The guard, a human one, stayed to block the door of the receiving room. That was a mistake. A gentle hand touched my back.
“Are you okay?”
I wanted to knock her hand away, but everything still hurt.
“I’m getting there.” I wiped my mouth with what looked like Brad’s clean shirt.
Her rubbing my back felt better than it should have. I couldn't remember the last time a friend had comforted me like that. Maybe when Evie and I were kids. I had made myself so spiky people stopped trying. I took in her practiced, brittle smile and immediately thought of my sister.
“What’s your name?” I asked her as I sat up slowly, my muscles finally relaxing.
“Dolly.” She fluffed her hair like I awarded her a prize.
I bit my tongue on whatever sarcastic retort wanted to fly out of my mouth.
It wasn’t Dolly’s fault her creamy skin, slightly curled, wheat blonde hair and violet eyes were a soft kind of stunning I would never be. Men thought I was hot as lava and just as likely to burn them without mercy. Dolly’s pouting mouth was the kind you locked behind glass and admired. Or smashed into a million pieces.
“That’s… nice,” I tried.
I felt awkward at this but Dolly didn’t seem to mind.
“We better get started,” she said, and helped me up. Her hand was the perfect amount of soft–not too wet, not too dry.
Just as I pulled her up, a red portal opened and a man in an equally red robe ascended from the darkness. He blinked owlish eyes at the mess around us and looked down at the wood tablet he carried.
“Have you seen…” He checked his notes. “...Mr. Morgan?”
“What the actual fuck?” I turned to Dolly, who shrugged in return.
I summoned magic to my hand in case he tried anything funny.
“No?” the man asked.
“How did you get in here?” The guard was finally useful for something, stepping forward.
“Nevermind.” The red-robed man sunk back into the floor through his crimson portal before the guard got too far.
Okay, that was weirder than usual, even for the Harrowlands. My fingers remained stained black from my waiting magic. I shook off whatever the seven hells that was and turned back to Dolly.
“You know we don’t have to do…” I gestured around the room. “All this.”
Dolly stooped in front of the first pile and began sorting through black socks. How she sorted them when they looked exactly the same was beyond me. I couldn't contain a bark of laughter. What a perfect karmic punishment. My sister’s sock collection was legendary.
“We do, in fact. You don’t want to see what happens when you say ‘no’ to him.”
My blood started to boil and I stilled her hands. “What do you mean?”
Her eyes welled with tears. “You can’t tell him,” she said.
There wasn’t much you could blab to a dead man.
“I won’t.”
“He told me I was going to be a Princess, with a crown and everything. We were going to have a baby, a family, and I guess I was stupid to think everything would just work itself out slowly. I left everything for him, thinking we would get to know each other. He meant a baby now. Right now. Not for a family, but for proof.”
“Proof of what?”
“That his thingy works.”
