The horror of what he’s talking about slowly dawns on me.
“Ladies and gentlemen, permit me to rectify this. I am so very grateful to find our families have the very best reason to strengthen our bonds.”
“Oh, oh fae lords no,” I whisper even as my throat feels an invisible leather strap start to pull.
I scan the grounds.
As if summoned by dark magic, the three figures I'd tried so hard to erase from my memory materialize alongside theKing, resplendent in glittering jewel tones that would make a debutante weep.
Marisela glides across the marbled pathway followed by her vicious daughters. Anastasia and Drusilla flank my stepmother like sleek, malevolent jackals, their movements practiced and predatory.
Every muscle in my body goes rigid as stone as Marisela's chilling stare settles on me. Her perfectly glossed lips curl in a poisonous facsimile of a smile.
“Cinder?” Kai asks next to me in a low voice.
I can’t blink. I can’t breathe. I can’t move.
Suddenly, I’m twelve years old again. My father is dead and I discover the true meaning of family.
Rejection.
Punishment.
Pain.
“Cinder, you’re shaking,” Kai whispers, panic lacing his voice.
He’s right. I have to stop. I have to pull the plug on my own thoughts, disconnect from what’s happening before it destroys me.
Though staring into the eyes of the vampires who tore into me with their sharp fangs over and over whenever they felt like it makes it difficult. My throat is suddenly hoarse as I remember begging them to stop, pleading because the pain was too much.
Around me, the party's atmosphere chills to a sub-zero degree. Dozens of eyes bore into me, sharp and judgmental as their whispers reach a fever pitch. I can practically taste the scandal and intrigue like fine port on their tongues.
Only the ambassadors from the Common World seem to genuinely clap with enthusiasm as my stepfamily makes their way toward me, escorted by the King.
His face is twisted into a cruel, triumphant smile. His eyes gleam with smug satisfaction, revealing the true depths of his intentions.
He knows.
He knows I fear my family.
This is a trap. A manipulation orchestrated by the King to strip away my composure. He wants me to lose it, to rail, to fight, to accuse my stepfamily of all they’ve done. Or maybe just reject them. Because that’s all I want to do. Turn on my heel and run. Find a dark corner and shut down every one of my wild emotions.
It would damage the relations between the Common World and Midnight to reject the family that allegedly raised me. The King is appearing to be gracious and accepting of our mixed families, so I would look like the asshole here.
It would give a perfect excuse to dissolve the engagement so Kai will have to marry a fairy.
“Cinder,” Kai hisses this time. Fingers slip into mine, but I jerk away, rejecting his touch.
I don’t realize I’ve done it until it’s too late.
There is an almost imperceptible gasp. Everyone is watching.
I don’t want to be touched. Not now. Not while my skin crawls as if turned into a giant mass of wriggling maggots.
But I can’t explain that.
The perfectly timed misstep on my part will give them all the excuse they need. And even though I can’t choke my way past my visceral reactions, I become even more certain that the King had something to do with my father’s death.
