bright attitude." Emlyn couldn’t stop grinning as she caught me and started to put it on.

"Well, I haven't thought of it that way," I said, rubbing my chin.

"Why not? Besides your tongue, I would say your bright personality is your second best asset." Ditzy added in.

I nodded along, glad that they saw the true value in my personality.

"It has nothing to do with her buttering you up before she has to spend a whole evening with you," Emlyn tried. She really did try her hardest to ruin the moment. Which in fairness, I would be doing to her if roles were reversed.

So instead, I ignored her and turned to my date. "Eva, I have to apologize in advance for what I'm about to do."

"Ominous," Eva said, but held still for me as I took her veil.

"I'm going to have to cover your face. It is an absolute travesty to hide such a work of art, but apparently when your family is mourning they can't stand to be faced with your radiant beauty."

"Now look who's buttering who up," Eva smirked. "If I didn't know better, I would say you're trying to score points ahead of getting yourself in trouble."

I laughed, as did the girls in the room with me.

"There's no way Ard would have that much foresight." Emlyn wiped at her tears from her laughter. "Not to mention you are entirely unapologetic when it comes to your antics."

I shrugged helplessly. "That's how you know they come from a pure heart." I put my hand on my chest.

"Pure, yeah?" Ditzy smirked. "Shall we all take turns kissing him and see how pure his heart remains?"

I gasped in mock offense. "You would all test my purity in such a barbaric way. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a dinner to attend to, and after dinner you're welcome to test my purity all night long, because I don't want to ruin Eva's makeup before we get started. We all know how ravenous she can be."

Eva raised an amused eyebrow at me. "Yes, how ravenous I can be. I'm certainly the one who's managed to gather themselves a harem."

I put a hand on my chest. "It's not because I desire a harem," I explained, "it's simply because, as a mage of Avente, I have a responsibility not to turn into some monstrous corrupted. Thus, really, me gathering Emlyn and the others is a benefit for society as a whole." It was fun to tease them about this. Really, I had no idea how I ended up lucky enough to have a harem of beauties like this. Perhaps it was my bad luck from a young age finally being balanced out.

"Uh-huh," Emlyn pursed her lips. "You mean to say you don't simply love me?"

"Well, that's in there too," I said, realizing I may have just fallen into a precarious trap.

"Well, what about me?" Ditzy pouted with big eyes that made me want to wrap her up in a hug and tell her everything would be alright and if I could do anything, absolutely anything to help.

"Yeah, what about her?" Emlyn joined the fun.

I cleared my throat. "Well, obviously, I have budding feelings for Ditzy. She is a fantastic woman and an even more radiant goddess. It's only natural that someone would catch feelings for her if she stuck around long enough and returned the sincerity."

The goddess huffed, "Only natural, like it's not even something you want. You wound me Ard."

I looked to her, then back to Emlyn, Maribelle, or even Eva for support. 

"You could always just surrender," Emlyn offered.

"And why would I do that? Getting caught red-handed is too much fun," I smirked and before any of them could react. I kissed Ditzy, sending some of that magical spark back at her before turning my attention to Emlyn to make sure she couldn't get a word out before I was finished. Then, of course, I satisfied Maribelle and left Eva for last because if she was going to be my dinner guest for tonight, then it was only right for me to give her that due respect.

"Hmm," Eva said, humming into a long kiss. "I think I've changed my mind. I'm going to be on Team Ard tonight."

"You'd betray us for a kiss?" Ditzy sounded scandalized, but I knew it was all in good fun.

"It was a pretty great kiss," Eva touched her lips. "Did you use those sparks that you mentioned with Ditzy?"

"Nope," I said proudly. "That was all natural me."

"He is a good kisser," Emlyn admitted and didn't even sound begrudging.

Maribelle was forced to grunt in agreement, "Especially when he gets really passionate."

"Oh, do tell," Ditzy teased.

"Shoo!" I waved Ditzy away and she disappeared in a breeze of pink dust before launching herself into Soulgard.

"Is it slightly unsettling for anyone else when they do that?" Eva squinted. "Because I know they're quite literally just sitting behind Ard's eyes right now, watching everything."

"Is there something they shouldn't see, Eva?" I bobbed my brows.

"It's not like we're doing anything inappropriate," she blushed. "But it is a little weird."

"Well, and I mean this as lovingly as possible, Eva, I think we're going to have to get used to it." Pulling her along, I realized unless I made the first move we weren’t getting out of here anytime soon.

"Oh no, that's apparent," she said as we began to leave the room and walk down the hall.

Emlyn and Maribelle fell into line behind us. As soon as we left the area around Eva's royal chambers, the halls quickly filled with Vel'shae and servants.

They were running about in a near panic, though I felt somewhat relieved despite the ongoing murder mystery. Most of them were carrying dresses and suits, jewelry and perfume in their panic. It was almost as if an entire palace full of royalty was getting ready to do battle in full royal adornment. Perception was a large part of each of their weaponry.

"Aren't you glad I didn't make you wear that?" Emlyn pointed at a particular suit that had long colorful feathers coming off the shoulders like a hideous hairy octopus.

"No. Because you would never get me in that in my life."

"I don't know. By the way you looked earlier, I think I could start using Ditzy kisses as bargaining chips."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," my face turned into a practiced neutral.

"Uh-huh," Emlyn smirked. "You were even saying that you were catching feelings for her, Ard."

I brushed the comment away. "Of course, it was all play. Unless, of course, she has feelings too. In which case, maybe it wasn't all part of the joke."

"You don't get to have it both ways," Emlyn wagged a finger at me.

"Yeah, well, Ditzy, and I know she's listening," I tapped at my head, "is a little complex, and that's okay. As long as I get to be complex, too."

"I mean, in a sense, that's only fair," Eva argued.

"Sir can do whatever he wishes," Maribelle's eyes practically glowed with the fervor she had in serving me.

"I don't know why I even try with you two," Emlyn sighed. "And here I thought, Eva, you had clung on to your sanity. But it seems Ard has taken you too." Emlyn put a hand against her forehead.

"I hear if you're not careful he grows on you like mold. Especially if you’re a princess," Eva smiled. "It seems I wasn't careful enough."

Emlyn snorted. "If you and Ard are being ‘careful’, I do not want to see reckless."

As we moved through the halls, people were in a flurry of getting ready. But it quickly died down the closer we went to the dining hall itself. And then, like a chill wind passing through the palace, as we approached the banquet hall's doors, it became eerily quiet. 

A lone Vel'shae was standing up straight, waiting by the door. His eyes tracked us as we grew close.

"Arden Aldis, Crown Princess Gabriella waits for you inside." He opened the handle and pulled the door open while stepping back.

I shook at the sight.