Indigo.
I was nervous. Why was I nervous? I was never nervous. I had fought in three wars, fought Gods, traveled to alternate dimensions and had lost my head. During some of these experiences I had felt pain, yes. I had felt fear. But this feeling of snakes around my bones, this dreadful anticipation, was new and unpleasant. I stood in my walk-in closet, facing myself in the mirror. I looked good, dashing, handsome. The black suit made my bones seem whiter, and in the whiteness, my eye sockets were hollow and dark. If it was the skeletal look I wanted to accent, it was perfect.
I settled a hat onto my head, letting it fall into its usual angle. I picked up a pair of black leather gloves, and then, after a moment, took them off. She liked my hands…She kept telling me that I shouldn't wear gloves so much. I settled my thoughts, straightened my tie, checked my car keys, and left the house. I slid into the driver's seat of the Bentley and began the route I could drive with my eyes closed. On the passenger seat, wrapped in cellophane, were nine red roses. I glanced at them every few minutes, the feeling like something writhing around my bones returning.
I pulled up to the house, and got out of the car, stopping to grab the roses. I walked to the door, and rang the doorbell. This felt very strange. Usually, I entered doors one of four ways. I kicked them down, picked the locks, simply walked in, or skipped the door and came through the window. Announcing myself seemed almost ridiculous, but tradition was tradition.
Valkyrie Cain opened the door, and a smile spread across her face when she saw me, and the flowers. "Doors are for people with no imagination," she reminded me, and took the proffered flowers. She looked amazing, dark hair loose around her shoulders, and eyes accented by curving black lines. She put the roses on the table and then did a slow turn in front of me, holding out her arms to show off the dress.
It was a floor-length indigo gown, snug around her slim waist, then dropping in cascades to the floor. Hidden inside the fabric were small gems, that sparkled when the light hit them. She looked like a piece of the night sky. She ended facing me, her arms spread out. "What do you think?"
"You're absolutely stunning. I love the colour." She smiled, and I noticed that she wasn't wearing lipstick. That was surprising, but nice. I found the colour of red that most girls wore was too close to the colour of fresh blood. And Valkyrie's lips were perfect as they were.
"You look dashing. Shall we?" She gestured towards the door and hooked her arm into mine. I led her down the stairs and opened the car for her. She nodded to me in a mock of formal thanks, and slid into her seat. I closed the door and returned to the driver's side, turning the car around and heading back the way I came. Tonight was the bi-annual Sanctuary ball, and Valkyrie and I were going as a couple.
Valkyrie was biting her lip, so I knew that she was nervous as well. We had told Ghastly, Sara, and Fletcher, but as far as we could tell, no one else knew. It wasn't like we were consciously hiding it, we just weren't shouting it on the rooftops. There had been handholding at crime scenes, kissing on our days off, and spoiling each other with presents. It was a comfortable mix between a courtship and a modern couple, keeping both of us deliriously happy. This would be our first public event as anything more than friends. And we were here.
I helped Valkyrie out, and she took a deep breath. "Ready?" I asked, and she nodded firmly. "Then let's get this part over with." Linking arms, we walked to the front door of the Sanctuary. A man I had seen but never met was admitting the guests. "Skulduggery Pleasant and Valkyrie Cain," I told him. He nodded, pulled a small book from his pocket, and wrote down our names. They sank into the paper and vanished.
"And you are here as friends?" He asked, smiling greasily. I was about to correct him, but Valkyrie spoke first.
"We're here as a couple," she said, and smiled sweetly as the doorman did a double take. Our relationship had been a source of gossip and speculation for quite a while, and I happened to know that some of my friends had bets on whether we would end up as a couple. Valkyrie shifted a little closer to me, as if to make a point. After a moment of staring, the man started writing in his book again. Then he reached into the page, and pulled out two roses.
One was pure black, and was curled around a wristband. He handed it to me, and I slipped it onto Valkyrie's wrist. It matched the colour of my suit. The second rose was a deep indigo, and he gave it to Valkyrie. She pinned it to my lapel, and then laced her fingers through mine.
