She’s quiet for so long I think she won’t answer. Then: “Because I’ve met your mother. She saved my life once, during the final days of your father’s reign. I owe her a debt.”
The room seems to tilt.
I picture Mother, standing between my father’s empire and a girl I’ve never met. Saving someone who would one day be assigned to guardme.An eerie coincidence … or perhaps something more.
Ren pauses for a moment, then seems to reconsider what she wants to say.
“That’s not the only reason.” Her hand brushes mine as she takes the towel, deliberate this time, not an accident. “You have more allies than you realize, and not all of them have political agendas.”
The touch lingers in a way that makes my pulse quicken.
Before I can think about it further, Isolde appears in the doorway.
“Good morning, darlings,” she calls cheerfully. “Ready for your next lesson?”
Isolde’s idea of education involves a chamber filled with mirrors – not just on the walls, but floating in the air, creating a maze of reflections that show me from every conceivable angle.
“Perception is reality in politics,” she explains, positioning herself behind me so I can see both our reflections. “How others see you determines how they treat you.”
She demonstrates by changing her posture slightly, and I watch her reflection transform from friend to predator to victim and back again. The shifts are subtle but the outcomes are profound.
“Your turn,” she says. “Show me a queen.”
I straighten my spine, lift my chin, try to project the kind of authority I’ve seen in other leaders. But the reflection shows someone playing pretend rather than someone born to command.
“Not bad … but you’re performing rather than becoming.” Isolde moves closer. “Feel the power in your blood, Cyra.”
She guides me through a series of transformations: how to project confidence, how to mask uncertainty, how to make others want to follow rather than fear to disobey. It’s seductive and terrifying in equal measure.
In some reflections I look strong. In others, I catch the tilt of my chin, the set of my mouth, and for a moment I’m looking at my mother. The same expression she wore when she was weighing a difficult decision, that particular focused intensity I watched a thousand times when she worked on healing a client…
Mother, who chose to leave…
I shove the thought down. I don’t have the luxury of falling apart right now.
My stomach clenches, and I grip the edge of a nearby table to stay upright.
“Cyra, are you alright?” Isolde’s hand touches my elbow.
“It’s nothing.” I force myself to stand straight again.
Isolde watches me for a moment, then nods and returns to the lesson. She adjusts my posture, tilts my chin higher, studies the effectsof it all in the mirror. On the sixth adjustment, she steps back with satisfaction.
“There,” she says. “That’ssomeone who could rule.” Then her expression sharpens. “But remember – the moment you start believing your own performance, you become vulnerable to those who see through it.”
I meet her dark round eyes in the mirror. “How do you know when you’ve crossed that line?”
“You don’t. Not until someone uses it against you.” Her smile turns cold. “I had to learn that the hard way. Everyone around you wants something, and most of them are willing to destroy you to get it. The trick is remembering that, even when you’re wearing the crown.”
By the time evening falls, I’m hollowed out. Body aching, mind frayed, patience gone. Every nerve feels exposed.
When Zevran appears at my door carrying a training staff, I force myself upright.
“Last lesson of the day,” he says.
I follow him down into the depths of the arena. The air grows cooler as we descend, the sounds of the upper levels fading until all I can hear is our footsteps echoing off cold stone walls. He walks ahead of me, shoulders tense, and the silence between us is filled with everything we haven’t said.
He leads me into a circular room carved from dark stone. It’s empty except for training mats on the floor and a training weapons rack. Small alcoves in the walls hold torches, and the ceiling curves overhead, amplifying every sound.
