Page 75 of Feralheart

“It was a gift,” I said.

“It’s amazing.”

She stepped out of the room and waited for me to catch up.

We followed the thin man down a corridor, stone walls lit by floating orbs bobbing near the ceiling. Music drifted from somewhere ahead, strings and wind instruments playing a light, forgettable tune.

The corridor opened into a wider hallway. The music grew louder, punctuated by shrill laughter.

Ahead, double doors stood open. Light spilled out, golden and warm, promising things commons weren’t allowed to touch.

The thin man stopped at the threshold and turned to face us.

“You’re curiosities,” he said. “Survivors of the trials. The nobles will want to see you. Touch you, maybe, if they’ve had enough wine.” The corners of his mouth turned downward. “Let them. Smile if they speak to you but do not speak first. And for the love of all that’s sacred, don’t embarrass yourselves.”

He stepped aside.

Through the doorway, I spied elite dressed in silk and jewels drifting through the room, holding crystal glasses, their laughter bright and carefree. I recognized faces from the viewing stands. A man who’d screamed for my blood. The woman who’d thrown her wine goblet.

They’d wanted me dead a short time ago. Now they wanted me to decorate their evening.

My burned foot throbbed. The scale remained hot in my pocket.

And somewhere in the crowd, Prince Fenian was waiting.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

ERADIN

“It’s so pretty,” Lyndie said in a wistful tone, staring into the ballroom.

“If you find vipers pretty.” Reece kept his voice low. “Makes me miss the simple festivals we hold at home.”

The ballroom was bigger than my entire cottage. Bigger than ten cottages, if I was guessing right. Crystal chandeliers hung from the ceiling, each one dripping with light that scattered across the polished floor.

Another lady passed the open doorway. With a flick of her finger, she magically changed the color of her gown from pale blue to bright pink, the jewels around her throat, in her ears, and speckling her hair changing along with the gown to match.

I couldn’t push aside the noise my brother’s lungs made when he tried to breathe, the rattle that said his body was eating itself from the inside while the elite ate glazed fowl and changed their gown’s color from one to the next.

The glowing light spheres drifted through the air in aimless, slow-motion arcs, bobbing above the heads of the guests.

One glided out of the ballroom and floated close to me.

A tiny creature stood inside, clutching the metal bars of its cage. Translucent wings fluttered at its back and its body glowed, generating the light. It threw itself against the cage, beating its wings, its mouth open in a scream I couldn’t hear.

If I grabbed it and flung it against the wall, would that break the surface and let it fly free or would I cause the poor thing even more pain that it felt now?

It generated beautiful light, but at what cost?

Selira wouldn’t be caged. Wouldn’t be made into light for someone else’s party.

And neither would I.

“Back,” the thin man growled, smacking the orb into the ballroom like a ball in a competitive game. It soared up toward the ceiling, impacting with one of the chandeliers before bobbing back down to hover over the guests.

The queen sat on a throne on the dais. Lyndie stared her way, her throat moving with her swallow.

“Whoa,” Reece whispered from beside me. “This is…something else.”