He startles, his face brightening when he sees me. “You’re back!” he says, voice loud enough for me to hear over the music blaring from the stage. He crushes me in a hug, then pulls me farther back from the rest of the audience to where we can speak a little easier. “How was your visit with your father and brothers?”
“It was great. They asked when you’ll come with Nadia again.”
“Soon,” he says. “She’s been asking for another beach vacation. How are things with your father?”
It takes a moment for me to ponder my answer. After everything that happened with Nimue, I was worried things would be tense between me and Father. It was hard not to view him differently, and I’m sure he felt the same about me. The first time I went back home, it seemed like a lifetime had passed since I was last there. I wasn’t the same baby seal I was when I lived in my lagoon, nor was I the guilt-stricken girl who killed the first boy she’d kissed. I’d learned so much. About my father, about my mother. About my magic, my heart. Me. The secrets Father had kept from me felt like a wall. Little by little, though, we began breaking it down. He gave me more insight into his relationship with Nimue. His stories confirmed much of what Nimue had revealed, but from his own perspective. It solidified what I’d already begun to understand on my own—that love and relationships are complicated, whether between enemies or lovers. There are two sides to everything. I think it’s safe to say my relationship with my father has grown stronger. He’s started seeing me not as his precious baby but a woman in my own right. His daughter. A true princess.
“Things are well with us,” I finally say. I hesitate before adding the next part. “I saw my mother too.”
His eyes bulge with surprise. “And?”
“It was…not terrible,” I say with a grimace. While I know Nimue and I will never have the kind of relationship I have with my father, things have changed. She’s made no mention of wanting me to join her Sisters, renewed no claim on me as her subject. There’s still much to fear about her, much to dislike. But I made a bargain stating I’d forgive her. That I’d try to understand her. She kept up her part of the bargain and saved Dorian’s life. I’m determined to keep up mine. If she proves to be as evil as I’ve always thought her to be, well, I can always challenge her to the throne.
Podaxis blinks a few times as if he can’t fathom my answer. “What did the two of you even do together?”
I shrug. “We sat on the beach outside Bircharbor and talked. It was a very short visit, and a bit tense at that, but I think—in some strange way of hers—she’s trying to do better by me.”
“That’s good,” he says, although I can tell he’s skeptical. I don’t blame him. I’m not sure I’ll ever come to fully trust my mother after everything she did. Despite my promise to forgive her, I never vowed to trust. She’ll have to earn that.
“She still hasn’t outed you for what happened with Zara?”
“You mean me murdering her favorite assassin with a bargain?” I await a flash of guilt, but even after a year, I still feel none where that wretched fae is concerned. What that says about me, I’m not sure. “No, she’s told no one and has demanded no penance from me. In return, I’ll continue to keep her involvement in Dorian’s shipwreck a secret too.”
“Mutual secrets,” Podaxis says.
“Makes for mutual allies. Or enemies. I’m still not sure.”
I feel a pair of hands rest on my shoulders. Turning, I find Klaus and Stanley grinning at me. I let them pull me into a hug.
“Are you performing tonight?” Klaus asks.
I roll my eyes. “Certainly not.”
“Everyone loves your magic shows,” Stanley says.
“They really do,” Podaxis adds.
I suppose they’re right about that. A few months back, Nadia convinced me to turn my talents for sleight of hand into a show at the theater. I didn’t think performing simple feats of misdirection would entertain anyone, especially when real magic exists and is far more interesting. Turns out, humans are easy to impress, and fae are amazed by magical feats that don’t actually involve magic. They’re flabbergasted by how I do the things I do, make things disappear, tear playing cards in half only to pull them out of someone’s top hat, fully intact. I’ve still never learned to relish attention like the other performers do, though. It’s bad enough Glint McCreedy has made it his mission to document my public life in the wake of the pageant.
“Have you seen your loverboy yet?” Klaus says with a wink. “He’s been haunting the theater like a lost puppy since you went on your trip.”
My heart flutters. “Is he here now?”
“In your room,” Podaxis says.
Excitement bubbles in my chest and I offer hasty farewells before darting away. I’m almost to the door that leads backstage when a figure intercepts me. She’s female, just a few inches shorter than me with turquoise hair. She wears a long coat, but beneath it, I see evidence of a fine dress. A black cord circles her throat, adorned with an opal moon. My nose twitches as my gaze locks on the necklace. I swallow my desire to swipe the pretty bauble off her neck. Then she says my name, and my eyes fly back to her face. “Maisie, is that really you?”
I shutter my eyes, trying to recall how we’d know each other. Then I notice the man who stands behind her, a tall, slim figure with silver hair. He wears an oversized top hat and layers of dark clothing, but that doesn’t stop recognition from dawning. My mouth falls open. The girl is the servant I gave my glamoured shoes to when I first fled the Lunar Court, and the man is Prince Franco. I’ve heard only rumors about what transpired between them after I left, but now the evidence confirms it. My lips spread into a grin. “Ember! Is it true you’re a princess now?”
She hushes me. “We’re undercover.” She glances at the prince, her lips tipping into a lovelorn smile. “We eloped.”
I lower my voice. “Congratulations.”
“We’ll have to do it all over again once we get back home, but we wanted a private ceremony that would belong just to us.”
I lift a brow. “So you came here?”
“Twenty-four-hour wedding chapels,” Prince Franco says with a crooked grin. “Turns out they’re all the rage in Lumenas. Plus, my wife has a thing for this city.”
