Chapter One: Rhea
Youaretodoas I command. You are free to explore the castle, but you are forbidden from leaving it without me. You are never to take off that ring.
I squeeze my eyes shut and draw my bottom lip between my teeth to stop its trembling. The short list of demands King Dolian had given me before he left for the night repeat in my head. After revealing that we were not at the castle near Vitour but instead at a secret royal residence in a small seaside town called Windseren, my captor announced that I was to bathe andthen rest. I protested the maid that he sent in, a young woman with hair a shade lighter than my own and beautiful blue eyes that fell somewhere between Cass’s and Daje’s. The last person to help me bathe had been Nox, and the memory of his fingers massaging my scalp and sliding over my slick body was not one I wanted replaced. No matter how benign. The king had merely smiled and tilted his head, as if he were somehow contemplating my thoughts. He thencommandedthat I let her help me bathe, and I was powerless to stop it, trapped words of anger and frustration building behind my teeth. I could do nothing as she gently scrubbed at my skin and cleaned my hair. The tears that stained my cheeks mocked me. I had the agency tocrybut not to move my own body.
Moonlight pools onto the cover of my bed, pouring in through the large window in front of me. How reminiscent it is of all those nights in the tower; only this time, my confinement is truly solitary. There is no Bella snoring softly at my side, no guard I want to visit me. Sitting up, I stare at my hand, the soft pearl of the new ring adorning my finger stark against the night. I spent a good portion of the evening studying the jewelry that looked forged by the sea itself. I had tried—gods, how I tried—to pull it off. Going so far as to saw first at the gold coral-like band with my dinner knife and then my own finger, to no avail. A tender spot right below the ring now stings as I poke it with my thumb—evidence of my failed attempt. Perhaps cutting an appendage off might have been too desperate an act, but I am not above exploring any option at my disposal. I have to try.
Which is why tonight, I’m going to escape.
I have no idea where I am in respect to the front entrance of thisresidence. I nearly asked the handmaiden who tended to me for information until I caught a glimpse of the scar marring her palm. It could have been something other than a blood oath, but its resemblance to the crescent-shaped one Alexi carried wasenough for me to swallow my need for knowledge back down. I couldn’t risk her getting suspicious and going to the king, and she had offered nothing in the way of conversation to make me think she was someone to be trusted.
Naivety might have been a cloak which I could hide beneath before, but I refuse to let it be one now.
Letting my determination steady me, I open the door to the room slowly and peer out into the softly lit hall. There are no guards visible—a fact that I’m surprised by, but one that I intend to capitalize on. My toes stretch out over the firm rug lining the floor of the hallway, its pattern like blooming flowers colored crimson and gold under the light of flaming sconces on the wall. Drawing my gaze down over myself, I resist smacking my forehead at my idiotic choice to almost leavebarefootin my nightgown.
“Come on, Rhea. Be smarter than this.” Rushing back into the room, I grab a pair of black hard-soled flats that the maid left in the flower-painted armoire as well as the first dress my hands can reach. Throwing the lavender fabric over my chemise, I slip on the flats and then dash out into the hall. My pace is quick but quiet, and a chill works along my spine as my nerves ignite within me the farther I move away from the bedroom.
My hand instinctively goes to where the dragon pendant should have been hanging around my neck, only to remember that I don’t have it. In fact, none of the jewelry I had been wearing the night of the ball is with me.
Get her ring. Someone had yelled that while Daje and I were attacked, and though I replayed the voice in my head over and over again, I couldn’t pinpoint who it was. Then again, was I expecting toknowthe people that attacked us? Beyond thewho, there was the burning question ofhowthose in the Mage Kingdom were connected with my uncle. No one but Nox, Cass, Daje, and Elora knew I was from the Mortal Kingdom, and onlyNox and Cass had known I was its princess. I didn’t want to think there was a world in which any of them would betray Nox. Betrayme.
I come to a split in the hallway, the option to go left or right. My heart races as I look each direction, knowing that every second I delay could be the one that someone finds me. But choosing the wrong direction could be just as equally perilous. “Damn it,” I mutter, glancing one more time each way before choosing to go right. I run from one shadow cast by the sconces to the next, continuing down the hallway as double doors come into view on my left.Don’t stop. The eerie sensation of being watched raises the hairs on the back of my neck, but I push forward, unsure whether I’m going in any direction but circles when the hallfinallygives way to a large space that might be a foyer.
Slowing down, I lean against the cool stone wall and rest my hand on my chest as I work to catch my breath. Though blood rushes past my ears, I listen for a hint of anyone else nearby. But it’s still unnervingly quiet, and a part of me wonders if my uncle would be so bold as to not have anyone guarding me. Perhaps there arenoguards here at all—a thought which makes another terrified shiver work down my spine. Then again, why would he need them? At least with respect to me, I have no choice but to follow his commands because of the ring on my finger. He had already hinted that the place we are at isn’t one widely known, certainly not one Nox would think to go to first if he were on his way.
