Emmie shrugged, but Eris interrupted after a moment of silence, her voice rough as she scoffed. “Oh, come on. You know that won’t happen. King Aelius will do whatever it takes to stay in power and ensure he has a male heir. He’d sooner slaughter any heir that wasn’t a son of his. If some random male out there was born with the favor of the gods, the Day Kingdom would never admit it. They’d be cut down first.”
“He couldn’t!” Emmie gasped, her mouth dropping open at her friend’s words. “That would subvert his own reign. The king’s rule because the gods chose them, it would undermine everything!”
“Kings are kings, Emmie.” Eris replied, rolling her eyes. “They do what they want and care little about who says otherwise. You know that.”
She huffed and shifted slightly in her seat. “Well, yes, but—“
“But nothing. That’s all there is to it.” Eris snapped, looking around suspiciously: “And stop speculating before someone hears you.” She nodded to the door of the wagon, which had just come to a halt. The wooden door unlatched and swung open, revealing one of the Fae guards in their nickel-plated armor. Emmie pouted but kept quiet.
We were instructed to exit the wagon and I jumped out, exiting to a large field. I may not have been eager to arrive at the Dusk Kingdom, but I didn’t want to spend another night anxiously awaiting it either. As we were herded into our side of the camp, I took the opportunity to stretch while they set everything up.
My body always ached after a long time sitting. Raising my arms above my head, I arched my back to crack it, and then shifted my head side to side to do the same with my neck. I instantly relaxed, feeling more comfortable in my body—at least until I saw Prince Cyrus. I shivered—he was watching me again. The thought of him watching me stretch, taking in my more obvious assets that were unintentionally shown off, made me want to throw something at him—or gag with disgust.
I had no way of stopping him, and I hated the helpless feeling of knowing I was ultimately at his mercy. He walked away with his stupid smug face, while I glared at his back.
“Don’t do that.” Emmie hissed in my ear as she came up behind me.
Surprised by her sudden appearance, I whirled toward her. “What?”
“Don’t glare at him! Are you crazy?” Emmie said as she looked around the space ahead of us. She looked scared, like someone might pull me away any moment.
“He’s not even facing this direction; he can’t see me!” I snorted.
Emmie grew very serious when her eyes met mine. “You know better than that.”
I wilted immediately. She was right, of course I knew better. Prince Cyrus owned me now—or his father did. It amounted to the same thing as far as I knew.
If anyone had seen me…
“I know. I just—hate all of it.” I grumbled. Emmie reached up and hugged me, surprising me so much I went stiff.
“You don’t hug much do you?” Emmie laughed, squeezing me.
“No.” I admitted, slowly bringing my arms around her and hugging her back. “No. Not anyone who wasn’t my parents, or—well, I only had one real friend, and that was sort of complicated.”
“You didn’t have friends?” Emmie pulled back and gave me an incredulous look, questions overflowing in her eyes.
“The girls in my village all hated me anyway, thanks to Verin, and with life the way it is—” I shook my head, then shrugged. “I figured it was better not to get attached to people.”
“That’s a sad way to live, Asteria.” Emmie looked at me sadly, but brightened quickly. “We’re going to change all that.” She set her shoulders, and I had a sinking feeling in my stomach at the sight. “We’re friends now, after all, aren’t we?”
She didn’t give me a chance to respond, hooking our arms together and walking me to the fire now blazing in the middle of camp.
I didn’t do friends. I couldn’t afford to care about others who would eventually be taken away.
But I had a feeling I didn’t have much of a choice in this friendship when it came to the bubbly blonde.
We spent the rest of the night getting to know each other by the fire. It was a new experience for me, but not one I hated surprisingly. Eris was quiet most of the night, only chiming in occasionally, but still, getting to spend a night talking with other girls my age was novel.
The next day, the wagon bumped along the road, and I curled up on the bench seat to look out the window, drinking in my first view of the capital of the Dusk Kingdom—Evenfall. The palace was on the horizon, and it was bigger than anything I’d ever seen. I tried not to let myself be intimidated, but I’d never even seen Panchaia, the capital of Sunrise, during all my years living there. I’d heard about it, of course, about the palace that was half in and half out of the jungle. But this…
The palace was made of black marble with veins of red, pink, and purple shooting through it like the colors of dusk itself. It was stunning, even if intimidating. Its dark color felt ominous, even with the brighter colors imitating a dusky sky. It stood high above the rest of the capital, with the middle section standing taller than the two sides buttressed against it. Pointed arches lined the palace, with spires shooting to the sky, interspersed with columns. Some of the columns started farther up, circling around towers where giant marble pegasuses reared up from either side of the small landings.
The palace was the most colorful building in sight, in spite of its darkness. The highlights of red, pink, and purple were a flash of color in a sea of dull tones. I knew that’s where we were heading, and the thought of having to walk into a palace of all things sent my heart racing and hands shaking.
I opened my mouth to ask Emmie for any other advice, hoping to relieve my panic, but we turned onto a long drive leading right to the black behemoth of a palace I had been staring at. I swallowed hard, trying to prepare myself.
“You’ll be fine, just calm down.” Emmie patted my hand, a merry smile firmly in place.
