Veyrion expected me to scream the first time I got a good look at him.
But I think that’s because he’s never experienced real terror.
Real terror hollows out your chest. It steals all your breath and erases your voice.
And it turns your mind into a windstorm when you realize that the male you love most—the one you were willing to sacrifice your life for—is going to die. Right now. And there’s nothing you can do about it.
“Rosie!” he calls out when he sees me. He tries to rush toward me, but the soldier escorting him keeps hold of his arm and pulls him back.
And when I try to go to him, Veyrion steps in front of me, blocking my path.
Helpless tears fill my eyes as the rest of the horde and quite a few nobles enter the hall, and the doors close behind them.
“Please…” I start to plead for my father’s life.
But the Stone Fae King cuts me off. “I suspected from the moment Sallie Rose revealed her special power that she was not who she said she was,” he announces, turning his back on me to address the gathered crowd. “As far as I know, magic cannot be bestowed—only passed down by blood, and she told me that the Aralysse palace gardener taught her to wield her special powers….”
The hollow windstorm rages inside my brain as Veyrion explains how, when he and his contingent paid a special visit to Aralysse, where, just as he expected, “I found the King and Queen harboring their daughter. The true Princess of Aralysse.”
Proving where Seraphyne learned her cowardice, the Aralysse King suddenly cries out, “Sovereign, I am blameless! She came to us in secret after a mere day of trying to live as a commoner with her sentry lover. I told my wife we should turn her away, but she was too soft-hearted!”
“Can I be blamed?” the Queen asks, her tear-soaked voice defensive and haughty. “We have been made to live in fear of your wrath, and did not know what you would do if we came forward with the truth! And besides, we’ve always treated her handmaiden as one of the family. She’s grown up in the lap of luxury, while my daughter has suffered the dread of a fate unknown.”
My blood freezes at the familiarity of those words. And that’s when I realize…
The Queen knew.
The same queen who met with me to discuss my plans for the Aralysse gardens less than a week ago—she knew about Seraphyne’s scheme all along. Perhaps even helped her plan it.
Utter rage clenches my fists at my sides.
But Veyrion listens to their defense with his arms clasped behind his back, wearing the same impassive expression he used on me when I asked whether his shadows would hurt.
He turns his red gaze on Seraphyne, who’s been sobbing this entire time. “And you? What do you have to say for yourself, Seraphyne?”
“Yes,” I find myself calling out. “I want to know the answer to that question, too.”
“It’s not fair! It’s not fair!” Seraphyne wails raggedly to Veyrion through her tears. She then turns her tear-soaked face toward me. “How could you slip up so badly. And after everything I’ve done for you, Thornie!”
“After everything you’ve done forme?” I curl my fist even tighter. “You’ve donenothing. Nothing but make my life miserable for twenty years.”
I glance toward the queen. “I didn’t live in the lap of luxury. I lived at your beck and call. My one dream—the only thing I ever asked for—was to take over as the palace gardener. And you took that away.”
I then turned my wrathful gaze on her daughter. “You risked our kingdom just so you could keep terrorizing another handmaiden after I was gone.”
“You don’t know what it was like for me!” Seraphyne shouts, snot expelling from her nose. “You’ve never had to live with a fate worse than death hanging over you like a cloud!”
“See, the thing is, I did, Seraphyne,” I reply with a shake of my head. “For the last three days, I’ve lived with the certain knowledge that I would die today. So, I built a garden to leavebehind as legacy for those who came after me. I offered as many kindnesses as I could, so that these good people might remember me fondly after I was sacrificed to their moon god. I wasyoufor three whole days. And all I can think right now is thatyoucould have been doing the same for twenty-five years.”
I regard her with a bitter shake of my head. “But youchoseto be the way you are.
You had a lifetime to make your life count, and you spent it making nearly everyone around you miserable. And that’s on you. Only on you.”
The speech—likely my last—rips out of me.
But Seraphyne gives it not even a moment’s consideration before snarling, “You’ve always been ungrateful! How dare you not appreciate everything I’ve done for you?
Your life is worth nothing, and I am a princess. You should have been more than happy to take my place even for a few days, you feckless bitch. You should have?—”
