Change of Darkness (The Change Series Book 3) by Jacinta Jade (best new books to read txt) 📕

the eye was forced to travel over the whole of the dress without stopping.

The back of the dress swooped down in a long V-shape that revealed the small of Siraay’s back, while the lowest point of the V in the front stopped over her breast bone.

The straps of the dress were thick, a secure pressure on Siraay’s shoulders, and the material met in the centre line of her body, sweeping down over her breasts and tightly in to her waist and hips before it flowed out again into a full skirt.

One slit that started near the top of a thigh revealed a long bare leg that ended in a black strappy heel. The shoe itself was completely impractical, and she had chosen it specially to wear with this dress. No one who saw her in these shoes would suspect what she planned to do this evening.

Siraay chuckled out loud, making Genlie and Melora regard her for an instant in surprise before they both glanced away.

Siraay could tell they wondered how she could be so calm, knowing what she was going to do later, but this was her life now. Fighting for what she wanted, but not down in the dirt anymore. No. Now, she would fight with the best of them. And still be the last one standing.

She loved the feel of the dress’s soft folds around her legs as she moved across to the large mirror in her room.

A devastating paragon was reflected back at her.

Genlie had helped with the makeup, using dark blues to bring out the colours in Siraay’s eyes and the dress itself, fading the dark-blue makeup into black smudges that swept out from the corners of her eyes in thick wings. Her lashes were long and full, her lips pale and bare, apart from a little shine that Siraay herself had applied.

And around her neck, as it always was, lay the gold tarzneum necklace that Chezran had given her.

Pleased, Siraay swept away from the mirror towards the door, her dress swishing about her legs as she strode, perfectly balanced on those high and inappropriate shoes.

Genlie and Melora stood ready. Both wore slightly different outfits from their usual tonight—black corsets over thin, gauzy tops, the shoulders ornamented with the gold crosses that were the emblem of Xarcon.

Fancy enough to help them blend in with Siraay as her escort tonight, but not so overdone that the pair would be hindered in carrying out their allotted tasks that evening.

Siraay nodded her satisfaction as she ran her eyes over them, then breathed in deeply. There was no turning back after she walked through that door.

She nodded curtly at Genlie, who opened the double doors, and Siraay swept through.

As she left her room and began to stride down the carpeted walkway, Wexner and Zale peeled off from where they had been positioned slightly farther down the hallway and strode off ahead of her.

Their first task was simple—escort Siraay down to the council chamber for the special banquet, scouting out the corridors ahead while Genlie and Melora guarded the rear.

Not that Siraay really thought that Atalia would be stupid enough to send someone after her tonight, so soon after her first attempt to kill Siraay had failed and everyone was on their guard.

They made it to the stairs without issue and began descending, Siraay lifting the front section of her dress carefully with one hand as she slowly made her way down, taking extra caution due to the heels.

Once she hit the floor below, Wexner and Zale were off once more, checking dark spaces, rooms, and corners along the way well before she got there.

Siraay had purposely waited until everyone else would already be at the feast, so that her chances of running into anyone but servants on the way were minimal.

They turned into another corridor, and after a short walk, Siraay and her four guards stopped before a pair of large doors.

She twisted towards Wexner and Zale. ‘Go and do your duty, then return here once it’s done.’

They both bowed deeply to her and then, silent as shadows, slipped away. They, too, had dressed purposely for the evening, wearing weightless dark clothing and discrete weapons belts.

Once the pair had disappeared into the darkness of the hall beyond, Siraay pivoted back to face the closed doors before her, looking down at the ground and breathing deeply.

She was done with training, with preparing for her new role. Everything she had learned during her time at the Resistance camps and in her days here, first as a captive and then as a member of Chezran’s inner circle, had led up to this moment. She had transformed completely from the naive, stumbling female who’d failed to Change in Lalinta into a cunning warrior who would help lead Kaslon into a new age.

It was time to show Chezran she was ready.

Siraay raised her chin, nodded once, and Melora and Genlie each pushed open the door they were standing beside.

CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT

WARM LIGHT AND chatter enveloped Siraay, and she allowed herself a moment to stand there and take it all in. Just a moment and not one more.

Enough time, though, to allow everyone’s eyes to fall upon her before she started her relaxed but poised stroll down the length of the room towards her empty seat near the lord.

Behind her, the large doors closed again, and Siraay could picture what would greet any servant who approached on the other side—two stunning female elite soldiers, one dark-haired and one pale, knives out and prepared to dissuade anyone from entering until Siraay’s business here was completed.

As Siraay walked across the stone floor, her heels tapping a purposeful rhythm, the remaining light chatter of the archons and captains began to slow and fade, until it died away completely.

At the head of the long banquet table, Chezran rose from his place, wearing a dark charcoal jacket with darker X’s embroidered high on the sleeves, making his shoulders look that much more broad.

‘My lady, it is good to see you looking