“And you chose their hate and distrust. We each made our beds. Mine is warm with their affections; yours is cold with their apprehensions. It was your doing.”
This will be the longest day of my life. I know it. I’m so exhausted I don’t even know how I’m standing, but I numbly am, as I try to get to the bottom of what is happening.
“You made your path.” I step to the side. “You carved the way out as a child when you tried to kill me. You chose your fate. No one else is to blame.”
“And you made yours!” She looks over her shoulder at the castle. “A queen without a voice. You always chose to hide.”
“Your mistake is thinking that is a weakness. A child kicks and screams. An adult weighs their options.”
“Do you feel strong, sister?” she cackles. “You have nothing but the crown on your head. Your dear brother is dead. Your husband might warm your bed, but he chooses to set fire to others.”
I tuck my hair behind my ear, remaining poised to irk her. “That’s a mercy, not a misfortune. I want nothing from Galen.”
“Nothing?” She raises a brow and steps in my path again. “You love him.”
“Love?” What’s she playing at? “I love Galen in the same sense I love you.” I roll my shoulders back, preparing for this battle that will end with one of us hurt or defiled.
Her eyes narrow. Here it comes.
I slip on the shield I was forced to build as a child. Unmoving.
“All those times you fucked each other, it was in your bed. Not his,” she states.
That’s… true.
“Do you ever wonder why?” Her eyes are wide as nets cast into the sea, ready to catch me by surprise because, like most prey, I never suspect the predator will strike from above. We always think the chase is behind us.
It’s in front. Like Everett’s plans have been.
“I’ll tell you, so we don’t keep the mage waiting.” She glances down and smiles at her body. “It was because I was in Galen’s bed waiting for him.”
My eyes snap to Galen. He’s still talking to the mage, grinning and laughing, no doubt seducing.
He slept with my twin. Why am I not shocked?
I knew the beast he was when I first welcomed him into my bed.
We women always think we can change a man. Men like Galen don’t change, and they’re too clever to try to change women like me, so they cage us instead. It’s slow. They know if they do it in haste, we’ll fight back. So they gradually strip us,then seduce us. They wait until they have layers peeled back so they can steal our hearts.
Do I feel dirty? Yes. I chose to fuck him. I tried to make the marriage work. I was bored and had the audacity to think I could behave like a man—that I could sleep around for fun—without developing feelings.
I was wrong.
I do feel. Appalled, furious, vengeful, regretful. A little relieved I never fell in love with him now that I know he fucked Sable.
Galen doesn’t feel this way. Men move on; they don’t argue. They settle for higher ground while we women kick and scream and claw away at our mistakes.
Women think back; men think forward.
I force down a gulp and smack a smirk on my face. It doesn’t reach my eyes. Sable sees that.
“You say that with pride,” I respond. “If that is the truth, then you were scraps. Leftovers. People make the mistake of boasting about spoils of war, Sable. The true merit is in winning the trophy before it is passed around and soiled. I was the trophy, Sable. You were the spoils, passed around from Galen’s bed and to his men’s, no doubt.”
My tongue tingles. I feel bad this is what has become of my twin, but I remember how dreadful and evil she is, and I’m not surprised.She is me in another reality if I had made all the wrong choices.
Sable closes the distance; her silken dress flows in the air like a wave of terror. The tip of her nose nudges mine. I don’t move. I can endure the dirty, evil version of myself.
She can’t.
