"Hello, competitors; I'm Guardian Flo. Congratulations on getting to this point. You should have met some of your fellow competitors. Training will begin tomorrow, and you will have a schedule on your Nova. Do not be late. Anyone late will be immediately disqualified. We have an extraordinary announcement this year.” She grinned at the crowd, everyone seemed to be holding their breath. “As you all know, each court's High Lords are here tonight; they always attend the events we host during the Games. But luckily for all of you, this year, they will help you train." Everyone started clapping and looking at each other excitedly; people were grinning and jumping up and down, and some were even screaming. The woman next to me had to hold on to someone to stop herself from fainting. I've never seen anything like it. I just looked around alarmed and caught Cales's eyes. His brows raised, and a small smirk was playing on his mouth.

The night was full of boring talk with a few of the Fae with silver badges; most were trainers and spoke about previous techniques previous winners had used. I tried to concentrate on what they were saying and mentally taking notes. Eventually, I tuned them out while I looked at people dancing on the dance floor. I had had a few rums and cokes now and was feeling the buzz; all I could think of was going to dance. Everyone was dancing with a partner, and I could feel a pout coming on when a large male stepped in front of me, his dark hair styled perfectly and his suit tight enough to show how many muscles he had on one arm. I looked up at him and found dark olive-green eyes staring at me. He looked so serious I almost looked away on instinct, feeling overwhelmed by his presence. He slowly looked me up and down.

"Can I help you?" I asked, trying to hide the snap from the voice and failing.

"You're going to dance with me." The corner of his mouth lifted slightly as he held his hand out. My eyebrows scrunched slightly at the demand.

"As lovely as your command was, I'm going to have to decline," I said, turning back towards the bar. He grabbed my hand, and I turned back to look at him and noticed the gold badge on his shoulder. Of course, he had a gold band…

"I insist." He said, taking my glass from me and handing it to a passing waitress. He grabbed my hand and went to pull me towards the dance floor. I didn't want to piss off a gold badge on my first day here.

"Fine," I muttered and walked with him. A slow song had started, and everyone was holding their partners close. He spun me, and I ended up with my back to his chest as we swayed. I rolled my eyes; this alpha male crap was already dull. I pulled out of his touch and faced him. Forcing a little space between us, there was no need for me to feel every muscle in his body… and I mean EVERY muscle.

He led me in a slow and graceful dance, his movements confident. My heart raced, partly from the fact that people were staring at us. Well, him. His hand rested on my waist, warm against the soft fabric of his gown, and with each step, each twirl, he guided me with steadiness. His hand moved and ended up on my bare back, and a leprechaun did a back flip in my stomach. Great. He leant down, his lips almost grazing my ear.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

"What are you doing here?" He asked, a stern look in his gaze.

"I'm competing in the games," I replied frankly.

"A halfling like you won't make it past the training. So you can forget about it; you'll be dead by the end of the week."

"It doesn't affect you if I die or not."

"It's embarrassing that the King would allow you to come and do this. It’s a waste everyone's time."

I scowled at him. "I find dancing with you a waste of my time, so how about you just fuck off and find a different dance partner." A lady next to me gasped, and I stepped away and walked out of the crowd, to get another well deserved drink. It was the only way I could get through this stupid Gala. I definitely prefer clubs or the element festivals to galas. This being my first one meant I may have learnt this a little late. I stormed to the bar and asked the real bartender to make me a rum and coke with a shot of tequila.

"Erm, this isn't the shot kind of place," someone said from behind me, making me jump. I turned around to find Aire smirking at me with a beautiful dark green off the shoulder dress. She looked breathtaking. Her brown hair was pinned back around her face and her hair cascaded down her back.

"I don't care," I said, meeting her hazel eyes. I didn't mean to be rude to her, but I was so tired, I was struggling to keep my temper in check.

The barman put a rum and coke before me and said, "Tequila coming right up."

"Make that two," Aire said quickly.

He handed us both a shot, and we did it quickly and used the rum and coke to chase it down. "So, not having a great time?" She asked as I sat on a bar stool.

"You could say that. This place is full of pompous people with too much gold. They wouldn't even be able to spend it in a lifetime. They all just sway around and make small talk while other people suffer." I frowned, looking at the crowd. I spotted the main pompous talking to a group of giddy girls. The blonde girl that had bumped into me earlier swirled her hair in her hands, laughing and grabbing his bicep. I scoffed.

"Who is that guy?" I asked. Aire looked at me, and I nodded my head to him.

"Oh, that’s High Lord Damien of the of the Autumn court. Why?" Perfect, I just sweared at a High Lord. I couldn’t bring myself to care to much about it though, he had it coming.

"Well, he's an ass; I just told him to fuck off."

Aire dropped her drink yelping and a loud smash sounded, everyone, including Mr Ass, looked our way. I looked away, and Aire used some magic to pick up the glass and have it land neatly on the bar.

"You just told a high lord to fuck off? Are you crazy? You don't want to get on the wrong end of the stick with one of the high lords!" She whisper shouted.

"He wanted to dance and didn't give me much of an option."

"Well, what would you have said no?!" She looked shocked.

"Well, if I had a different option, then yeah, but he was the only one, and he insisted," I frowned.

"Well, you've just made an enemy with one of the most powerful men in Elyria. So I would watch out if I were you; he's known to be incredibly cruel." I looked over at him and shrugged.

"Nothing I can't handle." However, as my body started sweating more, I knew just how much of a lie that was. Aire scoffed.

"Just stay out of his way; hopefully you won’t see him often.” She shrugged

“Don’t worry, I’ll stay as far away from him as possible,” I said, rolling my eyes and sipping my drink.