Whipping her head around, her deep gray eyes meet mine, a glassy sheen covering them. Dressed in a short-sleeved mauve day dress, a belt of gold leaves cinching her waist, she would appear as regal and steadfast as she always did to anyone who only knew her queenly façade. But I know her as mymother, and as I close the gap between us, I see what she tries to conceal from everyone else. The furrow of her brows and the pursing of her lips. Instead of a healthy glow to her brown skin, it’s paled to the point that the dark circles cresting beneath her eyes stand out viciously.
“Bahira,” she rasps, reaching out for me just as I curl into her embrace. She smells like the flowers of this kingdom, like the earth after it’s been freshly tilled. Robust and delicate, all at once. “Thank the gods you are here.” Her hand rests on the back of my head, holding me to her as her body quakes in mine.
“What is going on,” I whisper into her hair, my eyes once more drawn to the damage that’s evident around the room.
“Something has happened, and your brother—”
“Bahira.” My father’s voice ricochets through my chest as I watch him approach. His black wavy hair hangs freely, the ends scraping his shoulders. He wears a tunic of black, an intricate silver design threaded along the collar. Yet it’s his face that stalls my next inhale. He looks older than he did mere months ago. Deep lines brace his mouth and dig into his forehead, his warm gray eyes lined with red that usually accompanies sleepless nights or boundless worry. “You’re home.”
Mother carefully unwraps her arms from around me, just in time for my father to replace them with his. Neither of us speaks, the embrace saying more than words could ever allow. I amhome, and something is wrong. I am home.And something is wrong.
Unnerving silence settles into the room, and after a moment, my father releases me, and together with my mother, we walk to the table, the gazes of the council heavy upon us.
“Princess Bahira, it is good to see you back in your own kingdom,” Councilman Arav says, his light blue eyes assessing as he smirks. I glance over his appearance, everything about him disheveled from his blonde hair to the gray tunic he wears. I scan the other councilmen, finding the state of their clothing to be in a similar disarray.
“It is good to be home, though I would be remiss if I did not point out that tensions seem to be ratherhigh.” At this, Councilman Kallin’s jaw clenches and Borris snickers under his breath. “Would someone please catch me up on what is happening?”
The sound of my father’s finger gently tapping the table top is the only sound in the room as seconds pass beforefinallyCouncilman Hadrik answers. “Prince Nox’s fiancée, Lady Rhea, was taken.”
I try to temper my reaction as Kallin watches me closely, but my heart fucking skips a beat at the news. Siyala was right to fear for Rhea’s safety, it seems. I measure my words carefully. “Taken? How can that be?”
“My fellow councilman is leaving out a crucial detail,” Kallin answers for Hadrik, sliding a piece of parchment across the table to me. It’s a letter, one addressed to Nox from Rhea. My gaze flicks to my father’s, then my mother’s, both of them torn between looks of pity and ones of deep concern. “This letter, along with the engagement ring His Highness gave to Lady Rhea, were left in the prince’s room. Not something someone who wastakenabruptly would have the forethought to leave behind.”
Hadrik narrows his eyes at Kallin, but I turn my attention back to the letter as I open it. Rhea’s handwriting—loopy but elegant—details her fears of becoming queen and her subsequent decision that Nox deserved someone at his side who was better fit to rule. She claims she cannot in good conscience marry him despite loving him because of the tension their marriage would cause in the kingdom. Added at the bottom of the page is a warning not to go after her.
I lay the letter back on the table as I reconcile its words with the woman who I did not know but had seen glimpses of. The one I met on the beach who was timid and frightened. The one I later saw in the Mirror who appeared shy but loyal. She clung to my brother, and he to her, as if they were each a pillar made to support the other.ThatRhea didn’t match the one that would leave my brother with only a note. Siyala had beensoworried about her friend.Sosure that the mortal king would do something, even if she didn’t have proof ofhowhe could.
“Where is Nox?” I ask, folding my arms over my chest.
“We found him passed out at the beach. He is in the healers’ wing,” Councilman Borris quips, making my eyes narrow as he adds, “The prince has all but denounced his claim to the throne over this gi—” His words sputter, his fingers tracing over his neck as if something is bothering him there. I glance out of the corner of my eye to my father, watching as his lips twitch just once before he evens out his expression. “Over Lady Rhea,” he finally spits out.
“Nox wouldn’t do that,” I say, earning a noise of derision from Councilman Osiris, his forehead wrinkled in disdain. I give him a look that silences whatever stupid retort tries to bubble up his throat as I add, “My brother loves his kingdom.”
“Love and duty to one’s kingdom can be two separate things,” Kallin retorts, his dark gray eyes latching on to mine. “The council’s role is to aid the king in ensuring that this kingdom isprotected and secure. While I have no doubts that your brother would never let an enemy take over these lands without a fight, his loyalty to the kingdom and this council has been tested in a rather unfavorable light for him.”
“Let us not forget that you placed an impossible choice at his feet. One that should have been denouncedyearsago,” my mothersnarlsat the head councilman.
Charged silence thickens the air, making the hair on the back of my neck rise. “What does she mean?”
Kallin sighs, the sound heavy with barely tempered defiance. “We informed Prince Nox that while he has the ability to choose a consort, it is up to the council to vote on whether or not we believe the match to be a good fit for the kingdom. It appears neither he, nor His Majesty, were aware the council possessed that power.”
“Of course I wasn’t aware,” my father grits out, light purple flaring around him as his magic seeps from his profile. “I had no reason to question what I wasled to believewas already true.”
“An unfortunate lesson, indeed,” Kallin responds. It’s an effort not to let my jaw unhinge at the blatant disrespect. “Regardless, the next matter at hand is to make sure our borders are secure. There is no telling where Lady Rhea might go—who she might let whispers spill to of what she’s learned while wooing the prince and—”
“You cannot be serious,” my father interrupts.
Kallin has the gall to lookupset. “Unfortunately, I am. We have proof that Lady Rhea left of her own volition with that note. What we do not know is if everything she wrote in it was true. If those things were her only motivation. Preparing for possible threats should be our first priority.”
“What about what happened to yourson?” my mother snaps, her hand gesturing to where Daje has pulled an extra chair to the other end of the table. “He came to us beaten and bloody, withno memory of what happened. What proof does that sound like to you?”
He had been beaten?Bloody?
“Perhaps it is proof of Lady Rhea’s intentions,” Councilman Arav offers, his light blue magic twirling over his knuckles as he plays with it. “All we know is that she and Daje were last seen together before the latter was knocked out and the former is now gone.”
“And what of his claim that a guard retrieved them?” my father asks, his tenor as foreboding as the sliding of a sword from its sheath.
Councilman Kallin regards his son. “Perhaps he onlythinksthat is what happened. Such a nasty hit as the one he received could have altered his memory of what actually occurred.”