Shaking out my hands, I peek around the corner of the hall, my clammy fingers curling over the stone. Silver light from the moon shines in from windows set high above me on the opposite wall. Beneath them, elegant stone arches indicate more unknown corridors, ones Ihopeare currently empty. I lean out a little more, my hair gliding over my shoulder and hangingaway from my body as I look to my left. More light from above pours into the space, but I can’t make out anything beyond the continuing foyer.
But when I look to the right, my heart leaps into my throat, and it’s hard not to let a smile unfurl on my lips. Centered between two pillars of stone, elegant lines carved into each one, is a curved door made of wood and accented with metal. I don’t need to know the intricacies of this new-to-me residence to recognize a front door when I see one. And it’s completelyunguarded.
The discordant rhythm of my heart beats loudly in my ears as I leave the relative protection of the hallway and enter the open space. I half expect someone to leap from the shadows or for the king himself to descend upon me like a wild summer storm, but despite the way my mind isconvincedsomeone is watching, no one appears.
The door looms over me as I tilt my head back to take in the carved design on its front: A roaring lion made of gold sits at its center, while looping golden vines with small flowers frame the door’s border. Swallowing down my nausea at the sight of the Mortal Kingdom’s sigil—at the reminder of where I am—I reach for the long handle, the cold metal biting into my palm. Breathing in sharply, I brace myself to move as quickly as possible once the door opens. Regardless of what awaits me on the other side. With a final glance over my shoulder, I tug on the door. And tug.And tug.But it doesn’t open. I take a step back, my eyes scouring over the wood until I spot the black metal plate with a small hole at its center placed over the handle.
“Oh no,” I whisper, my fear rising as my mind begins to churn.I need a key.
As I contemplate what options, if any, I have, a man’s voice from the darkness behind me rings out. “His Majesty willnotbe too pleased to see this.”
Chapter Two: Rhea
Mysurprisedyelpechoesout as I spin around to find a stout older man standing in the center of the foyer. The moon highlights his short hair, the strands a blend of black and gray. He pulls his lips to the right, clasping his hands behind him as he takes a measured step towards me.
My back hits the door, the urge to call my magic met with a frustrating sense of hollowness.
“This door requires a key,” the man drawls slowly, reaching into his pocket. My next inhale stays frozen in my chest, my bodybracing for an attack, but when he removes his hand from his trousers and holds it out to me, a metal key gleams in his palm. “Take it.” At my stunned silence, he widens his grin and takes another step towards me, dark eyes glittering with an emotion I can’t quite place.
My eyes dart away and look for another way out that I might have missed from before. I can either sprint down one of the unknown hallways carved out on either side of me,orI can see what awaits on the other side of the foyer, deeper into the darkness. None of them are guaranteed to lead anywhere better than where I currently stand.
“I understand your trepidation, so let me make it easier for you.” He tosses the key to the stone floor, and I cringe at the high-pitched noise it makes, sure everyone in this place will hear it. Terrified thatoneof those people will be the king. “Go on, Lady Rhea. Take it.”
He knows my name, and this is a trap. It is most definitely anddecidedlya trap.But what if it isn’t?
I grip on to that tiny seedling of hope as I lean forward. I am no stranger to the way hope can flare in desperate times. It can be as strong as a hug from a lover, but it can fray as easily as a torn thread. Yet it’s the space in the middle, the one that sits between confidence and desperation, that I currently find myself in. I’m inclined to hope that this stranger genuinely wants to help me. That his intentions aregood. So, despite my reservations, I dash for the key, picking it up and quickly turning to slide it into the lock.
Aclickrings out, the hope within me bursting at the seams when I tug again on the handle and the door moves. Cool late night air caresses my face, rustling the strands of my hair that frame it. The hinges of the door groan quietly as I pull it only wide enough for me to squeeze through the opening. I don’t spare the man a second glance as I step over the threshold, mygaze tracking over the star-filled night sky and the lapping waves of the ocean in the distance.
Hope lets tears crest when I take another step, taking note of the staircase in front of me. Gripping my dress in my hands, I lift my foot to descend the stairs, only to find I can’t move any farther. I tilt my weight forward, content to tumble down the stairs if that’s what it takes, but as if there is an invisible wall blocking me, I go absolutelynowhere.
“No.” The single word slips out, blending into the sound of the water just ahead as I push myself forward again. And again. My stomach churns as I heave out a cry, the word repeating while I slam my shoulder into what looks like nothing but air.
