Chapter 36

• ALEXIOS
• They arrived by the dozen, each sporting expensive looking masks decorated in gold and silver that hid their identities entirely. Everyone present wore a new dress or suit which would be discarded after the night was past. I could smell the scent of new permeate the room. In the sky, the moon provided a natural disco ball and lighting into the house which held the main event. Greetings were offered out along the gravel path, some to me as dainty fairy lights added a surplus amount of color to the parade of footsteps.
• The gifts exchange had already begun when I found my way across the lawn to get a drink - a bottle of Rose in return for a clear mind which would be lost to the hawk-eyed scroungers of the party. I felt like they could see through me. I wondered why I hadn't felt that same guilt when Lydia had undressed herself hours ago. I would be lying if I said I did not enjoy every single second of it. Now. Now it just felt wrong.