Chapter 153: Everyone Is a Dance Instructor (Unfortunately)
Chapter 153: Everyone Is a Dance Instructor (Unfortunately)
Elyn’s POV
If anyone had told me that the hardest part of becoming the future queen of the demon realm would not be politics, assassins, ancient demons, or cosmic responsibility—but people arguing over who got to teach me how to dance—I would have laughed in their faces and told them to be for real, because how could that be?
But I wasn’t laughing right now, and the question how could that be... yeah, I thought that was answered now.
"You don’t need the king to teach you, my beautiful queen who is more beautiful than my mother," Velira declared suddenly, her small hand tightening around Seraphielle’s fingers as she looked up at me with absolute conviction. "My mama can teach you. She’s the best dancer ever. And she’s beautiful too."
Seraphielle blinked.
Then she flushed.
Not a subtle flush either. It bloomed across her cheeks in a way that suggested Velira had just announced something very personal in public.
"That is—" Seraphielle began.
"My mama dances beautifully," Velira continued, nodding firmly. "You don’t need the king. My mama can do anything you want. You don’t need anything from him."
She said it while pointing rudely at Zorathys. The fact that she wasn’t even scared of him and just pointed like that made the hairs on my body stand.
Zorathys gave her a look, his half-lidded gaze pinning her like he was just seeing her for the first time. And I was very certain he wasn’t. He had called her a nuisance some minutes ago, after all.
I pinched the bridge of my nose.
Before I could even say anything, Azerion scoffed loudly.
"I’m sure you don’t even know what being a dancer means, talk less of a good dancer," he said dismissively, crossing his arms. "You should go sit down with your mama. I’ll teach the queen how to dance instead. It’ll be better if she learns from me."
Every head in the hall turned toward him.
"You?" Rin asked flatly.
"Yes," Azerion said, lifting his chin. "I am a great dancer after all, and the queen needs someone like me to teach her how to dance."
Vaelory let out a sound that might have been a cough—or might have been laughter choking itself to death.
Rin tilted her head slowly, eyes dragging over Azerion in a way that made him visibly bristle. "You only just started looking like a boy," she said. "It’s only been a few days since you even looked normal. Now the queen doesn’t flinch when she sees you, and you think you can teach her how to dance? You don’t even know how to dress yourself."
"Dancing has nothing to do with dressing," Azerion said dismissively, with the air of an adult.
He wasn’t an adult.
"No, but it does show how little you know about most things. I’m very certain you can’t teach my lady how to dance," Rin told him.
Azerion’s eyes flashed. "You’re just a raven. What do you even know about dancing?"
Rin straightened instantly. "I’ll have you know I’m the best dancer in the entire realm."
Vaelory snorted.
"I find that very hard to believe."
Rin turned her head slowly toward Vaelory. I knew at that point that their fragile truce was over.
"You find almost everything hard to believe," Rin told her.
Vaelory raised a brow. "Excuse me?"
"I’m fairly certain," Rin continued coolly, "that you even find yourself hard to believe."
There was a beat of silence.
Then Vaelory squinted. "Are you okay?"
Rin smiled sweetly. "Are you?"
I stared at them.
All of them.
The grand hall had suddenly devolved into an argument between a raven, a beast child, a succubus child, and a human who apparently had a penchant for being dragged into these arguments.
Honestly, the hall felt crowded at this moment, and I did not have it in me to keep up with the obscene argument at all.
"Get out," I said.
The words came out calm.
Rin and Vaelory both froze.
"...Me?" Rin asked.
"...Me?" Vaelory echoed.
Azerion snorted. "She means you," he said to Rin. "You’re very talkative. The queen probably wants peace and quiet."
Velira nodded enthusiastically. "I don’t like the ugly boy," she said, pointing at Azerion, "but I agree. You both should leave so my mama can teach the very beautiful queen how to dance."
Azerion whirled on her. "I am teaching the queen how to dance, not your mother—who clearly wants the queen for herself."
Seraphielle inhaled sharply.
Velira gasped, affronted. "My mama is extremely beautiful! And it’s perfectly okay for the most beautiful person in the realm to want another beautiful person!"
Seraphielle nodded in full agreement with her daughter.
"Your mama isn’t beautiful. The queen is," Azerion told her.
"Well yes, but my mama is beautiful too."
"But the queen is more beautiful."
"True, but my mama is beautiful—"
"The queen is beautifuler."
"There’s no word like that," Velira said, scrunching her nose.
"That’s because you don’t know words. The only thing you know is mama and beautiful," Azerion told her.
"I know words," Velira said indignantly. "I know lack... a... dah... sy... kal."
The word was lackadaisical, but I didn’t even care at this point.
I exhaled slowly.
Very slowly.
This was spiraling.
"Everyone," I said, my voice tight, "get out of the hall."
This time, even Azerion paused.
He turned toward me, pointing at himself. "Me too?"
"Yes," I said.
Rin snickered. "He thought he wasn’t included."
Azerion glared at her. "Shut up."
Rin’s eyes widened theatrically. "You’re far too young to tell me to shut up."
I raised a hand.
"Before I count to four," I said evenly, "everyone in this hall will disperse."
The temperature in the hall dropped at my words.
The air sharpened, biting faintly at exposed skin. The shadows along the walls leaned inward, listening.
One.
Seraphielle didn’t hesitate.
She scooped Velira up instantly. "We’re leaving," she said softly.
Velira pouted but didn’t argue as Seraphielle teleported them both out of the hall in a shimmer of purple light and perfume.
Two.
Rin transformed mid-step, feathers exploding outward as she became a raven and shot through an open window without another word.
Azerion hissed, his body collapsing into a sleek blue snake that slithered after her through the same window.
Morthen followed, wings snapping open as he flew out with exhausted resignation.
Vaelory stared at the now-empty windows in horror.
"...At this point," she muttered, lifting her skirts, "I would prefer being a demon."
She bolted out of the hall, holding her gown with both hands as she ran.
The hall fell silent, and I noticed Zorathys making his way toward the door as well.
"Not you, Zor," I said calmly. "You have to teach me how to dance after all. Remember?"