Tonight is the ball.
Tonight I’ll dance, drink, eat, and breathe in air that isn’t stagnant and confined by these four walls.
But it’s also the night the Elite celebrate the start of the third trials and knowing that will make it far more difficult to enjoy.
“Enjoy it anyway,”Nyxa urges.“For there is nothing you can do.”
I know she’s right, but the thought still churns my stomach.
I try to force the feeling away. For one night, I can forget. For one night, I can pretend our world is not dying. For one night, I can allow myself tolive.
“Where the hell is Theo? He was supposed to drop off your dress hours ago.” Isha’s foot taps repeatedly against the floor.
I let out a soft laugh, reaching up to run my fingers along the braid she crafted.
“Ishla,” I say. “Thank you.”
She turns to me, and a small smile graces her lips. “Of course. You truly do look beautiful. Even more so if Theo would do as promised and arrive with your gown. That fool. I never should have trusted him with such an important task.”
I chuckle, shaking my head. “It sounds like you know him well.”
“Too well.” She rolls her eyes. “He used to spend a lot of time down in the servants’ quarters.”
Understanding crashes into me like a wave. The girl Theo loves, she was a servant, which means…
“Did you know her? The girl they sent away?”
Ishla’s smile falters, and her gaze drops to the floor.
“I did,” she finally says, her words laced with an ache I can almost feel.
“Tell me about her,” I say, turning back to the mirror, wanting to know more about the woman who stole the heart of Theo Bray—the most charming and self-assured man in the entire kingdom.
Ishla hesitates, moving to a pile of clothes left discarded on the ground. She picks up a tunic, folding it with meticulous care before placing it on the bed.
I open my mouth to tell her not to bother, just as I have countless times before, but I already know how she’ll respond.It calms me, Serafina. Please, just allow me to do my job.
So I say nothing and watch as she smooths the fabric with steady hands.
“She was a force to be reckoned with,” Ishla says, her voice tinged with both admiration and sorrow. “Beautiful, strong, but also so incredibly smart. Too smart, really. And I tried to warn her. Tried to tell her that…” Her voice fades, and she freezes, as if she’s said too much, but in my mind, she’s barely said anything at all.
Her eyes widen, and her fingers still.
“Tell her what?” I ask when I’m sure she won’t say anymore.
“It doesn’t matter.” She sniffles softly, wiping at her nose. “At least, not anymore.”
I frown. “Ishla, what happened?”
Her lips tighten into a thin line, and her shoulders stiffen. Whatever happened to that girl, it’s clear the memory haunts her. And maybe, just maybe, her being sent to Bragunda wasn’t entirely due to her relationship with Theo, like I’d originally thought.
“Like I said, it does not matter,” Ishla murmurs.
But the way her eyes glisten as she turns away tells me otherwise.
She moves to the door. “I’m going to track him down. At this point, the ball has already begun.”
She pulls the door open, and just as she does, Theo appears in the threshold with an infuriatingly charming smile plastered acrosshis face. He’s wearing a black suit, one that makes him look impossibly more handsome.
