Pulling her closer into my side, I continued, “At first, the little princess loved the enchanted garden. She ran through the tall grass as birds and butterflies swooped at her side. But soon, she got lonely. She missed her friends, her bed, and her mother and father. Spinning around, she called for the woman who had brought her there.
“‘I want to go home,’ she said when the woman with golden hair appeared. She smiled at the princess, her teeth perfectly white and her skin glowing like the sun. ‘Thisisyour home now, little one. I brought you here to protect you from the storms. You can have everything you ever wanted,’ the woman said.
“The little girl began to cry. ‘All I want is my mommy!’ she pleaded. ‘She must be looking for me. I’ve been gone for so long.’
“The beautiful woman’s face suddenly fell. The sky around them darkened, and shadows swirled at the grass beneath their feet. Her eyes burned red as her face twisted into an ugly snarl. ‘Ungrateful child! You belong tomenow. And you will never see your mother and father again.’
“With that, she vanished, leaving the princess all alone. Shedidn’t know what to do. She was hungry and scared, and didn’t want to be trapped there anymore. Looking beyond the field of flowers, she saw a scary forest. She wanted to run away from it but remembered how frightened she’d been of the storm. If she had only faced her fear, maybe she wouldn’t have been taken away. Wiping the tears from her cheeks, she ran toward the dark forest, telling herself to be brave.
“When she reached the first tree, a large yellow pear fell to the ground. She picked it up, so thankful to have found food, but a strange noise made her stop. From the thick bushes beside her staggered an old crone. She hunched over a wooden cane as strands of gray hair fell from her wrinkled scalp. The old woman grimaced at the princess, showing off jagged black-and-yellow teeth.
“‘Would you mind sparing me some food?’ the crone asked, her voice wobbly.
“The princess gripped the pear tighter and swallowed down her fear. Holding the fruit out, she said, ‘Here. We can share.’
“The stranger raised her eyebrows. ‘You would be kind to me, someone you have never even met?’
“The girl took a step closer, urging the woman to take the pear. ‘My mommy and daddy always taught me to give to those who have less than me.’
“With a smile, the crone took the pear. ‘Because of your kindness, little princess, I will help you get home.’ Starlight gathered at the woman’s hands, surrounding the princess in magic. Before she disappeared, the woman said, ‘Remember that goodness is not found in beauty, child, but in the heart.’
“Waving her hand, the woman sent the princess back to her room. She landed in her soft bed with the thunder and lightning still raging outside, but it didn’t scare her this time. The little princess was home, and she would never wish to leave again.”
I gently closed the book and looked down to see my daughter’s chest rising and falling evenly, little puffs of breath against my hand indicating she’d fallen asleep.
I always wondered why she loved that story so much. Perhaps it was the idea of a little girl wanting to get back to her mother and father that resonated with her. Marigold had never truly known her mother. My Iris died of a heart disease when Marigold was barely three years old. Sometimes, I thought she remembered theideaof her mother, but she was far too young to recall the moments they spent together.
Easing my arm out from beneath her, I slowly lifted off the bed and placed the book on her bookshelf. Something about the story stuck in my mind tonight more than it did the other nights: how eager we could often be to trust anything that promised to bring us out of our fears.
It made me think of myself.
I used to throw myself at all this kingdom had to offer in an attempt to get out of my own head. Lesson after lesson my father would force me through in the hopes that one day I’d serve in his place. Lord Thorne Reaux. I saw my future as clear as day: in a loveless marriage, raising children the way one raises cattle, spending my days in meetings listening to others complain, and drowning my nights in a bottle. The spitting image of my father. A man who abandoned his family just to escape the life he’d created.
And that scared me more than anything.
So Galen and I found freedom and comfort in things that made usfeel. Taverns, women, drinking, gambling, jumping off cliffs into the Avonige Ocean. He had his responsibilities as a prince—granted, on a much greater scale than mine—and we’d bonded from a young age over trying to avoid the inevitable emptiness of our future by filling our present withlife.
Now we had both stepped into those futures, earlier than either of us expected. But I had been given a gift. A beautiful, bronze-haired, brown-eyed gift that filled me with joy and completeness every single day. Even when her mother was taken from me, when the world turned into shades of gray and the light was sucked from my spirit, Marigold kept me whole.
Galen…he didn’t have that.
Galen had a cursed crown on his head and a legacy of pain in his heart, still searching for something beautiful to take it all away. He held this unwavering, inexplicable faith that this woman, this empress from the Veridian Empire, was the answer to his problems.
If that was the case, I only hoped she could save him before it was too late.
8
Clarissa
Ipaced back and forth in front of the cell, clenching and unclenching my fists as Chaz questioned the cougar Shifter behind bars. My friend’s broad shoulders cast a menacing shadow over the small cell with barely any moonlight streaming in through the circular, barred window. His teeth gleamed against dark skin as he snarled at the man slumped on an overturned bucket.
“Who sent you tonight?” Chaz’s deep voice boomed in the quiet, dank space. “Who’s targeting Empress Aris?”
The man chuckled and shook his head, shaggy brown hair falling over his face. His shoulders moved up and down while his hands stayed tied with rope behind his back. “You think I’m afraid of you?” he muttered hoarsely. “A handful of amateurs trying to run an empire?”
“Amateur or not, I’ve got all night to make you purr, kitten,” Chaz crooned, ice coating his words. A dagger appeared in his hand. I held in a sigh—I knew some things had to come by force, but I tried to save violence as a last resort.
Well, in my human half. My fox half sometimes got away from me.
