Would they accept me?
I raised the crown above my head slowly, a knot constricting my throat. It felt heavier than any weapon I’d ever held.
Here, in the darkness of the fortress, nobody would know if I failed.
You would.
I gritted my teeth, closed my eyes and lowered the crown. The moment the metal circled my head felt momentous.
Inevitable.
My powers stirred deep in my chest.
I’d been born for this.
No.
I’d been trained for this.
Hope renewed flowing through my veins, I opened my eyes.
My smile, which I hadn’t even noticed taking shape, collapsed as my own fear reflected back at me.
No symbols, blue or silver, shone on the central spire.
Despite Dax’s hopes and my own jab at Silas, back when I thought myself invincible, the Protectorate crown didn’t sense I was worthy of it.
Chapter 15
Allie
By the time Ryker had returned, each footstep as silent as a wraith’s, I was numb.
I’d swallowed my tears, hidden the crown next to the wedding corset still stained with my father’s blood, and taken cover between Ryker’s silken sheets.
But shame had followed anyway. It always did.
I’d lain there in complete darkness, staring at a foreign stone wall, in someone else’s bed, completely hollowed inside.
The thought of resting my head on the same pillow the crown had occupied only moments before turned my stomach and made me feel even smaller.
It was one thing to avoid the crown. My decision, my weight to bear.
The silence it had given me roared louder in the dark.
Not rejection.
Indifference.
I must have imagined its metal murmur, thinking myself better and deserving.
The crown had proven me wrong.
So worthlessly small.
Ryker slipped into bed, careful not to disturb me. The only thing that gave him away was his sharp inhale as he curled around me gently, cradling my back with his chest.
I should have moved away. I didn’t deserve his warmth tonight. But I didn’t move.
