105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVxvLqrOJlBOn the surface, the party was in full swing - Nimue could hear people laughing, talking, joking, sharing stories. Music pumped out of the many speakers arrayed around the backyard at full volume, audible even from underwater.
Down here, Nimue felt safe, removed from the destiny that hung over her head like the proverbial sword of Damocles. Ever since she was little, Nimue had had it drummed into her head that she and she alone would be the mother of the race which would eventually allow Pandora to finally eradicate the dreaded disease which had ravaged its citizens for so long. Her mother, Ivy, had constantly given her daughter lectures about how she had to marry for the good of her family, not for her own selfish desires. And a child of that union, Ivy told her, would be the saviour Pandora so desperately needed.
Nimue might have eaten it up like clotted cream, but she was a forest elf like her father, and she knew damn well Ivy was lying through her teeth. Ivy and her trueborn daughters - Holly, Imogen and Saffron - were sun elves, experts at bullshitting. But Nimue had seen through her foster mother's deception from day one, and she let out a bubbly grunt of frustration as she dived to the bottom of the pool.
The water welcomed her like a caress,but Nimue could feel her lungs burning from lack of air. She'd already been underwater for a few minutes, but she didn't want to surface. Surfacing meant facing her fears, and right now, she preferred to hide underwater, where she was safe. Down here, she wouldn't be forced to marry "for the good of the family", down here she wouldn't be forced to carry a special child, and she wouldn't be forced to watch that child become the weapon Pandora so desperately craved in order to finally take over the world. Any child born from her would be a night elf, due to the geas laid on her brother and future husband, a geas that had been laid on his ancestors when they'd been hunted to near extinction. And until the night elf race was secure, that geas would remain in force. And since the night elves had power beyond imagining, any child born to Nimue would be treasured, seized, and all their secrets would be extracted from them and their descendants.
Out of air and out of patience, Nimue finally surface, spitting water out of her mouth. "There you are," Ivy said coldly, blue eyes arctic as she looked at her foster daughter (and she'd taught Nimue very early on that she was the girl's true mother, not a foster mother, or adoptive mother, or any of that nonsense. Nimue called her "Mother" to her face, and "she-devil" behind her back). "You need to get inside and get dressed; Winter will be arriving with his parents, and you must look your best. If you fail, I will make sure you know all about it."
Nimue put her tongue out once Ivy turned her back, but obediently climbed out of the pool. "Don't let her get to you," Saffron called. The only daughter of Ivy to treat her fosters sister with any warmth, she had an easy going manner about her that had allowed the two girls to become fast friends. "She's just worried her 'precious match' won't happen."
"If I had anything to say about it, it wouldn't," Nimue grumbled as she wrapped her towel around her. "I'd be happier if Winter happened to fall in love with someone else - that would really put a crimp in 'Mother's' plans!"
Saffron grinned at her. "I'd pay good money to see that happen," she said, grabbing her own towel. "Here, we'll go together. Might as well play the 'guard dog' role to perfection."
In a twist of fate that was almost laughable for its irony, Ivy had assigned her eldest daughter the role of watching Nimue, guessing (incorrectly) that Saffron was just as fanatical as her sisters. Neither Nimue nor Saffron felt in the mood to undecieve her, and it was actually great fun to string Ivy along and make her think the friendship was fake. Nimue grinned at her foster sister as they went upstairs. "I'll lay you ten to one Winter ends up falling for someone else," she predicted. "I can almost guarantee it will partly be to spite Ivy's and Marigold's plans."
Marigold was Winter's foster mother, and like Ivy, she was a harridan with a mean streak a mile wide and a temper to match. Saffron smirked. "And we can say with absolute truth that we had nothing to do with it," she said. 105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUzWOT9YCQO
Nimue snorted as she began riffling through her closet for something suitable to wear. She would have dressed modestly, but Ivy's orders were explicit; Nimue was to wear the most scandalous dress in her closet, of which there were plently. The problem was, they were all scandalous to the point of indeceny; Nimue eventually, reluctantly, settled on a white dress that was so sheer to be virtually invisible, with a deep cleavage and no back to speak of. Held up by only the thinnest of spaghetti straps, it was a dress designed to tantalise and entice - and to also be very easy to remove. Nimue tapped her lips. "Here," she said, handing the dress to her foster sister. Saffron blinked.
"Are you ... ?" The sun elf girl took a deep breath. "I see. Very devious. Well, I won't deny, your brother is too gorgeous for his own good, and with a mind of his own that has so far defeated Marigold's best efforts. If it will piss her and Mother off, I'm all for it. But you have to be sure about this."
"Remember when Winter came last month?" Nimue said, as she searched for a dress that was slightly more modest but equally as scandalous as the bit of white cloth she'd given to Saffron. "He could barely keep his eyes off you despite Ivy's and Marigold's best efforts. And sun elf magic does not work on him. He's got a grudge a mile wide, a mean streak to go with it, and a temper to match. He's pissed at what happened to Mother when he and I were born, and he's about ready to let everyone within a five mile radius see what happens when you piss off a night elf."
Saffron nodded. "I'm kind've looking forward to this," she said with a smug smirk.
Nimue grinned. "Then let's get to work."
Even so, as the girls helped each other get ready, Nimue wasn't afraid to admit her plan was likely to backfire at the last minute. Winter had had eyes only for Saffron on his first visit a month ago, and Nimue hoped that attraction would hold. But fate could often turn in unexpected ways, and as Nimue finished brushing her fiery red hair, she prayed she'd have the courage to withstand whatever came her way tonight.
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