“You know they will never accept us, Narcissa,” Celeste called out.
I paused. Lord Frederick advised me not to speak to the prisoners. I was diligent in avoiding Dominic, but not so much Celeste. The singer was now dressed in a plain brown ensemble instead of her glittering stage costume. Her hair had lost its luster, hanging in loose tangles down her back. She looked at me with a grave expression.
“I don’t know what you are talking about,” I said stiffly, ready to walk off. Celeste scoffed.
“The humans. They will never accept witches no matter how many laws you change. No matter who pledges their allegiance to you.” She gave an icy glare to Dominic across the camp. He was dozing off against his tree. She returned her dark gaze to me. “You thought your prince loved you. But where was the fool when you lost your magic?”
I clenched my jaw. “You will speak of His Highness with respect.”
Celeste laughed and shook her head. “Don’t you get it, Narcissa? Humans don’t see us as people. They see us as our magic—something to be used and feared. Once our magic is gone we are nothing. The sooner you realize that the better.”
I turned abruptly and walked off to the center of camp, where a happy fire was blazing. Giselle and Maddox sat on a log eating stew, bickering about something. I pressed my lips together, throwing a glance back at Celeste. She was wrong about Bennett. He never feared my magic, nor did he ever want to use it.
If Bennett ever loved me, it was for me.
The next day, we entered Delibera. The familiarity of the city felt foreign after months of new sights and new roads.
Lord Frederick peered in through the carriage window when we stopped for a break. Half the guard split off to escort Dominic and Celeste to the palace, but Lord Frederick stayed with me. “Where to, milady? The palace or...?”
Our trip had given me plenty of time to think. The entirety of the company had heard about King Maximus’s one-year-postponement decree at this point. Not to mention, my last impression of the palace had been tainted by Mother’s presence, my mind too plagued with thoughts of her.
I never wanted to see her again. The realization should have come to me sooner. I needed to dispel her—if not from my memory—from my life. She had done enough damage.
I set my jaw, gazing at the turquoise tiled rooftops of the city.
“Greenwood Abbey, please.”
39
1month later
“It can’t end like that!” Giselle said, throwingThe Sailor’s Seductiononto the sofa. The heavy volume landed with a thunk.
Maddox sighed and fell back onto my rug. “We never find out if Carla and Antonio get away from the duke.”
I took a sip of tea. “I told you two not to read it.”
