Chapter 2: Meeting The Second Lord

"Hey, you!" Thalina froze at the sound of that grating voice—the same one that had rudely yanked her out of sleep earlier.

She turned, and there it was. That face. That hideous face.

Why, oh why, had she made the females in this world so ugly?

"Ah!" Avaris shrieked, her eyes wide as she stared at Thalina's marked-up face. "What happened to your face!?"

Thalina almost burst into laughter. Did this woman actually think the messy makeup was real? But instead of laughing, she smirked.

"Pretty sure that's the reaction you give yourself every morning," Thalina said casually, earning a gasp from Avaris.

"You—" Avaris spluttered, her face turning an impressive shade of indigo. Clearly, she wasn't great with comebacks. "You should keep it like that. Makes you seem less... thirsty."

Thalina's smirk faltered. Less thirsty? Oh, this was war. She glanced at Avaris, then at the barely-there excuse for clothing she had on. "I look thirsty? Have you seen what you're wearing?"

She should've stopped there. She really should have. But curiosity got the better of her, and she glanced down at herself.

Her jaw dropped.

What she was wearing—or barely wearing—made Avaris look downright modest. It was scandalous, sheer, and left little to the imagination.

Avaris tilted her head, clearly confused by Thalina's sudden silence.

"What?" Thalina snapped, her cheeks burning.

"You're the one insulting me, but look at you," Avaris deadpanned, motioning at Thalina's outfit.

"Whatever!" Thalina coughed, straightening up and pretending like she didn't just embarrass herself. "What do you want, anyway?"

"Mam has been waiting for you forever, and you just left us standing there!" Avaris huffed.

Thalina raised a brow. "You said Mam has been waiting, right?"

"Yes?"Avaris raised her brows from confusion.

"So where did the word us come from?" Thalina asked, feigning confusion.

Avaris scowled. "I hate you so much."

"Trust me, I hate me too," Thalina muttered under her breath as she watched Avaris storm off.

With a sigh, she turned and headed down the hallway. This day was just getting worse.

Thalina walked into the courtyard, the faint glow of the tiles underfoot giving everything an otherworldly sheen.

The castle loomed around her, a colossal structure that seemed alive, its crystalline walls pulsating softly with stored magic.

It was beautiful, sure, but all she could focus on was the nagging dread of facing Eryssia.

She approached the head of the maids, who was seated comfortably—too comfortably for someone in charge—on a wide bench.

Eryssia was chewing on what looked like an oversized magical fruit, crumbs and juice dripping onto her lap.

Thalina couldn't help but grimace. Was this what I imagined when I wrote her? she thought.

Eryssia was even uglier up close, her bulbous nose and tiny, uneven eyes making her appear more troll than alien.

And she was massive, her body spilling over the edges of the bench in a way that defied anatomy.

Thalina tried not to stare, but her morbid curiosity won. Did I write her this huge? Surely, she hadn't.

"Well, look who's finally here," Eryssia drawled, her voice dripping with disinterest as she gestured for Avaris to step forward.

Thalina's eyes narrowed at the smug look on Avaris's face. She knew this wasn't going to go well.

"Avaris tells me you used makeup to make yourself look like... that," Eryssia said, waving vaguely at Thalina's marked-up face.

"And Avaris has a big mouth, so no surprises there," Thalina shot back without hesitation.

The corner of Avaris's eye twitched, her annoyance bubbling over. "You—"

"Enough," Eryssia interrupted, though a faint smirk crossed her face. "I can see you're... trying to change your ways."

Thalina blinked. "What?"

"Well," Eryssia gestured at her face again, "your new look makes you seem less... threatening. So, I've decided to lessen your punishment for the fight earlier."

Thalina stared. Threatening? She couldn't decide if she was insulted or relieved. But her focus kept shifting back to Eryssia. How had she written someone so—this?

Eryssia squinted at her. "What's wrong? Speak up."

Thalina blurted the first thing that came to mind. "The only thing you should be cutting off is the amount of food you eat in a day."

Avaris's gasp could have rivaled the loudest windstorm. "You—how dare you—"

Eryssia's face darkened to an alarming shade of blue, her eyes narrowing to slits. She stood abruptly, the bench creaking in protest as she loomed over Thalina.

"You ungrateful little—" she roared, raising a thick hand as her voice rose to a fever pitch, spitting out words so fast Thalina barely caught them.

The slap that was coming next? Yeah, it was going to hurt. A lot.

Just as Eryssia's hand was about to come crashing down on Thalina's face, a deep, commanding voice stopped her in her tracks.

