The Reception with Sylphia
POV: Alexandra
I was processing the information that Nystasia’s prophecy that she shared with me when Crown Princess Sylphia walked up to Nystasia’s table. Jess and I curtsied to the Crown Princess. She smiled and whispered in my ear, “I understand your current predicament. I had a conversation with Lucien. I understand Lady Kellen is your bodyguard, you may bring her with you to my table.” She leaned back and said, “My table is away from the doors on the other end of the room. Let’s go have a conversation.” I turned to Nystasia and said, “Pardon me, Your Highness. I truly enjoyed our visit.” She smiled and reached her hand out to my mine and held it for a little bit, “We will be here for a week if you would like to come to see us.” I squeezed her hand, “Would it be possible to invite you to my home?” She nodded enthusiastically, “I would love that. I hear Blackwood is a beautiful forest. We fae appreciate a good forest and nature.” She let go of my hand and then waved to dismiss me. Jess and I walked away to join Sylphia at her table.
She was sitting at her table already with a set of tea and had dismissed her attendants. She asked me to sit next to her and made sure Jess sat next to me. She tensed up a little before she spoke, “I have to tell you, Alexandra. I overheard my father and Loki plotting to kidnap you. I don’t know why it is my father would want to have you kidnapped but you must have something that they would want.” I thought about my known abilities and was confused, “I can’t think that they would want my prophetic dream ability, my healing heart ability, or my Aphrodite ability.” She furrowed her brow, “That must mean that you have an ability that they know about that you do not. My father doesn’t help anyone, not even his own family unless it benefitted him in some way. Loki must have promised him something. What troubles me is what exactly that is. He has to be plotting something and that makes me uneasy as my mother vacates her throne and I will be taking over.” I sighed, “I wish I could tell you but those three abilities are the only ones that I am aware of. My soul mother, Aphrodite, told me that I can have any number of abilities and many of them are inherited through my family line. I got my prophetic dreams from my great grandfather for example. I don’t know of any other abilities other than the calming ability my grandfather has. My mother has the creation ability which is art that she creates that takes rage out of a person. Unfortunately, it doesn’t take her own rage away. My father has the memorization ability, he can see something once and will memorize it. I doubt any of that would benefit your father.” She shook her head and sighed, “I wish we could find out what it is so we knew what we were dealing with. I feel like they are going to weaponize you against others. That is how those two are. Loki has been my father’s friend for a very long time and they get into mischief and debauchery a lot.”
Sylphia took a sip of the tea that she had poured, “I wish I knew if one of the attendants from my court was Loki in disguise.” Jess cleared her throat, “Pardon me, Your Highness, I think it might be possible for me to check but I don’t want to step away from the table without protection for Alexandra. Would you mind if I ask His Highness to come over?” She shook her head, “I have no problem with that, I am not so male averse as my sister is.” I had wondered something and asked, “So does she not date?” Sylphia smiled widely, “She does but she’s into women more. It is probably why she gravitated towards you and Jess. She likely believes you two to be the most attractive women here. You are also the only ones to bring us gifts and she has so much optimism that the relationship between the future Queen of Vellum and the future Queen of Seely will be a close one, almost like a sisterhood.” I nodded understanding what Sylphia had told me about her sister’s dating preference and understanding about her prediction that the relationship will be close. I sighed, “I don’t know if you know about my past, Sylphia, but I didn’t grow up in Vellum. I was raised as a human and spent my entire childhood in Terre.” She was taken aback, “Really? You fit in so well here. I am to understand that the humans have come away from the formalities and rituals the people of Vellum and the people of Seely observe.” I nodded, “They are pretty much very informal, yes. I will say that there are different sorts of rituals now. They have pagans that would probably closely resemble many of the rituals in Seely.” She leaned forward in a motion that implied that she was interested, “I have a few books about the pagans if you would like to read about them. I am very much a human history nerd. So I have a lot of information.” She smiled and nodded, “It would be interesting to understand how they would come up with the rituals all the way in Terre.”
Jess interrupted at that moment, “I have finally got the Prince’s eye and he is coming over. I will go figure out if any of the attendants are Loki. I already know that the one Nystasia called Brocktorian is not him. He is genuinely himself.” She rose and walked away as Blake made his way over to our table. He smiled at me and then at Sylphia, “Hello Your Highness, Lady Batiste. Mind if I join you?” She smiled back at him, “Absolutely, my friend. It has been too long since we’ve sat and had tea.” I looked at him and then at her and she chuckled, “I met Blake when I was a young fae, we have visited each other countless times.” I laughed, “And here I thought he was allergic to women not named Alexandra and Jess.” He sighed, “No, it’s just all but two women in Vellum are insufferable. I will say that Litha isn’t so bad either, she might be growing on me. I have to receive her for tea next week in Mesha though. I did promise and I don’t want to go back on my word. My only issue is knowing that her family is trying to install her by my side on my throne, I don’t want them to think they’ve won.” I shook my head, “I don’t think that’s the attitude you should approach this with.” Sylphia nodded, “I don’t know everything about what you’re talking about but if you are receiving Lady Delnaro at your home, you must approach it by being as welcoming as possible.” I smiled at Sylphia, “She’s right. You promised that she would have a proper date with you since she was not able to remember your last date. She’s looking forward to it, it will make her feel welcome.” He sighed, “Fine, but you know who I really would prefer to have a date with me at my home.” He gave me a look that told me everything he was thinking, it was a smoldering type of look. I sighed and replied back in a motherly type of tone, “I know but you promised.”
I looked up to watch Jess approach one of the female attendants and giggled about how thoroughly she was doing this. Blake shook his head next to me, “You giggle but Loki is not above disguising himself as a female. You would suspect him less.” I clenched my jaw, “Killjoy.” He sighed, “I know you like to make light of situations especially when you’re nervous but you need to keep yourself serious about this situation. If Loki took you, he could take you anywhere. I know that he’s tethered to the earthly realms but he can choose any one of them and you would be extremely difficult to find.” Sylphia nodded, “I do believe Blake is right. I don’t believe that it would be good if you had a deviation from your destiny.” I recalled the moment I had with Seraphia when she said something about my destiny and deviating. It seemed ominous at the time but hearing Nystasia talk about it and now Sylphia made me think that Loki would not only be disastrous for my friends and family but it would be disastrous for Vellum. I wondered if Terre would be affected too. Jess walked towards us after speaking with the last attendant. She had even done her due diligence by talking to Brocktorian again. Sylphia was biting her lip nervously as she approached. You could tell that she was very nervous that she had brought the Trojan horse with her. Jess sat down next to her and she leaned towards Jess expectantly, “Well? Are any of them Loki?” Jess looked around the room to each attendant, “None of them are Loki. I don’t understand because Lucien had told me that Grand Pretre said he would be here. I am very confused.” Blake furrowed his brows, “That means he’s here amongst us and we don’t know where. That isn’t good.”
