Elegy for a Star

An echoing smack brought Miren’s attention to the doorway of the ballroom, looking at Tess standing upright on the tips of her toes, with Mairaela leaning toward her. It was pretty clear exactly what happened.

“Revenge for two days ago,” Miren supposed with a chuckle. She saw Tess and Gwen rushing down the steps toward the dance shortly after, Tess’ face as red as her butt cheeks must be.

Miren showed up early so that she would have an excuse to leave early. She decided to dress up tonight, however. It was time to show the Corps that the Winter Court could be rather beautiful. Her dress was black—a common theme in Navethyr—with a backless halter top that tied behind the neck. A sheer portion around the collar made sure to show off just the right amount of the blue-gray skin and the valley of her cleavage beneath The dress hugged her body tightly, except for the slits on either side that bared her hips and the sides of her thighs before rejoining around the knee. Three-inch heels propelled her closer to Joyona’s height than she normally was.

She was standing by the musician with a glass of wine in hand when he finished his song with a flourish—a jovial, excited romp—and looked toward Miren with a quirk of his brow.

He spoke softly, musically, “Dear lady, you are as beautiful as the full moon, and equally mysterious. What is your name?”

The troubadour was a well-dressed man in bright colors with a long head of hair tied back into a ponytail. Framing his strong jaw was clean cut facial hair, the light-brown color looking appealing with his blue eyes. He was certainly a charmer, likely finding a lover or two at each stop during his travels. In Miren’s youth she might have fucked him, but she found women to be more her preference decades ago.

“Miren. Do-...”

The minstrel interrupted, “My lady Moon, my name is Amblecrown, the traveling minstrel from Verd-...”

“I thought you were here to play music,” Miren interrupted in turn, “Or are you just here to waste my time?”

Amblecrown laughed, waving his hand, “My apologies, my lady. It is just that I find you so strik-...”

“The latter, is it?” Miren gave him a dull, bored look.

Amblecrown rolled his eyes, “Alright you boring shrew, what do you want?”

Miren was quite pleased to have irritated the irritating man, “Do you know The Witch of Esvesera?”

“Sure,” Amblecrown replied, “Is that what Your Highness wants?”

“Yes,” Miren replied coolly, “And don’t fuck it up.”

She took a couple steps away and took in the sight of the dancers and the crowd. Of her team, she could only spot Joyona towering above everyone else now that the others stepped down from the stairs.

She knew where Mairaela was, though. Not only did Joyona’s presence confirm it, but she could hear the Summer Fey’s laughter. There was something that Miren liked about Mairaela’s joy. She should hate her. She was nearly killed by her, not to mention all of the verbal abuse she suffered from the Sun Baby, but something in her found the other Fey to be genuinely kind to her other friends, and Miren wanted that too.

Maybe that’s why she played this song for her. It was a song that was hated in the Winter Court for “treason” as it was labeled. The poet that wrote it still had a bounty on his head, but supposedly fled to the Elewyr before he could be caught. She hoped that Mairaela enjoyed it.

Shortly after, Miren heard a thump and the crowd gasp in unison. She didn’t care to see what happened, but something certainly did. Her attention, however, was on the half-sphinx approaching her. She’d shown up early since Tess explained that Scirocca would be there. She had hoped that Scirocca would have shown up early too, so that Miren could’ve gotten this discussion out of the way and left sooner. Still, it was nice to finally meet face-to-face. There was much that she wanted to talk to Scirocca about.

“Are you Miren?” Scirocca asked, “Stupid question. I know you are. Only Winter Fey in the Corps.”

Miren nodded her head. She’d suspected that she was, but it was odd to get confirmation of that. She used to be surrounded by other Winter Fey, but now she couldn’t find a single one? It was strange, but also nice to be unique, in a way?

“And you’re Scirocca?” Miren replied, smirking, “Stupid question. You’re the only half-whatever in the Corps, s’far as I know.”

Scirocca nodded her head. It was like she was talking to Joyona, in a sense.

“You’ve been looking for me?” Scirocca asked, “Tess told me to find you here.”

Miren nodded her head, “I have, but I wanted to get introduced first. What I need can come later.”

Scirocca nodded in return, bluntly responding with a bored tone, “Do you feel properly introduced, then?”

Well, that was odd. Miren wasn’t usually on the backfoot like that. She couldn’t exactly be rude to Scirocca, not when she needed something from her, but a statement like that deserved some sort of sarcasm in response.

Scirocca beat her to the punch, though, “Want to come back to my room?”

“Your room?” Miren asked with a raised brow.

Was Scirocca hitting on her?

“My room,” Scirocca confirmed, “We could fuck.”

She was definitely hitting on her.

Miren shrugged, “Sure. Lead the way.”

Scirocca walked past Miren and went toward the entrance across the way from the stairs that most were coming through. Miren followed her into the hallways.

“You do this often?” Scirocca asked.

Miren quirked a brow, “You were the one to invite me, weren’t you?”

Scirocca nodded, “I do this often. I was asking if you do.”

“I don’t get many opportunities here, except from some fetishists,” Miren replied with a roll of her shoulder, “That’s not what you’re doing, I assume.”

Scirocca shook her head, “If I was itching for just any Winter Fey I’d go to their Court.”

Miren couldn’t argue with that logic.

“I was itching for you,” Scirocca clarified.

“Do you say that to all of those that you invite to your room, or just all of those that you met five minutes ago?” Miren asked.

Scirocca laughed, “It depends on the person.”

“Well, I’ll count myself lucky,” Miren replied.

Eventually, the two of them reached the library and then, subsequently, Scirocca’s room. Though she did her best to hide it, Miren was jealous of the Sphinx’s room. It was a step up from anyone else’s. Did she get this for being the librarian or for some other reason?

“Take off your clothes,” Scirocca said as she approached the bed, shaking her hair out from beneath her headdress as she lifted the jeweled accessory to place it aside.

“Mm-mm,” Miren grunted, shaking her head, “I don’t think you understand how this dynamic is going to work out. That isn’t how my playtime goes.”

Scirocca turned around, looking over her shoulder at Miren. It was clear that Miren had piqued her curiosity, which only spurred her on.

“So strip, Sphinx,” Miren ordered, “And get your ass on the bed.”