I study the hairline crack in the floor, wishing I could sink into it and disappear. I shouldn’t have lingered upstairs. I shouldn’t have cut through the garden, or let that goblin?—
A shadow falls across the stone, silencing my ruminations. I glance up to find the king’s Shadow beside me, blotting out the torchlight as he stares my father down.
“Step aside. Let her pass.” He delivers the command without inflection, but his expression is stormy, his stance rigid.
My father blanches, his cheeks paling until they match his graying beard. Strained murmurs arise from the crowd—phrases likemonsterandinhumanandIshanna protect us. But the king’s Shadow never blinks. He simply looms, a monstrous imposition of indigo skin and cold eyes, of leather armor and corded muscle. The promise of violence pours off him, staining the very air.
And somehow, inexplicably, my fear choosesthismoment to recede. Questions shoulder aside my dread—what would it feel like to stand so certain like that? How different would life be if I had no one to answerto but myself?
Then reality returns, and I shake my head to wipe the traitorous thoughts from existence. How sinful to let myself feel even an ounce of curiosity toward this brute.
“The Claiming always starts at sunset.” My father meets the Shadow’s eyes. “Sariah’s late, so it’s only proper she be chastised.”
“She’shere,” the Shadow snaps. “And now, by the terms laid out in the Treaty of Vellin, you must present her for consideration. If you won’t step aside on your own, I’ll gladly move you myself.”
A raw gulp slides down my father’s throat. For one endless moment, I think he’ll argue—he has that look in his eye, the same one that warns of an impending lecture. But then his posture softens and he eases back. “No, no need. Go ahead, Sariah.” His gaze locks briefly with mine, promising a conversation about this later.
I duck my head. Once this is over, he’ll probably sentence me to a full day’s penance, spent praying in the temple until my knees go numb. But I’ll go. I’llwantto.
“Come, Princess,” the king’s Shadow urges. “Sariah.”
He tacks my name on as little more than a murmur—a featherlight brush against my skin—yet the syllables linger in his mouth, as if he’s sinking those starlit teeth into them.
A shiver travels over me before I force my attention forward. The fae king must already be here, but when I crane my neck toward the dais, my sisters block my view. They stand in a line before me, their shoulders touching, their shorn heads facing my father’s throne.
I know I have to join them. But I fail to take a single step.
When long moments creep by and I still don’t move, the goblin extends his elbow. The offer of accompaniment draws hisses from the crowd.
I barely notice, fixated as I am on the Shadow’s outstretched arm, on the flicker of blue light beneath violet skin. Goddess, it’s not just his eyes that glow, butallof him. Here in the shadows of the throne room, he gleams like a shard of cosmic steel.
Not that I have any desire to touch him. I wrench my gaze away. “No, thanks. I’m fine on my own.”
The goblin drops his arm without any further discussion. He strides toward the apex of the room, circumventing my sisters on the way.
The moment he passes into their view, gasps tear from their throats. Carina stumbles back, shooting panicked glances behind her. After a moment of indecision, she turns on her heel, then bolts for the doors.
Fear blazes to life inside me. “Carina, no. You can’t run, or he’ll chase you.”
She doesn’t slow. Terror glazes her eyes, so much that I don’t think she truly sees me.
“Carina,stop.” Strangled words spill from my throat. “Or that goblin’ll come after you.”
She doesn’t relent. I move to intercept her, but she evades my grasp, her arm slipping from my outstretched hand. Near the dais, the king’s Shadow turns to regard us.
All my muscles clench. I’ll throw myself into his path if I have to. If that’s what it takes to protect my little sister.
Except…he doesn’t move. His gaze locks with mine and stays there, even when the door hinges squeal behind me. Even when the throne room doors whump shut again and Carina’s footsteps fade to nothing.
The goblin arcs a brow, as if silently questioning my assumption that he would chase my sister.
No. Just me, apparently.
I shudder and look away.
My father clears his throat. “I apologize for my youngest’s behavior. I’ll go after her, bring her back so we can start.”
“Don’t bother.” The clipped command comes from the dais. “I have no interest inher.”
