Don’t, Catherine whispers faintly at the back of my mind.
I stay there for a long time. I stay until the candle finally burns out, leaving the large room in total darkness.
And in the darkness, I leave him.
* * *
“Iheard she hugged him. Her demon. In the middle of the courtyard,” Lady Lissia whispers from behind the back of her hand.
The two ladies-in-waiting make my bed while I linger just outside the door.
I don’t care. Not really.
Why would I care?
“Oh, well, I heard she’s fucking him. She’s always been attracted to monsters, you know? Daddy issues, that one,” Lady Castilla replies with a roll of her deep brown eyes.
My young cousin huffs a sigh at my side before squarely striding past me and right through the open door to my bedroom.
“That’s funny, because I heard it was all none of your business.” Pen folds her arms hard across her chest and looks the two ladies up and down. “If I hear another ill word against the future Queen of Roses, you’ll both be shoveling horse shit for the next five years.” She tips her chin up and both women mumble apologies before scurrying back to work with the large white bed sheet.
Ryke peers at me from the corner of his bruised eye, and we just stand there in stunned silence together.
I cannot believe she said that.
Her long red dress swishes out into the hall where I stand, and she tilts her head at me.
“You don’t have to take care of me, Pen.” My arm brushes against Ryke’s when I pass him by, and that warm feeling of pain and pleasure sears across my flesh.
A tremble races down my spine, but I blink past the pleasant feeling.
“Someone needs to. Never let them speak like that. One harsh word can feed so many. And those who feed on ugliness only regurgitate that nastiness in tenfold.”
Who is this woman? She was a little girl last time I was at court.
But clearly, she’s learned how this kingdom works while I was off drinking myself stupid.
You can say that again, Catherine whispers.
Another shiver runs through me, but this time, it’s a thing of surprise. I hear her less and less now days. I used to have to shove her away in the worst possible ways, and now... it’s like she and I are one and the same.
“Your father wants me to help your image.” She doesn’t even look at me as she says it. Her delicate features are focused straight ahead toward the long dimly-lit hall.
“Gods, of course he does.” I bite my tongue before I say anything more, and it forces us to stay silent as we trail down the glossy staircase.
I stand there at the bottom of the stairs as men haul in bouquets of red roses large enough to crush them beneath their vases. But the dozens of men never stop moving, carrying in vase after vase into the ball room.
“Is the party tonight?” I ask quietly.
She nods, and I find her face turned up, and she’s watching Ryke while he’s looking away.
“Did you really—did you really have sex with your demon?” Her tone is so quiet, it gets swept up in the endless footfalls clattering around us.
I arch an eyebrow at the young girl. She’s eighteen. She’s smart and beautiful.
And now she’s looking at Ryke.
I swallow hard.
