What? I’m careful to let the thought stay inside, despite how my hand falls limply to the table, fork forgotten.
“The mage council is quite worried over him, as are the king and queen. It appears they are blaming the loss of your stolen bride as the reason for the downturn in the prince’s health.”
“We can only hope it continues to decline,” the king mutters under his breath.
It happens so quickly—the way my anger moves from a spark to an inferno, consuming me as I glare at him. It burns throughrationality, and like a caged animal, I snap my jaws at my jailor. “Fiancée,” I say, enunciating the word slowly to ensure hefeelsthe power I put behind it. I hope it strikes him down to his very marrow, a poisoned arrow aimed directly at his heart. “Not a stolen bride, not someone he had to shackle in order to keep her at his side, but someone whochosehim. Who still does. Whoalwayswi—”
“Enough!” Simon shouts as King Dolian stands, his hand already reaching out to grip on to my arm. I’m yanked to my feet, my chair toppling over as I’m shoved into the edge of the table, the sharp corner hitting me in the exactwrongspot. I cry out in pain as electrifying heat flares over my hip, sending a tingling sensation of pure agony out in all directions from the brand. Dishes slide out of the way, my glass toppling over and spilling water onto the white tablecloth.
“Leave us,” King Dolian commands.
Simon complies, and within a few seconds, I’m left alone with my uncle.
One of King Dolian’s hands grips the side of my hip while the other drags down my back, the tug at my scalp indicating he’s fingering through my hair.
“Let mego,” I growl, attempting to push myself back.
He responds by pressing his hips closer to me, driving me farther into the table. His hand travels towards my backside, where he squeezes the flesh, an unintelligible sound vibrating from him. My body tenses as my eyes widen, blood rushing past my ears as my throat tightens.
“How many times do we need to have this conversation, my darling?” he sneers as his body drapes over mine, suffocating me. “How many fucking times do you need to be reminded, Rhea? You wereneverhis. Even as you had your little dalliance, you always belonged to me. Everyfuckingpart of you.” His hips push harder, and white flares behind my eyes as I cry out at thefeel of him. He’s always invaded my personal space but not so intimately. Not like this.
Desperate, I reach out for the fork on my plate, squirming despite the way he’s caged me in. But he simply commands me to stop moving, and with the swell of magic that pours over my mind, my body obeys. “Can’t you see how lucky you are? You now have a king where before you only had a prince.”
I can’t draw in a deep enough breath, air trapped somewhere between my throat and my lungs as his fingers tighten on me. “St—” The word is cut off by a break in my voice as aclaprings in the air, followed by a stinging sensation over my backside. Stunned, I slam my eyes closed and reach for anything to pull me out of this moment. Any crevice in my mind that I can get lost in until I no longer feel the king above me or the table beneath me. I slip through those cracks in my shield and settle into the darkness waiting for me.
“Your Majesty, Lady Mia is ready for Lady Rhea’s dance lessons.” Xander’s voice slices through my mind, throwing me right back into the present as King Dolian shifts his weight. I open my eyes and find the king’s commander’s gaze focused on King Dolian above me, his mouth set in a grim line.
“Of course,” King Dolian says, peeling away from me. My hands grip the edge of the table, and I quickly push myself up, a wave of dizziness threatening to topple me. “Make yourself presentable, darling, and then the commander will escort you to your first lesson of the day. I will see you for dinner.” He leans in, causing me to flinch, but all he does is place a kiss against my temple, lingering for a few seconds before drawing away. His footsteps echo out, and I stare down at the disturbed plates and my knocked-over glass, my mind slow to reconcile what just happened. He had just—
“Lady Rhea, are you alright?”
“I’m fine,” I say, forcing the words out as I straighten myself and run my shaking hands down the front of my dress. No clothing had been removed. I hadn’t been… violated likethat. I repeat it again, avoiding the guard’s stare as he leads us out of the dining room and down the hall.I’m fine. We continue down a new corridor, a door left open to a room with wood floors and walls lined with mirrors. Xander stops in front of it, his hands clasped behind his back as he introduces me to the dance instructor, an older woman named Mia who smiles warmly and beckons me into the room.
“I’ll be right outside,” Xander says, his gaze lingering as I walk past him.
I’m fine.
Mia immediately leaps into proper instruction for the types of royal dances, congratulating me on my engagement to the king. We start off with something that I think is meant to be easy for a beginner, but all of her instruction is lost to the same two words that repeat over and over again in my head:
I’m fine. I’m fine. I’m fine.
Chapter Twenty-Four: Rhea
Assomeoneaccustomedtoreliving the terrors of my day through my subconscious while I sleep, I would think that the occurrence of nightmares wouldn’t be something that throws me so off-kilter. Yet night after night, my mind finds new ways to taunt me. The vivid imagery conjured is enough to propel me awake at the latest hour, starlight streaming in through the window and highlighting the sweat coating my skin.
Last night, it had been another torture session with Simon, his menacing stare boring into me while an array of lethallysharp silver instruments did the same. I felt every slice, every split of my skin, as I silently begged for him to stop. It was always the same feeling—a weightiness to my body that left me unable to move. My voice couldn’t be heard beyond a whisper, and yet I swore Simon relished in the squeaks of sound that could slip past my dry and cracked lips. When I woke this morning, my hands clung to the comforter as my mind tried to rationalize how everything had felt so viscerally real while looking at mymostlyunblemished skin confirmed it was only a dream.
Sleep is beginning to feel like a luxury I can no longer afford, my eyes heavy with exhaustion every morning and yet impossible to close every evening as I fight to stay away from what I know is unavoidable. I still feel as if I’m floating in some middle space, not quite sure if I’m tethered in reality. But even as horrific as the nightmares are, my last encounter with the king had proven to be even more harrowing.
Setting my tea cup down on the small saucer in front of me, the clanging of porcelain rings out loudly enough to make Eve cringe from where she sits across from me. I offer her a sympathetic grin as I slide my hand back onto my lap beneath the table, my nails digging into my palm. In truth, I had been distracted for each of our lessons the past few days, her instructions getting lost in the way my mind refuses to release the feeling of how King Dolian’s hands felt on my body. It was no worse than what he had done the day after the branding, no worse really than any of the other ways he liked to touch me. Yet, for reasons I cannot explain, I felt more vulnerable pinned between him and the table. With his hands gripping at my hair and at my—
“I think we’ve done enough for today,” she says while laying her white napkin on the matching linen-covered table.
“I’m sorry. I know I make terrible company.” I take in the display of tea and food in front of me, actually seeing themfor the first time since taking a seat for the day. The cream-colored teapot and cups are painted with a lovely floral pattern, while the food is arranged upon trays made of silver, reflecting the sunlight that shines in through the windows behind me. It’s the same set up it has been for each of our lessons so far, and my distracted silence is once more present between us like an unwelcome guest.
She shrugs, standing from the table and clasping her hands out in front of her. “We all have days when we are more ourselves than others.” I follow suit, catching her gaze. “I imagine it must be hard to be away from what you’ve come to know.”
Did she mean in regards to my life in the tower? Or after? It occurs to me then that I have no idea what those who work here have been told about me, if they knowwhoI am beyond just being the king’s betrothed. I swallow as I look away from her, gaze trailing once more over the delicacies placed in front of us.
