Page 156 of Fallen Stars
“Now,” she said, perching on the edge of it. “I know this may not be real, but for tonight, I’m going to make you believe it is.” She gave a smile, noticing that Enzo’s gaze was fixed on her as she motioned Leo to sit.
“Maestro, play us a tune!” she shouted, clapping as Enzo and Isra cheered.
Merissa barged back in, arms laden with bottles. She uncorked one with her teeth and handed it to Adrian. “Trust me,” she whispered. “I’ve heard Elara’s singing, and this will help.”
Both Adrian and Eli took a swig, laughing reluctantly as Isra sat cross-legged on the floor. Elara measured her power, allowing it to fuel the illusion, to make the keys real, so that Leo could touch them, make melody sing from thin air.
“What shall we play,ma belle dame?”
She pressed a hand to her heart, her mouth open in mock shock. “You learnt Old Asterian for me? I’m so touched.”
Leo only winked, settling onto the chair pulled before the ‘piano.’
She thought of a tune, an upbeat ditty she had heard in an Asterian pub once, one she had been far too young to frequent when she had escaped the confines of palace walls. She remembered Sofia being there, chiding Elara for being a timid coward as Elara had stood cloaked by the doorway, refusing an ale from her. Elara brushed off the familiar pang of missing her as she brought the tune to life, holding it in her mind as she began to sing, and Leo, recognising the song, began to play.
The hours passed, the group getting drunker and drunker in the small cabin, as they all roared along to each tune Leo played. Elara had jumped off the piano shortly after her terrible rendition of ‘The Lass from Castor,” Eli to her utter shock singing every word along with her.
This allowed Merissa to fill the space with her sweet voice until the others had gained confidence with their liquor. Elara was sat opposite Enzo, the two trying to force two fingers of Persean vodka into Adrian’s mouth.
“I can’t do it,” he spluttered. “It’s too strong.”
“You’re a bloodytitan,” Elara roared, mimicking him as she laughed.
Eli chuckled, and Elara savoured the sound from her new friend. “Don’t be a lily-livered prick, Adrian. Do the shot,” he drawled.
Adrian groaned as he took the glass from Enzo, knocking it back with a wince. Isra thumped the table behind him. “There we go!Nowthis is a revel.”
Elara felt flushed, the wine and the music and the fact her love was alive all casting a light on her darkness from the past weeks, her mood lifting the more she drank. She hadn’t realised quite how down she had been, quite how much she had missed her family being together, until they had all sat here, singing and laughing and just having fun.
Not a queen or a king or a symbol for war…just seven souls from all walks of life, singing terrible sailor songs together.
“Now, I’ll teach you one,” Adrian slurred, standing. He stumbled a step as Leo snickered from his seat. “A sea shanty, if you will. Leo, do you know the tune, “The bosom of Hilda?”
Leo laughed, shaking his head as Adrian shooed him off the piano. Elara looked at Enzo who only shrugged, taking another sip of wine. Adrian cleared his throat.
“Hilda, my lady, sweet and fair, Hilda, my lady, grace and air. On our marriage night, oh such a fright, did she give me, my wife to be. I laid her down, and gave a frown, seeing her honeypot bare. It shocked me so, that to poor Hilda I crowed, “Good gods your cunt—it’s got no hair!”
He roared the last part, laughing as Elara chuckled, Merissa in shock and Isra bellowing for more as she rolled on the floor, laughing.
“I’m a bush man you see!” Adrian shouted to the crowd, arms open as Leo slapped him on the back. Enzo stood then, his steps steady despite what he had drunk, and pushed Adrian off the stool.
“Perhaps something with a little more elegance now.” He winked as Adrian and Leo booed. “Elara, my love, would you join me?”
Elara frowned, looking to the others as she pushed herself up. Enzo gestured to the ‘piano’ and hoisted her by her waist. Instantly, she felt fire shoot through her at his touch, that spark so ignited now that she had shrugged off the dread and worry from the past week.
He sounded the tinkle of an opening tune, and Elara gawped.
“You can play the piano too?!”
“Of course I can,” he winked. “I’m from Helios. The arts are in our blood.”
Isra and Leo nodded as though it was obvious.
“Now,” he continued, “let me see if I’ve got this right.” His long fingers splayed on the piano, and Elara thought to the way they had felt inside her before the mirror, how she had watched them dip in and out of her. Enzo caught her staring, and his smile was so predatory that she felt she would burst into flames then and there.
The first chords played out, and Elara’s eyes widened.
“You didn’t,” she gasped.