“So you found out the Mage Kingdom isn’t answering the Mirror.” He keeps his voice low and face impassive as I glance at him from the corner of my eye. I shouldn’t be surprised he knows what went on in the throne room yesterday, he was one of the king’s Trusted for a reason. When I don’t respond, his jaw flexes and he slows his pace. Inadvertently, I match it. “Listen, I know I’ve given you zero reason to trust me. To look at me as if I’m anything more than the king’s pawn—”
“Aren’t you?” I ask, no shortage of bitterness in my cadence.
“No. In fact, I might be theonlyperson who can help you.”
At that, I stop, the main entrance to this residence in sight ahead of us. “Whatever this is, you canstopit. I’ve already tested my luck trusting Simon’sgood intentions; your fake words will not work on me.”
His eyes narrow as they grow darker, and he leans in a little closer, even though he speaks barely above a whisper. “What did Simon do to you?” It isn’t just anger that glares back at me but a note of panic as well.
“Nothing,” I answer, a bit hoarsely. “He just tricked me into believing he was going to help me escape. And then he—” I choke off my next words with a clearing of my throat, fighting the urge to lay my hand over my hip.
Xander’s eyes assess me, but whatever conclusion he comes to in the growing silence between us, he doesn’t share, instead straightening and casting his eyes out to the foyer behind me. “You are right to be wary of everyone here, none more than Simon and the other guards. But there are a select few who want to help, myself included.”
I don’t know what to respond, so I say nothing, and we continue walking again, Xander two steps ahead of me now. I wonder if the distance is so the king doesn’t think anything is happening beyond him escorting me. That is thelastthing I need. King Dolian is already so paranoid about everything when it comes to me. I am surprised he allows a guard to be alone with me inanycapacity. It only gives me the bolstering I need to remind myself that I can’t trust Xander, despite his words. If King Dolian gives him so much freedom with me, it is for a reason.
I enter the same dining room from the day before, the king and Simon already seated at the long table centered in the space. The king’s head turns, and his eyes sweep over me slowly as I grit my teeth together under his inspection. He stands and moves to pull out the chair to his right. “You look beautiful, my darling.” I take a seat and begin to reach for the food in front of me when he leans down, breath warm on my cheek. “And Iswearthat I told you to leave your hair unbound.”
Keeping my chin lifted, I keep my gaze forward as I respond, “And I don’t listen toyou.”
I brace for backlash of some kind. Words or fists or something else. But it doesn’t come. Instead, King Dolian chuckles softly, pushing my chair in and then striding over to talk to Xander, his voice hushed.
“Good morning, Lady Rhea,” Simon says, bringing a bronze chalice up to his lips. His black and white hair is pushed away from his face in a style that emulates the king’s. His white button-up shirt is crisp and clean, the sleeves rolled up his forearms. Something about the way he looks so put together and unruffled makes me want to curl my shoulders in, but instead, I ignore him and reach for the serving spoon for the platter of chopped fruit in front of me.
King Dolian returns to the table, reaching over and smacking the spoon from my hand. Wide-eyed, I look at him only to find something cold and devious staring back at me. “Those of a higher status do notservethemselves.” With a snap of his fingers, a woman I hadn’t noticed tucked into the far corner of the room quickly approaches the king’s side, her head ducked low.
“Yes, Your Majesty?”
“Serve my betrothed.” The woman jumps into action, rounding behind the king’s chair to come to my side, her gaze still downcast. She reaches a hand out for the serving spoon in front of me, but mine is already lifting to gently stop her.
“Thank you, but I can serve mys—”
“If you do not let her do the job she wasbornto do, Rhea, then there is no reason for her to be here.” King Dolian’s voice is as cruel as the look on his face, and the woman wilts further beneath his tone. My fingers curl into my palms, anger nipping at my heart as a rebuttal builds on my tongue. But then I look back at the woman, at the way her hands are shaking in front ofher, and I realize that any fight I put up in this instance will not benefit me and will possiblyhurther.
Nodding, I let her serve me a few different foods in front of me, saying my thanks when my plate is full. She quickly retreats back to her corner, her head hanging low as she does. I stab at the strawberry on my plate, exhaling a rough breath through my nose. I don’t like this, and I suppose I have been privileged in a way to never really think about the fact that there are servants in palaces. In the Mage Kingdom, I had never gotten the feeling that Nox or his parents felt they werebetterthan those they employed to help.
The tension in the room is awkward as I force myself to eat a few bites, the weight of the king and Simon’s glares heavy upon me. Even though I shouldn’t, I feel relieved when Xander’s steps sound as he re-enters the dining space. It dissipates, however, when my handmaiden follows behind, her brow crinkled in confusion.
“You called for me, Your Majesty?” she says.
“Come forward, Eve.” She obeys, and my stomach grows tight with knots when the king rises from his seat and appraises her, one hand slipped into his pocket. Eve visibly shrinks when he steps closer, and then his free hand is gripping the back of her head, her body pliant as he shoves her down towards the table until her cheek hits the white cloth covering it. I startle, pushing back and standing, my hip throbbing from the abrupt movement.
“What are you doing?”
Eve is silent, though her breaths are loud between us.
“You test me, Rhea,” King Dolian says, his voice calm, despite how his knuckles are white from how tightly he grips Eve’s hair. “Come here.”
I gasp as magic floods me, my feet moving before I command them to. When I reach the king’s side, he takes his hand off ofEve’s head, only to force me to replace it with my own, magic once more powering his words.
“Stop this,” I rasp as I struggle to straighten my fingers, but my hold is just as harsh as his was, my heart fracturing when Eve whimpers beneath my touch. “Stop!”
“You may release her,” he says, and I do so, immediately taking a large step back. Eve doesn’t move, nothing beyond the quick movements of her breath. “Eve, return to Lady Rhea’s room and clean it until no surface remains untouched.” Eve rises and laces her fingers in front of her. She bows to the king, the sight of it churning my stomach further, and then she leaves on quick feet. The king moves behind me, and without warning, he closes his hand over the brand, the pressureblinding. I shout at the pain that explodes beneath his hand as it travels throughout my entire body as if I’ve been struck by lightning.
“Rhea, I warned you. You’re burning too brightly for your own good.” His cheek scrapes against mine, and my lip quivers as a tear slips from the corner of my eye. “You think I want to constantly punish you? That I relish hurting you?”Yes! I want to shout it. To scream it until everyone in this godsdamn palace hears me. But the pain swallows me whole. I’m free falling into an open pit of fiery agony. He shakes me, my head lolling to the side. “Answer me.”
Despite the dominance of his words, no magic pushes at me to answer him. My eyes lift to just over his shoulder, right where Xander is standing. The guard’s words from earlier break through my torture in a single moment of clarity.You shouldn’t taunt him.He’ll only make things worse for you.King Dolian presses his thumb to my mouth, and I jerk my gaze back to meet his, his face blurry to my watery eyes. Showing him compliance—submission—is something I don’t think I can do. Something that I don’twantto do. But if he aims to hurt others inmyplace— Another squeeze of his hand at my hip has my knees weakening, my hands landing against his chest to catch myself.
“I’m sorry,” I croak out,hatingthat I’ve said it. I reach desperately for my magic, mentally screaming at it to answer the call. But it doesn’t. So I claw for that darkness in my mind. For that numbness to sink into. But it too doesn’t lend itself to me. “I’m sorry,” I say again, hot tears rolling down my cheeks.
