Free The Celestial Kiss by Belle Celine

the same, their warmth offering a stark contrast to the dark halls I was accustomed to.  I was so entranced by the unexpected guise of comfort that I’d forgotten to keep track of our movement until it ceased, so that we stood before a set of doors that matched the ones we’d come through.  Janna appraised me, with something like sympathy in those warm eyes of hers.  Fear seized my heart just as she threw the doors open, my mind reeling with thoughts of being made into their dinner, of having an apple shoved in my mouth and being roasted alive.
    Instead, hundreds of eyes turned to look at me.  The room buzzed with excitement; a young girl elbowed her mother until she looked up where her daughter was pointing at me, and a boy leaned into his father to whisper.    I wavered under the surprising weight of it all, suddenly dizzy.  Like an anvil had been shoved onto my chest, the surprise forced my breath out of tight lungs. 
    Janna didn’t hesitate to usher me down the center aisle as necks craned to capture a glimpse of us, following our path all the way to the front of the room where a long, horizontal table barred us from moving any further.  At the table sat the people I’d come to fear: James and Julius, side by side.  To James’ right sat the King, and to Julius’ left sat the queen, her cold eyes trained on me.  James stood, and I forced myself still as he approached, unwilling to betray any signs of fear.  I didn’t want James to see them, to know he had the upper hand, and certainly not with an audience.  
    I nearly winced as he extended his hand, palm up.  In his eyes there was an expression I couldn’t determine.  He was generally unreadable, and that made me nervous.  Xian had been like that for the most part too, and yet he could snap in an instant.  The entire room watched me still, and I noticed Janna had moved away to take up an empty chair beside her mother.  I waited for him to say something, anything, but he didn’t.  You don’t bother me.  It was a lie I was attempting to convince myself of, but maybe if I fooled everyone else first…
    I placed my hand in his.  The smallest semblance of a smile found its way to his mouth and he led me behind the table, where an empty seat had opened as the King had moved one over, so that he now sat at my right.  Hesitant, I assumed his vacated place, all too aware of the uncomfortable silence that had settled around the room.
    The King nodded, and from doors on either side of our table people issued, bearing with them silver trays loaded with meats and cheese, fruit and bread, vegetables of such bright colors they seemed almost unnatural and yet bizarrely enticing.  A man appeared between James and I, placing a platter before us.  My skin stood at attention as he withdrew, brushing very lightly against my arm.  A woman appeared to take his place, setting before us a basket of bread, and smiling joyfully at me. 
    Overwhelmed, I turned to James to ask him anything, when a girl who couldn’t have been much older than myself popped between us with a decanter, filling the crystal glasses that sat on either side of me with an amber liquid I recognized as wine.  To my other side, a younger girl set another drink before me, in a silver goblet.  That girl disappeared in the next instant, and I turned in time to see the first young woman as she pulled back to retreat. Her hand slipped very casually over my full goblet, sending it careening to the table so that its contents spilled on my lap.  I jumped up and had a napkin shoved into my hand in the next instant.  “Oops,” Said the girl who’d knocked over the goblet, though she sounded not the least bit apologetic.  She seemed to smirk as she turned away.
    Gratefully accepting the napkin, I dabbed at the clothes I’d borrowed from Janna earlier that day, and became aware of the red stain that spread over the white cloth in my hand.  The warmth was what startled me most, and shaking, I