Now we were wearing each other's colours, an old tradition that marked out the singles from the couples. The black rose around her wrist meant that she was off-limits, and the rose over where my heart would be meant the same about me. I had never worn a rose to one of these functions before, and it was certain to draw a lot of gossip. I was used to the way word traveled inside the magical world, but I hoped that Valkyrie was prepared for the vultures to descend on the two of us.
The man with the notebook opened the door and we walked inside, still holding hands. It felt strange not to be wearing gloves, everything much more easily felt. There was a draft on the stairs we were walking down. I could feel it blowing through the bones that made up my palms. And I could feel the warmth of Valkyrie's hand against my bare bones. I tightened my grip, trying to reassure both of us. We came to another pair of doors at the bottom of the stairway, and I pushed them open.
The Sanctuary at Roarhaven was not pretty. It was dingy and all concrete, with very little light, and dirt on the floor. This did not look like the Sanctuary. It had been…transformed. The walls were a dazzling white, and the floor was gleaming marble. Differently coloured fabric was draped around the room, imitating the rainbow of dresses and people that were dancing below. The dance floor was full of people, twirling and switching partners in a traditional court dance.
To both sides of the dancers were rows of tables and chairs, where people could sit, who didn't have a partner, or couldn't dance, or didn't want to have fun. Ghastly looked up from his table and waved us over. I led Valkyrie to him, and we both slid into chairs. Ghastly raised an eyebrow at my rose.
"Going public?" He asked, surprised. I nodded, and Valkyrie held out her wrist corsage for him to see. "You look good together," he told us. "Uh-oh. Here comes Echo." I turned and saw a plump woman hurrying towards our table, her face a mask of makeup. Echo Flames was the primary gossiper of the Sanctuary, and there was now way that I was going anywhere near her, especially not with Valkyrie. "Come on," I said to my partner, and pulled her onto the dance floor casually. I had taught her to dance a year ago, and I hoped she would remember this particular waltz. I began to lead, and she fell into the familiar steps quickly.
As I spun her away from me, I glimpsed Echo sitting down across from Ghastly and beginning to question him. Then Valkyrie twirled back into my arms, and the dance ended to applause from the audience. There was a tap on my shoulder, and I let go of Valkyrie. She smiled at me, and then her gaze drifted to something behind me, and her eyes widened. I turned. China Sorrows had her charm turned all the way up. "Hello, Skulduggery."
She was beautiful. It was the sort of beauty that you thought you exaggerated in your memory. Then you saw her again, and it hit you like a fist in the ribs. Her dark eyes were sparkling in the light of the candelabras. Her lipstick, though, made her lips the focal part of her face, and I couldn't stop staring at them. For a moment, I drifted, lost in love. Then a hand closed around my hand.
Why wasn't I wearing gloves? Valkyrie had asked me not to wear them. Valkyrie. I pushed memories of her to the front of my mind, blocking out China. Her hold on my emotions wavered, then dissipated. She hadn't tried her magic on me like that in centuries. I let the memories of Valkyrie flow back into the rest of my thoughts, and looked at China again. She looked surprised, then her eyes narrowed. "What happened? Why are you doing this?" She asked. I stared at her for a moment, trying to make sense of the entire situation. We had exchanged a total of two civil conversations since the incident with Scorn. I refused to forgive her, but I had no qualms about using her. She was anxious to make up for her past mistakes, giving us the information we needed easily. But in all that time, I had given no indication that I wanted her. So why was she doing this now? And publicly?
"China, you're being unobservant," I said finally, and gestured at the rose on my suit. Her eyes widened, as she saw it for the first time. Her delicate hands curled into fists. Valkyrie was standing behind me, and I pulled her to stand next to me, her hand still gripping mine tightly. China stared at us, and at our joined hands.
"So, you and she finally got together. I thought it would be a few centuries. Have you abandoned all honor, Skulduggery? Have you forgotten her age?" Her voice was soft, but it traveled. In the silence between two dances, it filled the room. Heads were turning, a small space developing around us. Valkyrie's hand was nearly crushing my bones together. I didn't look at her, keeping my focus on China. She continued to speak, gesturing at Valkyrie. "Nineteen, Skulduggery. A child, even by mortal standards. In the magical world, an infant. Would you allow an eleven year old to be with a fifty year old? No. How many times her age are you? Twenty? More?"
