A court of dreamers and survivors

Chapter 6. Dinner with Vita

What I think Vita wore for her very first dinner with the Inner Circle ^^

(Skies POV)

Vita. Her name sounded like a melody. 

Nico and I had gone camping the day we found her. At first, her little ruse made me pity her- the way she was programmed to think. Afterwards, I felt nothing but respect at her quick wit. She had managed to trick me! And when I had seen that male, pure rage had blinded me. I wanted to kill him then and there but I left him alive enough in case Vita ever wanted to be the one to claim his blood. I couldn't help but admire her. And when she had called Nico hotter than me, I admit I might have been a little jealous, it did hurt my ego a bit. And when she had squealed on getting the job, I wasn't able to stop the laughter that had rumbled inside of me. She had looked so.... adorable.

Presently, she was in her room, to look, and I quote, - 'Presentable enough' for dinner.

"Hello there Mr. I am so lost in my thought that I cannot seem to say hi to my own brother." a voice said from behind me. 

"Shut up Nyx, I was just a bit distracted," at the look he gave me I added, "Do not start." He only chuckled.

"The Valkyries have gone off for a mission," at my alert reaction quickly added, "nothing major, don't worry. Mira is coming to grace us with her presence any time soon and she seemed pretty excited so be ready." 

Ah right, ever since I had played one prank on her when we were kids, she had taken it to heart to repay the favor and our prank war has been going on since then. Mira was Nyx's sister and one of my closest friends. 

"But that might have to do something with our newest member whom I am excited to meet," Nyx continued. As if summoned, she entered the dining room. 

"Hello, my name is Vita, I don't think we have met," she said as she extended her hand to shake Nyx's. That's not fair I thought, I had never gotten a shake-hand, just a mere nod when we first met (properly). I had to shake my head to make these foolish thoughts go away- what was happening to me? Be mature asshole, I silently reprimanded myself.

"Hello, I am Nyx. Glad to make your acquaintance." Vita blushed, which pricked me a little.

"Oh! You are the High Lady and Lord's son."

"Really? Thank you for bringing that to my notice, I didn't know!" Nyx's eyes promised nothing but mischief, sarcasm dripping making Vita slightly flustered.

"Oh, come on Nyx, find someone else to terrify today," I said. As much as I liked how Vita got flustered- pink tinging her chubby cheeks, I felt like I needed to rescue her.

Pretty soon, everyone (with the exception of Aunt Elain, Amren, Varian, Emerie and Aunt Mor) was seated on the table. By pure luck, I was sitting beside Vita and couldn't help the flutter that arouse in my chest. She was now talking to Mira with a polite smile on her face. She must have said something really funny as Mira choked on her food and started laughing while I was too busy staring at Vita's appearance. She wore a simple black gown and her black hair was done half-up and other half made small curls on her shoulder.

"Vita, you must try the cake I made," Mira said presently.

"Oh, I would but I simply do not have any space left in my stomach," she replied.

"It is true you know Mira's cakes are amazing. Besides, you barely ate anything," I did not want to be left out of the conversation.

With a sigh she said in a quiet voice, "See I would but I simply don't have the appetite. We were given minimal food at the camp..."

"Well, we simply have to rectify that, wont we?" Nyx said with a kind smile on his face which made Vita smile a bit too.

I felt burning rage for the people who had let Vita starve at the camp.

"Can you tell us about your camp Vita?" Rhysand asked. By now, every head on the table had perked up, looking at her. Did they not understand that she might not want to talk? I was annoyed at them for doing this.

"Unless you don't want to of course," I added.

"Oh no, it's alright," she said looking at me. "It would have come up later anyway." Vita sighed and started, "My camp is run by Bron. They are still prejudiced and backwards in their ways. They don't clip us females anymore but we are still treated as breeding mare who should focus on household chores and are incapable at fighting- shouldn't be fighting," I could see the anger simmering in her eyes. 

"They clipped my sister when she tried to oppose her marriage to one of those Illyrian brutes. That was a changing point for me. Her screams-" Vita shuddered and closed her eyes momentarily and then continued. "Well, I decided that no one should go through that so me, with some of my other trusted friends, formed a group. As time passed almost all the females became part of the group. We call ourselves the Epizontes- survivors. It is like a support group, I guess. We meet every night and practice a few moves, share information with each other that we picked while the males thought we were too busy washing clothes or serving them food, help each other emotionally, mentally and.... Physically," I saw red at that moment and only calmed down when Nyx silently kicked me under the table. 

"When time came for my marriage, I knew I had to escape. Leaving them behind, that was the most difficult choice that I ever had to make. And with years of sneaking past my family, I managed to run away. And I may or may not have drugged them as a precaution." She shrugged- shrugged as if what she said didn't carry the weight that we all knew it did with the last bit making her lips twitch a bit upward.

"Must say, I am very impressed Miss. Vita," Nyx whistled, followed by nods of agreements from the others. Soon, idle chatter once again resumed, making the atmosphere a bit light.

"That was very brave," I whispered to her.

"It's nothing, to be honest, people have had it worse than me," she shrugged- again.

"Just because other people have suffered more than you, does not make the scars you bear any less painful," I whispered to her. 

She just tilted her head to the side, as if she was analyzing me- I blushed. I never blushed! I could see Nyx, Mira and Nico giving me smirks and knowing looks from my peripheral vision. Overbearing assholes who didn't know how to not put their noses in other peoples' business.

"....  training tomorrow morning? We could work on your strength," Cassian was offering the best way he could help Vita.

"I would love that, thank you." She smiled- if you could call that a smile-it was so small and tentative. Uncle Cass simply nodded.

After dinner was over, Rhysand and Feyre escorted Vita with my parents and Aunt Nesta and Uncle Cass. I gave them a curious look and they simply shook their heads. I huffed- wanting to know what was going on. But my friends were calling for me and so I instead made my way towards them. 

This might just be the longest chapter I have written till now. Hope ya'll like it...