“By the Heavens,” her father whispered. “Look at you. You’ve grown into your mother’s image.”
He pulled away with a warm smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “Come now. Let’s get you settled. We will dine together. The two of us.”
They entered the castle’s main doors, and he led her through sterile halls void of any color or portraits. The windows no longer gleamed with stained glass. She had expected to feel nostalgic, but it was all so unfamiliar. The tapestries were no longer embroidered with her mother’s green and gold but now covered in designs of royal blue and white.
On the second landing, a figure stood in shadow. Tall. Slender. Shrouded in black.
Delphi.
She stood unmoving, hands clasped before her, watching her. A large headdress and sheer black veil hid the queen’s face, but Alora could feel her sharp gaze.
Alora was self-conscious of her wrinkled appearance after the long carriage ride, yet she held her poise. Taking the edges of her simple dress, she dipped in a curtsy. “It is good to see you …godmother.”
Alora offered her a small polite smile she’d often seen Lady Zinnia wear. The greeting was intentional. Petty perhaps. Astark reminder of Delphi’s betrayal to her mother’s memory. Alora could almost feel the fairy’s silent ire in the air.
She thought of the “gift of tears” Delphi had bestowed upon her at birth. A fairy blessing that served no purpose but to cry pretty. A mockery she briefly considered returning.
But the queen simply turned and vanished down the hall.
“Delphi is still in mourning,” her father said lightly, as if explaining away a draft in the air. “She has not left her chambers much since…” He trailed off, his expression flickering with a brief shadow of grief before he fixed a polite smile on his face. He gave her arm a gentle pat. “We are grateful you have come home.”
Alora looked down at where he touched her. His large hand dwarfed her thin arm. It was strange to be in his presence, to pretend everything between them was all right.
King Laurent continued onward. “Come. I will show you to your room so you can wash up for dinner.”
Dinner alone with her father? The thought unnerved her. Not merely being alone with him but rather fear at what he might say.
Alora paused at an archway leading out to the castle gardens.
Her mother had once filled this place with life. Singing birds and climbing ivy, a bubbling fountain, and laughter. Now, the stone beds were lined in gravel. The fountain long dry.
“I don’t belong here, do I?” she whispered.
Her question echoed through the empty foyer, fading into dust and shadow.
CHAPTER 5
Alora
Alora’s old bedchamber was exactly as she remembered it.
The walls were still adorned with faded tapestries of wildflowers. Her dolls were arranged neatly on the shelf, untouched and coated in dust. A music box sat open on her vanity, frozen mid-spin. The air was heavy and stale.
She ran her fingers over the carved wooden bedpost. Once she left,no one had ever stepped inside again.
And that made returning here feel worse.
Alora turned at the sudden burst of movement behind her.
A blur of gold silk slammed into her, arms thrown around her neck. “Alora!”
“By the gods!” She stumbled back, laughing as a familiar face clung to her tightly. “Theia?”
“You’re here!” Theia pulled back, her warm brown eyes shining with tears.
She was tall and striking, her skin a deep umber, warm as dusk at day’s end. Black coils fell around her shoulders ingleaming waves, threaded with gold. A silver seahorse brooch glittered at her collar, bearing the symbol of her noble House.
“I thought I would faint when I heard the Princess of Argyle has at last returned.”
