NISSA
Anoise uproots me from sleep, and I groan as the events of the last two days shatter the bliss of my sleep. I lay in bed, scrubbing my hands over my face as I try to blink away what is left of my dream.
BANG BANG BANG
All I want is to close my eyes and slip back into a place where I can pretend that this is nothing but a horrible nightmare and that I can return to my normal life. Instead, the two Guardians stationed outside of my flat seem to think I need to rise with the sun.
BANG BANG BANG
I throw my legs over the edge of the bed and pad through the small space to my front door. I jerk the door open, ready to let them have a piece of my mind, but the words evaporate the moment my startled eyes land on a human—my best friend.
I push my way past the Guardians blocking Ophelia from me and throw myself at her so hard I almost knock her off her feet.
“Okay, okay. I understand. You’re glad to see me.” Wriggling free, she tosses back her braid of striking auburn hair and winks an amber eyes at the two Guardians. “Thanks.”
They’re watching us closely. The humans in Castara are all manual laborers or servants. The majority of Fae see them as inferior. Fae and human friends are unheard of. I’m shocked they even knocked to let me know Ophe was here. Then, she’s rather good at convincing the opposite sex to do what she wants.
Grabbing her wrist, I pull her into my flat and slam the door closed in their curious faces. The last thing I need is more attention on me or to put her in any danger.
As soon as she’s inside, she says, “I was already planning an escape to come for the memorial later today, but when the wisps were sent out with the news, I sped things up.” She searches my face. “How are you holding up?”
I collapse back onto my rumpled mattress, “What do you think?” I ask, throwing my arm over my face.
“Oh no, no, no. You don’t get to hide from me that easily. I can’t believe you didn’t send a wisp to tell me yourself. You pollinator! Abandoning me as soon as you’re a royal.” The teasing is back in her voice. “Or am I not allowed to call you that now that you’re”—she whispers like it’s a secret—“the princess?”
“Yep, pretty sure it's treason or something,” I grumble back at her.
She throws a pillow at my head. “Do you even know the definition of treason?”
I smile a real smile for the first time since I left the Homestead. Her presence alone lightens the pressure in my chest. When they sent me away from the Elite City years ago, they brought in Ophe’s family to take care of me. Her father already helped with our lands on the Homestead and her mother now took care of me. I was raised next to Ophe. We became more like sisters than Nova and I ever were.
I sit up, pulling the pillow into my lap, squeezing it. “I’m glad you came, but you didn’t have to. I’m sure your father won’t be happy about it.”
“Pfft, don’t worry about him. I’ll tell him my presence was commanded by”—she pauses dramatically—"thePrincess of the Castara!”
I make a face. “Call me a pollinator all you want, just don’t call methat.”
She just grins back at me. Ophe doesn’t have on her usual makeup, so the scar that runs down her cheek is on full display. She hates it because it clearly marks her as a human without healing powers. Personally I think it makes her even more stunning than she already is.
Before Ophe, I’d never seen a scar on anyone, and I constantly brought it up. I quickly realized she was never going to tell me how she got it and gave up asking. From then on, I took up defending her when others took note of it. We bonded after that.
“Okay, enough with the loving stares,” she says, batting a hand at me. “I’m here, I’m amazing.” She tosses her braid over her shoulder. “Now, spill. I need to hear all the details.”
“Where should I start? How Nova is dead, and no one is telling us anything.” I rub my chest unconsciously, the phantom pain still present. “How I was blindsided by the announcement that I’m the new princess, like she never even existed. Or maybe about my uncomfortable run in with the twins.”
“The hot twins! Always start with the hot Fae. Have I taught you nothing?” Ophe has always been male crazy. My disinterest baffles her.
“Be serious.” I throw the pillow back at her. “I’m supposed to be the queen, Ophe. Me! The one they couldn’t even bother to let live in the same city with them is supposed to rule Castara. And be what,with Caspien- bonded mates? How in the worlds does that even make sense?”
An everlasting connection is supposed to happen between the king and queen on coronation day. But a shiver runs through me at just the thought of being with my sister’s betrothed.
“Okay, I hear you. And bear with me here.” Ophe puts her hands up in mock surrender when I shoot her a glare. “But… where is the bad? Caspien is unnaturally attractive, even for a Fae, and you are going to be a kick-ass queen. I know they’ve always made you feel like less than Nova. And I amsosorry about Nova…” Her eyes soften. “But, Nis, you are seriously amazing. You have a mind of your own and could really do some good here. And again, extremely hot mate!”
“Oh, well, when you put it like that, bring on the wedding bells.” I roll my eyes, but some of the tension in my chest eases hearing her confidence in me.
Ophe is way more casual than me when it comes to relationships, or hookups in her case. Fae or human, she doesn’t discriminate. It isn’t that I’m a prude— But every male I showed interest in just saw me as a way to the royal family.
Caspien is just using me in a different way. He needs his “princess” to become king.