Now the entire room was staring at us. China turned to them, spreading her arms. "Skulduggery Pleasant is four hundred and thirteen years old. A twenty year age gap is acceptable in our world. Even seventy years. But please tell me that we are not going to accept a three hundred and ninety-four year age gap!" People were whispering now, looking at us with new eyes. China was using her power to make them listen, make them want to accept what she was saying. "This relationship is wrong. In the human world, it would not be allowed to continue. The older person would be charged with sexually preying on the young. And will the Sanctuary accept this, blindly? Allow this to continue, this mockery of love?"
Heads began to move in nods, and I finally let myself look at Valkyrie. I had barely registered the anger on her face, before she stepped forwards and slapped China across her very pretty face.
"How dare you," she said quietly. "How dare you compare me to an infant. How dare you call me a child. You called our love a mockery. But what about you? Have you ever found a person that really loves you, when your magic isn't turned on?" China was staring at her, a red hand mark coming into focus on her cheek. Her mouth opened once, then closed. She was too shocked to be angry, but I could see it growing in her eyes. "No, you haven't," Valkyrie answered for her. Now she turned to the people who were shaking their heads, trying to get the residue of China's love-magic out of their minds. "If any love is a mockery, it's the kind you feel for China. So beautiful, yes, but she's as deceitful as a snake. Don't you see how she was working magic on all of you? Manipulating you. I will tell you the truth."
China was too angry to use her symbols. So she leaped at Valkyrie, her nails making bright lines against the younger woman's face. Valkyrie pushed her away, and I moved behind her, pulling up her hands and twisting them behind her back. Valkyrie smiled at me and turned to face the crowd again. "The truth is, that China wanted you to take Skulduggery away from me. Because she's jealous. Skulduggery was always the one that got away from her. I don't know if they were ever together, because I've never asked. Skulduggery's past has always been his own. But whether he left her, or turned her down, he hurt her pride. And pride is such a powerful thing, especially to pretty China dolls."
Valkyrie turned and sent a mocking smile in China's direction. China hissed through her lips and struggled against my hold, but I only tightened my grip on her wrists, keeping her hands away from her symbols. Valkyrie spread her arms to the crowd, as China had done earlier. Everyone was listening, whispering, shooting suspicious glances at the beautiful woman whose face was now twisted in hatred. They were believing Valkyrie. Her voice was strong and sure, and it commanded their attention. She was getting them on her side, without any magic at all. And she was wearing my rose while she did it. Pride was molten gold in my bones, filling me with warmth. I taught her. I love her.
"I am an adult in the human world," Valkyrie continued. "I am an adult in this world as well, since I passed the surge. This means that I have control over my life. Where I go, what I do, who I love. And I love Skulduggery. Nobody has a say in that. Our love is not wrong, it's real, and we want you to accept that." She finished, and in the dead silence that followed, took a neat little bow. Ghastly started to clap, and the crowd followed. Amid the applause, Valkyrie turned and kissed me on the teeth, ignoring China between us. I heard someone whistle, but I didn't care. I was proud to be wearing her indigo rose, proud to belong to her. Valkyrie.
A/N: Hello again! Thanks so much for the reviews... I think I may be addicted. I apologize for the fact that I'm no longer updating on a schedule. I can only promise that I won't be abandoning this story, no matter how long I take between chapters. So bear with me, okay? And... reviews make me update quicker! (hint, hint)
I actually have a question for you all! I have the rest of the story planned out in my head, but I am unsure as to what to do with the last chapter. I'm either going to write a twenty-years-later epilogue, or write an M rated chapter. Or both. I could always do both. So... What do you guys think? Should I stick with T, and just do the epilouge, or should I do Chapter 9 (Black)? According to ticklethedragon1, the most awesome person in existence, I should do both. Agree? Disagree? Let me know!
Coming next:
Violet- In which lies and truths are intermingled, Skulduggery protests the use of the word 'kinky,' and parents are consulted.