I tilt my head and narrow my eyes in confusion. “What? Who is it?”
She doesn’t say anything else, just turns and gestures for me to follow her. People part for us as we make our way through the crowd. Elle leads me to the throne room and says, “I’ll be just outside if you need me.”
I steel myself, not knowing what I’m about to walk into. The door spits me out onto the back of the stage in the throne room. The stag is still lying in front of the throne, eyes locked onto a female standing stock-still, her back turned to the throne. Black, thick hair cascades down her back in soft waves, her slight frame robed in a silver satin gown.
Willa.
She turns when she hears the door shut behind me. Her dark eyes find mine, and she smiles, her eyes crinkling when they find the crown on my head. She forms a deep bow then straightens and says, “Your Majesty,” her smile still on her face. It hasn’t even been a week since I last saw her, but she somehow looks older, a sharp crease now forming between her brows.
I don’t return her smile. Hers slowly disappears as we stand staring at each other.
“Mae, I’m sorry,” she whispers like I’m a skittish animal that might flee. I stand still, waiting for more from her. “Your mother—”
“Is dead,” I snap. I will not allow her to blame my mother for her mistake. “She has been dead for my entire life. You have had twenty-five years to tell me the truth.” My voice is flat, deadly.
She straightens at my tone. “You have no idea what it was like growing up the way we did. We were pitted against each other, forced to train for hours every day aschildren.Your mother did not want that for you. She didn’t want you to grow up with this ball andchainattached to your ankle.” I don’t miss the way she glances at my crown as she spits the word “chain.”
“She wanted you to know freedom, true freedom, not confined to a life ofthis.” She throws her hands up, gesturing toward the throne. Her cheeks are slightly flushed, and there’s a hard look in her eyes. She looks…angry.Like it was my choice to be here, and she’s pissed that I chose it.
“Well, Willa, I’m now confined to a life ofthis,and I’m woefully unprepared for the job,” I spit back.
She takes a deep breath and looks at the ground. Her hands straighten at her sides, flattening against the cool satin of her gown.
“Mae,” she says in a measured tone, “I want to help you and be there for you. I want to start over. It is my deepest regret that I didn’t tell you about who you were sooner. I—”
I put a hand up, cutting her off a second time. “Stop. It’s not. You regret it because my father wasmurdered, forcing the secrets you’ve been keeping to come out. You regret that it wasn’t your choice to tell me yourself. How does that feel? Knowing your choices were taken from you?” My voice is raised now. Behind me, the stag huffs a breath.
For a moment, Willa doesn’t speak. Her fingers twitch at her sides, one hand clenching and unclenching. Finally, she says, “You’re right. It was wrong of me. I should have told you.”
“That’s all you have to say to me?” I scoff. “You lied to me for my entire life, and that’s all you have to say?”
“Please,” she says, her voice pleading.
I cross my arms and stare at her in disbelief. I won’t accept that so easily. Willa’s betrayal stung, but not just because she lied to me for decades. I will never know who I could have been if I had known the unconditional love of a father or the unbreakable bond of a sister.
“You stole a family from me,” I say, my voice barely more than a whisper.
The silence stretches between us like an ocean, its violent, churning waves fueled by my anger. Me on one side, Willa on the other.
She droops her shoulders and drops her gaze to the floor. “I’m sorry.” Her voice is pitiful.
Willa has always been tough on me, always pushing me to overcome my weaknesses. To see her standing here now, looking small and vulnerable…
I deflate, feeling the anger physically leaving my body. I’m tired. I don’t have the energy to continue holding onto my anger toward her.
“Thank you,” I say, my voice shaky but returning to normal. I take a seat on the edge of the stage, my legs hanging off. Willa comes and sits beside me.
“I am truly sorry,” she says softly. “Your mother was my world. I was utterly devastated by her death. When she asked me to raise you, of course, I agreed. But I had no idea what I was doing. Raising you was the greatest honor but also the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I made mistakes the whole way, but not telling you who you were born to be was my greatest one.”
She stops to look at me and reaches her hand out. I don’t reach for it, and she drops it into her lap. We sit there in an awkward silence.
“How are you feeling about the dinner tonight?” she asks.
I shrug. “I feel fine, I guess.” But then I remember my conversation with Katze and Issa earlier, and my stomach drops. “A little nervous, if I’m being honest. I feel so out of my element.”
“Just remember thattheyare courtingyou, not the other way around.”
“If it only was that easy to remember,” I snort. “It’s hard not to be nervous around them,” I admit.
