“Rosaline.” Father’s voice trembles. His shoulders visibly hunch, lips pulling into a frown. Is that guilt I see twisting his features? “You…you shouldn’t be here.”
“Yes, I suppose you liked me better in my tower,” I bite back.
“That was for your own protection,” he says. “Now get away from that vile beast and we will end this once and for all.”
“No.”
Irritation flashes over his face. “You don’t know what you’re doing right now. You’re under the influence of his power over you.”
“I’m not, Horus.” He flinches back at me calling him by his first name. Not Father. Not Papa. “Yes, he’s made commands of me before, but in this moment I am acting of my own free will. If you come near us, I will fight you. I will freeze every one of your guards in place—”
“And I will claw their eyes out,” Minka says.
“And I…I will bite.” Mr. Boris’ voice is far less confident.
Mother’s eyes go wide. Then a slow smile spreads over her lips. She gestures toward the dreamscape-laden ceiling. “Lovey, are you doing this?”
“I am.”
Her face brightens with joy, an obscene expression when one of her guards lies dying in a pool of blood near her feet. “You’re a daydream succubus? Rosaline, that’s the most fantastic news—”
“Oh, now you see value in me?”
She frowns as if she can’t comprehend the venom in my words.
Darkness and warmth mingle in my heart, a vicious concoction that has tears pricking at my eyes. “I loved you so much,” I say, voice quavering. “Even as strangers, I loved you. You were my family, and I wanted to give you everything. Yet you gave nothing back.”
Mother moves closer, stepping over the dead body of her guard as if he’s nothing more than a fixture on the floor. Mr. Boris barks a warning, and she halts her progress. Her soft smile remains on her face. “That’s not true, Rosaline. We’ve always loved you. We looked for you for years. You know this.”
Thorne’s grip around my waist tightens the slightest fraction, as if to remind me he’s here. Holding me. Protecting my back. I sink into his touch, turn some of my burden over to him as I utter words I’ve suspected all along. “Let me guess, Divina. You didn’t start looking for me until after you promised my hand to Lord Phillips’ son.”
Her smile falters. “That’s hardly relevant. If I say I’ve always loved you, then it must be true.”
I shake my head. “Your love may be true but it’s less than I deserve.”
“Don’t speak to your mother like that,” Father says. “We’re your family. Your blood.”
“Blood, yes. But family?” I swallow the lump in my throat. “I never realized until now, but I’ve known family all my life. My teachers at the convent were my family, as were my friends and peers. It only took a matter of days for Mr. Boris and Minka to feel like family. And now…Thorne is as good as family too, because he’s the future I choose.”
He stiffens behind me. My name leaves his lips in a whisper. “Briony…”
“Yes, you asshole,” I mutter, angling my head to meet his eyes. “I remember everything. Did you not believe me when I promised to claw my way back to my memories?”
A crooked smile forms on his mouth, but his gaze is dark. Intense. Like an oncoming storm, both beautiful and deadly at once.
I force my eyes away from his lest they distract me from the matter at hand. “I have a few choice words for you,” I say under my breath, “but we’ll talk later.”
“Rosaline, please,” Mother says, “enough with this nonsense. If you truly want to keep Morgana’s boy as your plaything, we’ll make a bargain. Just step away from him and we’ll talk this through.”
“No. We aren’t bargaining. You have only one choice, and that is to let us walk out of here unharmed. Me, Thorne, Minka, and Mr. Boris. We’re leaving and you’re letting us go. Refuse, and I’ll destroy you. I can do more than cast pretty illusions.” The words almost sear my tongue. While they’re true, I can already feel my hold over my magic slipping. I’m not sure I can react fast enough to frame and capture each guard that surrounds us, should they resume their attack.
“You cannot threaten your family like this,” Father says, teeth bared.
“If that were true, you wouldn’t have set such a stunning precedent with me.”
“You cannot threaten yourking.”
I arch a brow. “Is that who you are to me then? It’s up to you. Are you my father or my king? Am I your beloved daughter or someone to subjugate?”
