If the servant notices or cares about my awed reaction he doesn’t say anything, just keeps walking across the entrance hall, leading us to another set of double doors, which must lead to the throne room.
My stomach does another painful lurch.Oh Gods!We’re going right in?Now?
Not that I expected to wait, but it all seems to be happening so fast. I thought I’d have to convince the servant that we were from the court of Vernallis, or maybe fight our way in? I don’t know…I just…I thought there’d be more time.
I glance back to make sure Fox and the others are still with me—they are. Fox meets my gaze, and I’m sure he’s thinking that we should turn around and leave. For the first time, I almost agree with him.
The servant halts before the double doors and, with a practiced flourish, he flings them wide. My heart leaps into my throat.Please don’t be my mother.
Until this exact moment, I don’t think I knew what I wanted to happen here today, but now as the doors swing slowly open, my mind is made up. I don’t want it to be her.
I’ve always known my father was evil. I made peace with that a long time ago, but in my mind, my mother was always a good person. She’s the one who cursed my father, then died trying to keep me hidden. She just had to be the good one.
Except that ever since arriving in Thermia, I've heard such terrible things about the queen that I can barely reconcile them with the woman I've longed to meet. The queen is the one keeping the wolves trapped here; the one who’s stopping them from forming bonds, and the one who outlawed magic.
Please, please don’t be her.
"Her Majesty, Queen Silvia of Thermia,” the servant announces, as the doors finally open fully.
I suck in a breath. My mother’s name was Amora, not Silvia. I let out a breath.
I have barely a second to be relieved, as my eyes dart around the ornate throne room before us. Then, my gaze falls on the throne at the front of the room, and my chest constricts. I can’t seem to draw in another breath.
A petite woman with dark hair leaps down from her throne and rushes toward me, her elaborate blue and white gown billowing behind her. She runs the length of the room, and throws herself at me, wrapping her arms around my middle in an embrace so tight it forces the air from my lungs.
"Finally!" she exclaims against my ear. "You’re here! I've waited so long to meet you, and now you’re finally here!”
My mind goes blank, thoughts shattering, scattering like broken glass. I stand rigid in her embrace, my arms hanging uselessly at my sides.
The woman releases me and steps back, and my shock doubles. It’s like looking into a distorted mirror.
The woman—the queen, I mean—looksexactlylike me. She could be me. We could be twins.
Wait, what am I thinking? Wearetwins.
My mouth opens, then closes. I try again but nothing emerges. The throne room seems to tilt around me, and I'm suddenly aware of my heartbeat again, pounding in my fingertips, my throat, behind my eyes. I feel a bit faint.
This entire time, I assumed that if my family was here at all, it would be my mother on the throne. My mother, the infamous sorceress, who cursed Vernallis for one hundred years. Of course she would turn out to be the mysterious queen. It made perfect sense.
I've been preparing myself to meet my mother, but it never occurred to me that the queen could be mysister.Honestly, I’m not sure I ever gave much thought to my sister.
The story that Beatrix told was about a baby, so in my mind, my sister was an infant. That obviously makes no sense, it’s ridiculous, but here we are.
Of course she'd be my age;of courseshe'd have grown up just as I did. Why didn’t I realize this before?
I think I must be in shock, because it’s difficult to find my voice. Finally, I manage to make my mouth work. “You... know who I am?"
“Of course," Silvia says, her brow furrowing slightly as she studies my face. "I've been waiting my whole life to meet you. I knew you'd come eventually. Have you traveled far?" she doesn’t wait for an answer before continuing, throwing questions at me in excited rapid-fire. "Did you see the lights? I hoped you would.How did you come to be traveling with my soldiers? Did you need an escort? What kingdom did you travel from?”
I open my mouth, but nothing comes out.
My thoughts tangle together—the wolves want to kill her, she's enslaving them, she's my sister, my twin. Where’s my mother?
The weight of everything I've learned crashes down on me at once, paralyzing my voice.
Silvia cocks her head at me in concern. “Oh, I’m so sorry. You must be exhausted and overwhelmed, and here I am throwing a thousand questions at you.”
I nod mutely.
