I'm No Cinderella

Chapter 4

** lmk what you think!**

Our Kind

I pushed the food around on my plate as I peered around the room.

There were men stationed with their backs along the wall, standing stoically, their eyes searching the guests for any sign of threat. With no visible weapons, they might have seemed harmless enough, but I knew better than to fall for that ruse. They were monsters. I could tell, if nothing else, by the confidence with which they stood. The human servants were nowhere near as comfortable as they scrambled around with pitchers and platters, hurrying to attend to their guests as if their lives depended on their efficiency. They very well might have.

I didn't let my gaze linger on the guards.

'Don't look anyone in the eye.' I kept Jax's warning close to heart.

The room alone was so impressive, I was reluctant to believe my own eyes. I had heard a story once, about the witches on their islands to the west. They were said to be able to conjure images with their magic that could trick even the most keen human eye. This room had to be one of those illusions, fabricated so they wouldn't have to waste such riches on us filthy humans. Every item in sight, from the floral centerpieces, to the gold-edged porcelain dinner plates seemed too fine, too expensive to even touch. Just lifting my fork to push the food around on my plate felt wrong, as if I were tainting it somehow.

I fidgeted uneasily, glancing at the other guests. There were more people crammed into this room than I had ever seen in one place in my entire life. More surprising, many of them didn't seem to hold the same reservations about our hosts as I did. In fact, some seemed even a little excited to be invited to such an event as they chatted amongst themselves. Traitors, I thought myself, all of them.

Aside from the guards standing along the walls, the room was filled entirely with humans. I couldn't help from shooting furtive stares at the doorways every few minutes, half expecting a flood of nightmarish creatures to come bursting through at any moment and descend upon the crowd of unsuspecting victims. The invitation did state that all five races would be in attendance, after all. 

None ever showed, much to my relief, though I worried that I might be using up all of my luck so early in the night.

If this is where they stuck the humans, I wondered, how exquisite must the dining room that the non-humans were granted be?

I couldn't even begin to imagine.

"You need to eat, Rosie," Ash leaned down to whisper in my ear, "you haven't taken a single bite since we sat down."

"I'm not hungry," I grumbled back, eyes involuntarily finding their way back to the doorway.

"Eat," Ash commanded, tone lacking all of his usual playfulness, "we have a long night ahead of us, and I don't need you fainting on me."

I scrunched up my face at him, and took an exaggerated bite of the filet on my plate. It practically melted in my mouth. This one meal probably cost more than I made in an entire year at the bakery. When Ash turned his attention away, satisfied for the moment that I was going to do as I was told, I grimaced and dropped my fork back onto the table, returning to my surveillance.

My eyes landed on a girl who seemed to be as nervous as I was, her eyes dancing from face to face like my own. She met my gaze, hers reflecting the same mute disgust at our surroundings that I felt roiling in my gut. Another girl across the room let out a giddy squeal, drawing both of our gazes to her before we looked back at each other. I motioned in the direction of the squealing girl and rolled my eyes, bringing a smile to the lips of my new friend.