“Favor?” I pivoted away from the gruesome box of bone visions, facing Triisa. “This is no payment. It’s torture.”
“You must see.”
Though gently, my body was made to face the box once more.
“Take the second gift,” she said. “The third will be presented to you when the time is right.”
“Gifts shouldn’t hurt the receiver.” Despair clawed at my heart with relentless, icy fingers.
“These trinkets may appear trifling, but their true value will be revealed over time.”
“Bones aren’t trinkets.” Chills bound their arms around me and squeezed to the point I couldn’t breathe.
DidVexxion know?
Was he going toloveBrenna? That was what happened with fated mates, right? They’d meet, and he’d know.
The mark on Brenna’s wrist. She said it was new. She thought— My shrill laugh burst out. She thought it was pressed into her skin from her position during sleep.
Vexxion would soon adore her. He’d treasure her, cherish her forever. And she was destined to marry his wretched father.
“You’ve seen something vital,” Triisa said. “What you do with it remains in your hands alone.”
“You know what I saw.”
She tilted her head, and her gaze focused past me, though a glance over my shoulder showed no one was there. “So manypaths you might start down only to turn around and take another. Which is best and which will you choose?”
“Stop talking like that and tell me what to do.”
“Your future belongs to you alone. Only you should direct it. Fate’s reins await your grasp.”
“I’m inside the castle to do one thing.”
“Whether you accomplish this goal remains to be seen.”
I studied her exquisite face shimmering with a veil of magic. “What do you know?”
“More than you’d like, but never fear. We’re friends, and I won’t share your secrets.”
“What about your sisters?” I asked.
“They’re slippery, but I’ll speak with them. For now, your goal matches theirs.”
“For now? How could that change? You three didn’t enjoy being pinned inside that painting, did you?”
“Would you?”
“I would not.” My fingers twitched, seeking an anchor I would not find inside this room—or within the fae realm, for that matter.
“Then make sure you dance for him if he tells you to do so,” she said.
“Varissa,” someone called out from the other room.
I froze, my panic-stricken gaze meeting Triisa’s. Before I could flit, she placed her fingertip on my leg. It locked me where I was, inside the king’s bedroom where I’d soon be discovered.
“Let me go,” I hissed.
Her stern gaze met mine. “Wait.”
