Beautiful Secrets: The Complete Trilogy by Marie Robinson

Author:Marie Robinson [Robinson, Marie]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: The Lion and Raven Press
Published: 2020-01-14T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 12

Eleanora

I watched as the fox spirit ran her hands over the masquerade masks we’d pulled from the trunk Merlin had found. There was a beautiful assortment, but I hadn’t wished to wear them exactly how my stepmother and stepsisters had ordered them. I’d hoped Hei-Sook could help with that.

The fox spirit had eagerly accepted the position in my household as the butler, never minding that she wasn’t the traditional gender for the position. She’d tossed out the previous uniform, which I hadn’t blamed her for, and adopted a style of her own. In fact, she and Bonnie helped me overhaul the entire staff’s uniforms. There was only so much that could be done in a few days but instead of the plain linen frocks and veils, the female staff now wore respectable black dresses with the emblem of a phoenix surrounded by flames embroidered over a red apron tied around the waist.

Not Hei-Sook, of course, since she held a typically male position. She had decided to wear high-waisted and wide-legged white trousers with a matching vest, and a black silk modern Korean jacket. It was quite stunning, and both elegant and practical. With her severe haircut, Hei-Sook looked more formidable than Charles ever had.

As I suspected, not a single woman had protested at the disappearance of the veils.

For myself though, I saw how my staff flinched when they saw my scars. I didn’t see fear in their eyes, but sympathy and pain. It didn’t take me long to realize that my scars may not cause me physical pain anymore, but others would feel it.

So I would wear masks when facing the public, but they would be a point of pride. A thing of enhanced beauty and power.

“I can make the changes permanent eventually,” Hei-Sook said, lifting the one I had chosen for the party this evening. It was a gorgeous creation. It covered the entire face, save the lips and chin, molded to my face, and was the color of a supernova, shards of crystals embedded in the material to capture and reflect the light. I had asked Hei-Sook to add an illusion of flames sprouting from the side. “With the flames though”—the woman’s burnt-orange eyes met mine in question—“I imagine it would be much easier for you to simply conjure them yourself.”

“It would be one more thing to worry about.” I demurred without further explanation and turned to look towards my gown we’d chosen. How could I tell her what I could hardly understand myself? Each time I brought the fire to life, it demanded more. The power inside me was not a kind, gentle thing. Most fire was safe, comforting, something that helped humanity evolve. Only when you got too close to it, would it bring pain.

I was in the middle of this fire, constantly trying to stop its consumption of the world. There was only pain.

Since I had awoken the phoenix within me once more, I could only drive back the rage by distracting myself with the men.

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