CHAPTER TWO
“You’re late.”
My lungs strained as I tossed my cloak onto the nearest chair. Fingers flying, I popped the buttons of my tunic open, nearly ripping them from the material in the process. “I know. I encountered a minor complication.”
Only Diana Fennhaven would complain about one being late to their own demise.
“There was nothing complicated about the name I gave you, Eloise,” Diana barked. Her magic charged the air like static before a lightning strike.
It had always been equative to her temperament. One of her biggest faults to date, but I could never tell her that.
“There wasn’t. I had no problem with him.” I hurried past her, ignoring the tightness around her mouth. Her crossed arms. My dress waited patiently for me in my dressing room, untouched from where I’d hung it up before exiting the castle grounds.
Right after Diana had given me that man’s name.
Wasting no time slipping into the dark plum colored fabric and its neighboring pair of heels, exiting the dressing room proved to be a trial in itself. The hem of the flowing skirts continuously tripped me in my haste to leave. I had half a mind left to right myself so Diana could tie the corset.
She was already prepped, her silver hair twisted into a partially braided knot atop her head.
Scarlet-studded pins sparkled between the strands, complimenting her fitted black gown.
And around her neck had to be one of the heaviest looking necklaces in existence.
Thumb-sized diamonds, shaped similar to teardrops, reflected light from the chandelier above like hundreds of little mirrors.
“Then explain yourself,” she demanded. “Don’t tell me you wasted your time in that library again, for gods’ sake. One of these days the headmistress will demand compensation for the agony of your presence.”
My teeth bit into my tongue until I tasted copper. That library was the only place I could seek out solace from her.
“People were celebrating in the alleys. Some of them realized who I was and wouldn’t let me through. They said I was wasting someone else’s position—”
“I don’t care what they said.” Her sigh pelted my back like tiny, jagged stones.
She yanked hard on my corset, forcing me to stumble back a step.
“You should thank the gods that I value my life over yours, girl. If he didn’t insist on keeping you alive…
” The rest was mumbled incorrigibly under her breath.
The gods didn’t deserve my thanks. And there was no use in praying to ears that wouldn’t listen. If they deserved anything at all, it was to suffer for what they’d done to me.
Diana’s vitriol often reminded me of them.
She would’ve been the first to order my execution if it weren’t for him.
Though changes in the king’s wants and emotions were just as frequent as the weather, always teetering between a line of fire and ice.
I knew better than to assume he would never grow bored of my presence.
Maverick was anything but a simple man. If he wanted one of his prized pets to die, he would want it to be a spectacle.
And a spectacle I would be, indeed.
Diana yanked on the strings of my corset once more, pulling them so tight that my ribs groaned in protest. Surely, the lines bracketing the sides of her mouth were deepening with each tug.
But it was her own fault for slipping the crumpled piece of paper into my palm earlier in the evening, a single name written in her neat, precise pen strokes.
She knew how scarce my time was. And yet, she’d done it anyway.
Her hatred for me could span over a million lifetimes. But I would always despise her more.
If, by the grace of the stars, I lived through the next few days, she wouldn’t be able to lay a hand on me ever again. Nor would I be forced to do her bidding. She would have to stain her own soul with red.
If she had one to begin with.
The gods had cursed me to live without the ability to conjure mere sparks at my fingertips, something all children could do before learning how to walk. What was contained in my right iris had done its job magnificently.
I didn’t want the glory or money that came with winning. I wanted power.
The ancient magic contained within the Temple of Borealis had to be enough to overturn the curse.
I’d make sure of it.
“Your mother wore a similar gown before her trials. She received flowers identical in color on her doorstep that very same night, courtesy of your father.” Diana’s words jarred through my mind as much as it did my heart.
Corset fully tied, I kept my face neutral while she ushered me to sit down, facing her on the stool next to my vanity mirror.
She shook her head, as if disagreeing with herself. “Everyone at court envied them. Wanted to be them. The Starlight Champions who had it all. Power, riches, love. But it wasn’t enough, was it? They had to go poking their noses in places where they did not belong.”