"Stop that." The words echoed with a force that made even the ground tremble slightly.

Eryssia staggered back, but Thalina wasn't fooled; it wasn't just the voice—it was the overwhelming surge of power that radiated from the person behind the voice.

Thalina's head snapped toward the source of that power, and there, striding forward like he owned the very ground beneath him, was him.

Tall, with long white hair that cascaded like a waterfall of silver light, he was wearing nothing but a short, traditional skirt—his toned, blue skin gleaming mercilessly under the sun.

His muscles were sharp, like chiseled stone, and his features—good heavens, his features—were enough to make Thalina's heart skip a beat, even though she hated how her own body was betraying her.

His sharp jawline, piercing eyes, and a posture that practically screamed I'm the boss here made him look like some kind of god.

Did she just say long white hair?

Thalina's eyes widened as the realization hit her like a ton of bricks. That was Tharion—the second lord. What the hell was he doing outside?

The guy never left his wing. Was the castle on fire or something? Did someone misplace his rare enchanted jewelry?

Thalina didn't know, but one thing was certain—she really didn't want to know.

As he walked closer, Thalina quickly dropped her head in a gesture that looked like respect, but deep down, she was hiding her face.

There was no way she could afford to get attached to any of these lords. Nope, nope, nope, she kept repeating to herself.

"Since when did the castle allow such maltreatment of its workers?" Tharion's voice was icy, but the anger was evident.

He wasn't playing around. Eryssia, now trembling like a leaf in a storm, stuttered,

"She was being so rude, bec..." but she bit her tongue, realizing she couldn't afford to mention the fact that Thalina was actually attractive.

Oh no, that would ruin the whole "dumb and ugly" narrative she had going.

Thalina, her head still low, fought back the urge to smirk. Oh, so now they're all trying to fight for his attention?

The realization made her feel a little better about the whole 'facing Tharion in all his glory' thing.

"My lord!" Avaris dropped to her knees dramatically, making the scene feel like some sort of over-the-top soap opera. "Please don't blame this female."

Her voice was dripping with forced sweetness that nearly made Thalina gag. "She's new here, and has only been here for a week." Avaris continued her shameless sob story, "so she doesn't know the rules."

Thalina, at this point, was honestly considering whether she had somehow slipped some sort of psychedelic drugs into the character descriptions.

I mean, yes, the lords are godly, but come on, have some dignity, ladies!

Tharion's eyes were locked on Thalina, who had remained silent and surprisingly calm. He raised an eyebrow.

Wait, no attempt to gain his attention? That was new. His gaze wandered over her form, taking in every detail with an intensity that made her skin crawl.

And then he noticed something else—the scent. It was sweet, intoxicating, like freshly bloomed flowers and the softest breeze. He took a step closer, his movements fluid and sure.

Thalina instinctively took a step back. The moment she realized what she had done, she cursed herself under her breath.

No, no, no, don't give him any reason to pay attention to you!

"Is something the matter?" Tharion asked, his voice lowering to a hushed, intrigued growl.

He took another step forward, and Thalina's mind screamed at her to keep it together.

Thalina shook her head, her red hair bouncing with the motion.

Tharion was now uncomfortably close, his hand reaching out to gently grip her arm.

The sensation of his touch made her skin burn. "You smell good," he said, his voice barely above a whisper, deep and throaty, like something from a dream.

Shameless, she thought.

That was when she saw the three stripe marks on his arms. Two were on his left arm, and one on the other.

She remembered she had given the males those marks to show how powerful they were.

The highest stripes anyone had ever gotten in her novel was four, and that was the first brother.

She also remembered giving all male aliens the ability to transform, though the specific species determined the level of automatic respect and admiration they commanded.

But then Thalina realized that Tharion was still standing so close.

Thalina's mind was now going haywire. Why was he so close? Why was he still looking at her like that?

Before she could stop herself, she yanked her arm back, stepping away and bowing her head so low it almost hit the floor. "Thank you, my lord."

Tharion paused, a moment of confusion flashing across his face. He straightened up, clearly trying to regain control of his thoughts.

"Give her a punishment of your choice," he said, his tone sharp but somehow colder now, "but never hit a worker." He turned to leave, clearly done with the scene.

As he walked away, Thalina couldn't help but let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding.

Well, that was close. She had dodged a bullet, or at least, she thought she had. The worst of it—some unnecessary attention—had been avoided, right?.

"Now you" Eryssia's voice rang out. "Your punishment"

Ah she had totally forgot about that, Thalina rolled her eyes as she turned to face the woman.