She stood and paced in front of my chair, pushing her graying hair behind her ears. “Still, this is…unexpected, of course, but fascinating. Imagine if we could visit all the affected areas and take the rot away. I wonder how the Fates made this curse work? If it’s of the same basic magic rooted in our empire? It’s—” She caught my eye and halted. “What’s wrong, Clarissa?”
“You’re right. It could be good. I—I hadn’t thought about it that way. But, Mother, these people…you didn’t see them when I shifted. They didn’t think this was agoodthing. They were so scared of me, soangry, it was like…” I trailed off, but she knew what I was thinking.
My mother had been there during the early days, before our father died and she slowly faded into her mind. She’d done her best to help me navigate life as a young Shifter, how to shift at will and learn when to contain it. She was the only person in our familywho understood what it was like, having two halves constantly yearning to be free.
Her gaze softened as she took my hand. “I’m sure if you simply give them time, they will come to see there is nothing to fear. If anything, they should begrateful. People are always frightened of what they don’t understand, but you just have to show them we’re on the same side.” She squeezed my hand and let me go. “You should speak with the regent family at dinner tonight and see if they can?—”
I stood. “No, I can’t go to dinner.” I made my way through the open door into my personal room and pulled one of my travel bags onto the bed. One by one, I began taking out articles of clothing, needing to keep my hands occupied. “I’ll talk to Galen and let things settle down. Word must have spread by now. He’s probably got a lot to handle, and my showing up won’t help things.”
“Clarissa—Clarissa!” my mother said firmly over my rambling, and I stopped to look at her. “If this were your council in the capital, you would never back down from them. You have been dealing with difficult people your entire life. Why do a handful of strangers have you hiding?”
I set down the nightgown I’d been folding. She was right.
I hated how a single moment of vulnerability had brought my insecurities from almost two decades ago rearing to the surface and undoing all the work I’d done on myself. All the lessons in finding strength. All the hours I spent learning to love both halves of me.
“This day has just…messed with my head,” I said with a long sigh.
“And perhaps last night did as well.” Mother gave me a look.
“What do you mean?” I asked abruptly. A vision of Thorne on his knees before me at the bench swept through my mind.
“Imean, are you certain you still want to go through with this marriage? After everything that’s happened?”
“I don’t think that’s the question that matters anymore, Mother,” I said, holding up a deep green gown from the bottom of mybag. A silver belt layered with jewels sparkled back at me. “It’s whether or not this kingdom wantsme.”
Because she was right, as always. I couldn’t hide from them anymore.
Devora guidedMother and me to the formal dining hall. Every step down the dark, rustic hallway had nerves coiling in my stomach before I squashed them.
You are a leader. You are an empress. And soon, you will be their queen.
I let my years of training bolster me, felt my spine straighten and shoulders relax as we strode to the double doors. The clinking of glasses, chattering of voices, and scraping of metal on plates reached my ears. Dinner had evidently already begun. I held my breath when a pair of guards grabbed the bronze door handles and pulled them open.
We were met with the scent of smoked meats and fresh vegetables, and the sight of a long, deep cherry-tinted wood table and matching benches occupied by several familiar faces and many I didn’t know. Devora had told me there were other members of nobility in attendance tonight, with this being the first opportunity for many of them to meet me. Dion and Vespera Silenus sat at the head, and Galen to their right. Thorne and his mother were across from him. The rest of the guests bore equal expressions of trepidation and contempt when their heads swiveled to the entrance.
All conversation stopped.
The quiet popping of flames in the iron candelabras hanging above us was the only sound. A couple of the strangers looked back at Dion and Galen, as if seeking answers for my appearance.
This was already going well.
Devora leaned into my ear from behind me, her voice so low I could barely hear it. “You are the predator, Your Majesty. Don’t letthem forget that.” I turned my neck slightly to give an appreciative glance, and her bright eyes gleamed under her black glasses. “And if they do, there are plenty of knives at that table.”
I held back a smile as she tapped her nose, then retreated to the wall with a line of other servants.
The whisperings began.
“Did you hear what happened today?”
“Can we eventrusther?”
“Sawyer said he’s never seen anything like it.”
“What if there are more of them? More likeher?”
From across the room, I found Thorne sitting with his hand gripped around his wine glass, knuckles white and jaw clenched. Vespera stood and rushed around the table toward me as the ruffled ends of her lavender gown trailed behind her. Her dark eyes pinched together in concern.
“Clarissa, I was so worried. They’ve been saying the strangest things. Are you alright?”
