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I expected a polite compliment.
“That’s horrifying,” he said. “Vaguely threatening.”
I frowned until realizing he meant the hollow eyes. “I can’t remember the detail of those,” I said with a short laugh. “I’m not leaving it like that.”
“Ah.” He peered closer. “I can help. They are dark and somber, like he’s forever attending a funeral.”
“He does have a sad look about him,” I agreed. “But I think he’s just quiet.”
Thorn grunted. “It’s more than that. I think he hates the world.” The way he looked over the painting wasn’t with admiration.
“Do I get to know the story between you two?” I asked, setting the last of my dried brushes next to Antonio.
“Everyone has an enemy. I’ve selected him as mine.”
“Truly?” I almost laughed. “Just like that?” I went to my closet.
Thorn rubbed his heel against the soot near the fire, but the blaze in his eyes burned far brighter than any flame. “No,” he said. “He broke my sister’s heart.”
I halted midstep. He let out a puff of breath. “But don’t let me drag you into my decade-old feud. It’s not yours to carry.”
His story clung to me as I slipped behind the curtain over my closet. I’d been mistaken to think that because Bash’s heart wasn’t cracked, he hadn’t experienced relationships before. He might not bear the scars of them, but he held the memories. I shut my eyes for a moment, then shook myself to focus on my task—tricking another fae king.
An ash-colored dress suited the occasion perfectly. Aside from the color, it wasn’t much different from the one I wore to the Queen’s Day Choosing Ceremony where I went from being a mortal girl to a ruler of fae, but the girl behind the dress was much different. That girl had been in upheaval, her mind whirling at breakneck speed, unable to find her footing. The girl in the dress now, she could hold her own.
I found shoes and laced the strings up my calves.
Thorn beamed when I stepped out. “Beautiful.”
Another difference between the girl I used to be and the girl I was now—I had kings looking at me. It still made my head dizzy.
I glanced once more at Bash’s painting. Without the eyes, he looked quite ghostlike, but at the right angle it appeared as if he were in the room, watching me curl my hand around Thorn’s arm as he led me away.
“Tell me, how fast is this chariot of yours?”
His eyes twinkled. “It can take you across the realm in a matter of minutes. A few minutes more, and you’d be lost in a sea of stars.”
“I’m eager to try it.”
He grinned. “I’ve never been honored by a Mortal Queen’s company. My chariot shall do its best for you.” He opened the doors to the courtyard, where the apples on the trees had deepened into a rich orange color and the leaves were tinged with red—colors that were unseen in the desert terrain of the center island. It still made my breath hitch.
Thorn adjusted his arm to take my hand, and I let him help me onto the chariot as if I couldn’t possibly step up without him guiding me. I held my skirt in my other hand and sighed contently when we stood together, facing the skies. Playing my game.
“Ready?” he asked. His golden curls were flattened by a metal band of laurel leaves wrapped around the crown.
“Yes,” I replied with my chin up.
He lifted a hand, and the chariot sliced through the crisp air.
It was a speed I didn’t know existed. Though this realm offered a strange ability to ride in chariots and not feel like we were being thrown backward, I gripped the rails. Thorn threw his head back and laughed.
The islands came and went too fast to identify them. Was that a river? Were there trees or was it all grass? Even the mountains couldn’t be seen at the speed we traveled. Everything was there for only a second before it melted back, giving way to new islands and territories.
If I ever needed to escape, this would be the chariot to steal.
At this point, I wasn’t certain we were passing islands at all. Black and flashes of stars were all I could make out.
Thorn raised a hand, the chariot halted, and we hung in the center of nothing.
