I train in all my spare time. I would not let my skills falter now that a crown was placed upon my head. It’s then that the real beasts emerge.
I press my palm against my ribs, giving my lungs more support. “I know why you didn’t tell me all the details, Everett,” I whisper. His words were always veiled and protected. Should heovershare, the future could shift. His gift of foresight was more affliction than blessing.
The closing of the door constricts the air trapped in my lungs. I gasp, struggling to catch my next breath. Titus steps closer but remains unaware of how to slay my inner beast.
“I’m fine,” I rasp. A faint pink hue lines the walls as the silencing spell activates. All the royal rooms have them. I turn toward the wall.
I can’t look at Titus. Not yet.
“If a torturous state is your definition of fine, we should reexamine it.” The warmth in his voice thaws some of the frigid walls years of abuse have sculpted. “Are you okay?” he presses.
My breath quivers; my fragile reflection mocks me in the polished black stone wall I cling to. I hate these walls and the obsidian that makes them rise too high.
“Queen Selene?” Titus’s steps are hesitant. He knows I’m a viper that will strike.
How could Everett do this?
My eyes seal shut. I refuse to cry in front of Titus again. I press my forehead to the cold stone, trying to allow the chill to calm me.
“Is it always like that?” Titus asks. How can such a gravelly tone feel smooth?
“What?” My warm breath heats my face.
“Your morning conversations,” he answers.
Another step. Titus is at my side. I feel his eyes trying to dig between my forehead and the wall, to separate us.
“I’ll need to start drinking coffee. One that is spiked in order to keep up with that,” he jokes.
The corner of my lip twitches. I refuse my lips the smile they want to give him.
“We’re surrounded by the seeds we sow, Titus.” It’s too late to speak to Sable with caring words. She never absorbedthe meaning of love. All she knows is manipulation, hate, and treachery. Thus, my lone means of speaking with her is to reciprocate her decay.
The only reason I fight to keep the line of communication open with Sable is because Everett demanded I do.
The past.
“I can’t stand her!” I rush towards Everett and bury my face in his chest. The scar on my stomach is still healing from where Sable stabbed me.
Everett’s arm wraps around me.“You must try. Don’t shut her out.” His hand rubs small circles on my back.
“Talking to her only feeds her evil soul.” My tears don’t stop. I cry only in front of my brother. Father would punish me; Sable would mock me.
I hate this castle. My life. I’m a caged bird, forced to entertain with my voice—in the future, it will be with my body.
I can stretch my wings but never fly.
“The only way to understand Sable’s soul is to keep peeling it back. The moment you ignore her is the moment you become deaf. You can’t allow that to happen. Sable has a vision she wants to fulfill.”
“Me dead?” I sniffle.
“No.” Everett guides me back so he can look me in the eye.“She wants everyone to be brought to their knees, Selene. Everyone. She wants what she has been denied. Power. I need you to stay close to her.”
I rub away the tears.“She’d never let me in.” And I don’t want her to.
“We keep our enemies closer than our loved ones. They are always on our minds and within our sight. Make sure youremain her enemy. Let me know what Sable is doing, where she goes, and who she visits.”
“That’s easy.“ I pull my shoulders back.“Sable spends all her free time in the library. I’ve always been better with a sword; Sable can’t stand it, so she flees to her books.”
