I assumed my husband had carried me off to bed. “Where’s Charlie?”
He went to train with his grandfather,Oberi noted.Would you like me to fetch him?
“Please.” I missed him and wanted him around. When I checked in, I noted Charlie was so immersed in the conversation with his grandfather he didn’t notice me brush up against his mind.
I’ll go get him, Oberi offered.Be back in a jiffy.
She flew out of the room through the open balcony. I let out a small breath. As a princess, I never got time alone these days, so it was nice to have a moment to myself for once. I got myself into my wheelchair, then rolled to the vanity. I began brushing my hair, contemplating how I wanted to spend the rest of my evening.
“You look very lovely, my dear. Being a princess suits you. I supposebothof us crave power,” a familiar voice said.
My fingers tightened on the hairbrush. I was never truly alone.Hewas always here.
I set my mouth in a thin line and turned my chair to face him. “What do you want?”
An image of the Warden peered back at me, his face set in that disgusting gloat I knew so well. The hallucination appeared so real, as if he was standing only a few feet away from me.
But I knew he wasn’t, and so, I’d chosen to give him another name; The Beast. Because that’s what the Warden truly was, deep inside. A vicious animal that needed to be put down.
“I’m merely here to keep you company,” The Beast replied, sounding smug.
I gritted my teeth. At some point during my stay in Ilamanthe, the voices in my head had somehow morphed into The Beast. He was always lurking around, standing in the corner of every room I inhabited.
He didn’t always speak. Most of the time, he remained silent. But when I had a spare second to contemplate my thoughts, there he was, ever creeping at the back of my mind.
I knew he wasn’t real. This was just a part of my psychosis. If anyone walked in, they’d witness me talking to nothing.
But he was in my head, and he was real to me. Some demons stayed with you. The Beast was an infestation inside of me that had been planted there sometime during my time at the Institute, and for as much as I wanted to get rid of him, I’d be terrified if he didn’t stay. Because I wouldn’t know who I was anymore if that hatred for him was gone.
I scoffed. “You’re a very unwelcome guest.”
“It does you no good to lie to yourself,” The Beast soothed, and my skin crawled. “If you didn’t want me here, I’d leave.”
“I don’t. Go away.”
“Come now. I think we could have an interesting conversation.”
“I’m going to beat you,” I said. “I get stronger every day.”
The Beast narrowed his eyes. “You don’t have to defeat me, because no matter what you do, I’ve already won. You only have to live long enough to become what you fear the most.”
I tossed the hairbrush at him. It sailed through his wispy form before he vanished.
I sighed and dropped my gaze. Ilamanthe had isolated me from the reality of the war, but some scars didn’t heal. The Beast was still in my head, and he wasn’t going anywhere. As much as I hated to admit it, the Warden was a part of me now, just asI was a part of him, and he damn well made sure to haunt me every day. I was afraid if we got rid of him, it still wouldn’t do any good, because he still lived in me.
And I didn’t trust what that part of me wanted to do. Because anything was on the table, and if I lost any self-control… if the Warden was able to take over and do what he wanted…
There wouldn’t be anything left of our world. Let alone me.
Chapter Nine
CHARLIE
Ava’s ceremony had been beautiful— powerful, even— but it’d put the entire palace on edge. I passed by people speaking in hushed whispers on my way to the gardens. We knew the war was out there, but today, it had hit a little too close to home. This war was getting worse, and if I didn’t do something to stop it, it wasn’t going to end. I needed to become a better demigod and prince, because the fate of the entire world hung on me. I couldn’t depend on anyone else to stop this. This was my responsibility, and I was learning every day that there needed to be no limits to what I would do if I was to save these people.
My grandfather was already waiting for me when I arrived at the gardens. His guards remained at a distance to give us privacy. “Please sit beside me, Charlie,” he said coolly.
I took a chair beside a patio table. Warm sunlight touched my skin. In the distance, I could hear laughter coming from the palace. It made it easy to forget there was a war going on outside of Ilamanthe, but I knew the darkness that lurked beyond this island.