They’d believed their combined magic strong enough to reverse what plagued me if they could find the right tools. Without cease, they scoured the kingdom for spells and potions, or even the tiniest scrap of information that would assist in breaking my curse.
“We always had similar tastes,” I replied stiffly, earning an exaggerated scoff.
“Hardly.”
“Like you would know. You were hardly ever around before.”
“Finish your sentence, girl. Before they were butchered. Slaughtered beyond recognition.” I reined in my wince.
“My daughter was no fool, except when it came to you. Always you.” She could’ve slapped me, and it would’ve felt the same.
“Making enemies left and right just to chase something that did not exist. I warned her. Power of that magnitude is always bound to attract leeches,” she droned on, dipping a thin brush into a pot of powder.
Her hand remained impressively steady, each stroke of the bristles across my eyelids applied with masterful precision.
Diana was court-born, having never participated in the Starlight Trials. But she loved acting like it. Like she was better than everyone else.
“Instead, she flung her magic around, practically bragging to anyone that would listen. Your father was no better. So much breath I wasted, warning them that no amount of magic can go against the will of the gods. That nothing could fix you, as they claimed. They didn’t listen, and look where that got them. ”
“Enough,” I snarled. The weight of their deaths already gnawed incessantly on the outermost corners of my heart. On what was left of it.
The small brush hovered in the air, but Diana’s free hand snapped out, gripping the lower portion of my face.
She squeezed hard enough that my jaw threatened to dislocate, protesting against her iron, claw-like hold.
Floral perfume stung the inside of my nostrils as she leaned in, close enough that I could almost see the darkness of her heart swirling behind the caramel hue of her irises.
“You don’t get to claim what is enough,” she whispered vehemently. “Not when their deaths are on your hands.” She shoved at my face, the force of it cranking my neck backwards. “Sit still. I’m almost finished.”
She hastily painted my right eyelid and switched out the brush for a tube of rouge.
My next breath was far too thin as I blinked once to clear the heat that threatened to wet my lashes. Clenched the base of the chair until my knuckles ached.
My parents were kind, and far from foolish. They knew what they were doing when they went searching for a cure.
But in a small, rotten piece of me, Diana’s words festered.
Less than a month after their deaths, I’d barely turned fourteen when she’d given me the first slip of paper, etched with a single name. She’d sworn that if I did not rid the kingdom of that name, Maverick’s favor or not, she would ensure I’d have no way back inside the castle.
Aedreath’s restless streets were far from welcoming. And their shadows couldn’t hide me forever.
It was as much of a death sentence as she could give me.
I welcomed the sting of her firm pinching to redden my cheeks. It pierced through the ache she incited in my chest.
“That’ll have to do.” The frown lines bracketing her mouth went taught with disapproval. “We shall pray that the king will be focused on the other competitors.”
I cast a glance over my shoulder to spot my reflection in the vanity mirror.
She’d somehow managed to nullify the lilac in my right iris by coating my lids with thick layers of blue, a shade so dull it almost resembled steel, instead emphasizing my lips with a bold ruby. She could’ve done much worse.
There was no time to fuss with my hair. The chestnut strands would have to remain as they were, in loose waves down my back.
She hooked her arm through mine, practically hauling me off my seat as she guided us out of my rooms.
A faint breeze skimmed spindly fingers across my bare arms as we rushed down a maze’s worth of wide corridors, empty save for the both of us. It made the clicking of our heels echo across the white marble flooring.
The floor to ceiling gold-rimmed windows were lovely if one focused on the view overlooking the kingdom, but they constantly produced frigid drafts at all times of the year.
Airy, near translucent drapes danced as we passed, their violet and blueberry pigments twin to the shifting colors in the ever-present night sky.
Although the walls and arched ceilings were made of diamond-encrusted black stone, the palace remained brightly lit, courtesy of twinkling chandeliers specifically crafted to mimic the stars. The diamonds greatly increased the effect, sparkling every time one moved.
“Lady Fennhaven!” A voice called from behind us, sounding faintly out of breath. “And Eloise, good gods, I’ve been looking for you everywhere.”
Diana did not slow, nor did she bother turning to see who’d shouted.
Clunking heavy boots and clamoring metal approached with increasing volume until another arm looped around my free one.