King Malachi made it clear the Rite of Blood isn’t marriage. That it is more about the relationship between magics than anything else. But this display has me wondering what exactly he’s offering. I’ve never cared much about love, but I assumed that when I tied myself to someone, we’d be committed to each other.
Am I really just a tool to him? Does it matter?
For Alyssium, I’ll do this.
“See you tonight, Elorie.” King Malachi lifts my hand, pressing his lips to the back while Selia watches.
And when they turn, I catch the light ebbing and flowing around them. The room grows colder the farther away they get, and the windows dim, letting a crack of something else shine through.
The Prince of Light.
The King of Hope.
Yet he’s cloaked in shadows.
Chapter 9
Elorie
The endless hallsof the palace remind me of the prison. They all look the same. The longer I spend inside them, the more lost I am. I’m not offered directions as a guard leads me through the maze of polished gold.
Every time we pass a window, I squint to see a glimpse of the kingdom beyond the palace. But like the windows in the great hall, they’re distorted by thousands of fragments of swirling color masking what’s beyond the glass.
By the time we stop at a doorway, I have no real sense of where I am. Only that this new room will be far more opulent than the cell I was being held in earlier.
The doors swing open, and a female steps through. She reminds me of Letia with her golden-blonde hair. But her hair is vibrant and soft, not brittle and littered with split ends from years of harsh winters. Her cheeks are bright, and her eyes are hypnotizing. One green and one blue. Both shine with rivers of color that are impossible not to stare into.
The grumbling guard who led me through the palace takes a step back. “She needs a bath.”
His thick dark hair is slicked back. And while Callum fills out his Crown’s Guard armor, this Fae doesn’t. It’s clunky on his shoulders, shifting around in a way that is more likely to get him hurt than protect him.
“The king wants her presentable for the ceremony tonight.”
Presentable.
Am I even a person to him?
Or is that the problem? I’m ahumanto him.
The king needs this magic he believes brews inside me, but when he realizes it was a fluke, he’ll discard me with what’s left of Alyssium.
After all, the brunette hanging on the king’s arm is proof he has no romantic intentions for me. It should be a relief, but it isn’t. It makes me easily disposable.
The blonde female nods, stepping aside. She’s silent as I walk past her, closing the door behind me. For the first time today, I’m free of the Guard.
My shoulders relax as I take in the room. It’s twice as large as Father’s entire house. An unusual white stone makes the floor iridescent, like the surface of the moon. It glows against the dark walls and sheer black curtains. Unlike the rest of the palace, there is little gold in my room. Instead, the flecks of light on the windows are as white as snowflakes sparkling in firelight.
Walking past the bed, I brush my fingers over the buttery silk sheets. I’d freeze in such a light blanket back home, but here, there is no need for anything heavier. Magic swims up through the ground. It seeps through the pores of the palace and into the objects in this room. I sense it in every inhale. Feel it between my fingers as I wiggle them at my sides. The Ley Court is alive in a way Alyssium isn’t.
“It’s beautiful.” I glance at the blonde as she walks into a connected bathing chamber. “This room is nothing like the rest of the palace.”
It feels likemine.
Glancing up, there is no ceiling—not really. Where it should be, there is an abyss of darkness with small pinpricks of stars glowing.
“The rooms at the palace match their guests.” She dips her fingers into the clear water in the tub, stirring until steam begins to rise. She drops sprigs of lavender into the water, and the scent quickly fills the room. “Come, undress.”
“I can bathe myself.”
