“You mustn’t allow her to threaten you, Emmaline,” Magdalina told me. “Queen Antonia doesn’t deal kindly with her rivals, and you’re threatening her place on the throne. If you don’t show her you’re an equal, she’ll use you as her plaything.”
“But I’m not her equal. I have no title yet,” I told her.
“She respects strong magic. And she respects power,” Lady Magdalina said. “Make sure to show her you have both during the Contest.”
When we got back to the ballroom, Lady Magdalina left me to go speak in hushed tones with Lord Lucien. He seemed concerned, but didn’t move to do anything, merely fixed his eyes on me from across the room.
What Lady Magdalina said was eating away at me. I was a threat to the queen. She didn’t want me coming on her turf and messing up her business. Was Queen Antonia reluctant to give up her rule? Even if her own son took her place? What a selfish bitch.
Kiara, Delmare, and Odette were at my side within minutes. “What happened?” Kiara breathed.
I felt like I was going to faint. “Bathroom. Now,” I squeaked.
We ran to the nearest powder room. I collapsed in a chair. The girls hovered around me. Kiara locked the door behind us. Odette fanned my face, while Delmare got me a glass of water from the cups placed out in a golden cart near the sink.
“Snap out of it,” Delmare spat. “You’ve gotta pull yourself together.”
My voice was hoarse. “Guys, the queen’s totally after me. If I don’t win this Contest, there’s no telling what she’ll do to me. Or any of us.” I chugged the glass of water and tried not to throw it back up.
“You’re not going to lose,” Kiara said calmly. “You’ve got this under control.”
“Yeah, if I don’t frickin die first.” I’d checked stats, and at least a quarter of the contestants always perished in the Contest. It was a deadly competition that not everyone walked away from. I was sure I’d come out of it alive when I’d agreed to be Ethan’s partner, but now I wasn’t so certain— especially with the queen watching my every move.
“Like Ethan would ever let anything happen to you.” Delmare rolled her eyes. “He’d give up the Contest first before he’d let you die.”
My heart rate began to slow. A hated emotion festered in my chest. Hope. “You think so?”
“Yeah,” Odette piped up. “He needs you to win! Both contestants have to survive in order to take the crown.”
A glum cloud settled over me. “You’re right. He wouldn’t let me die.” If only for the fact that he needed me to win.
“I don’t think that’s what she meant,” Kiara said, with a quick glance at Delmare. But I was barely listening. I rose to my feet.
“Come on, girls.” I was still a little unsteady, but I was starting to get my bearings back. “I’ve gotta get back out there.”
Delmare was right. I had to pull myself together. Right now, I looked weak, and if I continued to behave that way the other contestants would eat me alive tomorrow. I couldn’t afford to look incapable. If I was going to be a queen, I needed to act like it.
I intended to head back to the ballroom, find Ethan, and stick to him like glue the rest of the night. He would protect me, and it’d look better if we gave a united front. This might be a dance, but it was more like a battlefield. People intended to divide us tonight, so they could get in our heads. It would be much harder to do that if we were together.
Except there was one problem. We ended up getting lost. The palace was massive, and I’d been in such a hurry to get to a restroom that I hadn’t looked where I was going, and neither had anyone else. I remember the powder room being right off the main hallway, but we’d obviously taken a wrong turn coming out, because we were nowhere near the ballroom now. The music kept getting quieter and quieter as we continued to roam the castle’s dark halls.
“Shouldn’t there be a servant or something, to tell us where to go?” Delmare complained. “We’ve been walking forever.”
I went to respond, but I heard harsh and hushed voices ahead of me. One of them sounded like Gabby.
I put a finger to my lips to tell the other girls to be quiet, and we pressed against the wall. Gabby’s voice, along with Elijah’s, rang out in a sharp whisper from around the corner.
“Waldron’s death was supposed to deter the other contestants. It didn’t do a damn thing!” Gabby hissed.
My eyes widened. They were talking about Professor Waldron’s murder. I pressed myself even closer to the wall, and the girls huddled around me.
“I wouldn’t say it didn’t have benefits. Cibor was a notable opponent for the alicorns, and he dropped interest in the Contest after I took care of Waldron. Albin and Krystyna are laughable replacements,” Elijah replied.
My blood ran cold. Elijahtook careof Waldron? Did that mean… he killed him?
“You should’ve done a better job,” Gabby spat. “It wasn’t enough.”
“I tore his organs out and put him on a spike. I’m not sure how graphic you want me to go,” Elijah replied coolly.
