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CHAPTER4
Istared into the mirror and hardly recognized myself. My dark hair was pulled back and twisted on the top of my head in an elaborate design that was already starting to give me a headache, and Eletta had painted on a thick line of coal along my eyes that somehow made me look so different from myself.
But none of that was the issue. It was the white dress that fell from my shoulders and shined like stars cascaded down the fabric. I hadn’t known where to look when Eletta had slipped it over my head, but my astonishment quickly slipped away when I realized that the back of the dress fell to just below the small of my back.
The markings on my back were fully exposed, and even though I tried to argue against the dress, she warned me that the queen had demanded I wear a garment that showed off exactly what they were after.
They didn’t care about the woman who was about to be standing in front of them. They cared about one thing and one thing only, and that was on full display even as I tremored from the chill of the night.
I longed for bed, but I didn’t have a choice. I was standing with Eletta right outside the great hall, and she was still fidgeting with my dress as I tried to breathe. I refused to allow the royals to see how badly they affected me.
My fear was their power, and they would yield it against me if only I gave them the chance.
These were the people who had murdered my father when he had tried to deny them his only child, and I would not dare to let them see that fear in my eyes.
“Are you ready?” Eletta spoke softly in front of me, and I let my eyes meet hers. She was fae just like the rest of them, but something told me this girl wasn’t anything like them at all. She had treated me with nothing but kindness and respect since I had arrived.
“I’m not sure I will ever be ready.” I was honest with her, and I watched as the small smile fell from her lovely face.
But she didn’t have time to respond. The doors to the great hall opened, a royal guard on each side, and she quickly moved behind me. I could hardly see inside the hall, but it felt like hundreds of faces were staring back at me.
I was looking at each and every one of them, and I hated that I was searching for a guard who I had met only today.
A guard who was completely inconsequential.
I passed through the doorway, and I straightened my exposed spine as I noted the rows and rows of people who stood in the space. They were all watching me with wonder and want in their eyes, but none of them met my gaze. They looked upon my cheeks before their gazes fell upon my shoulders, hungry to see my back.
A curse to me, yet a blessing to them. A savior.
I looked away from all of them and let my gaze fall upon the three fae that were seated upon a low dais. The queen was the first to catch my eye, and it was no wonder. She was dressed in a long red gown that stood out among everyone else’s, and the crown that sat atop her head matched. Spires of gold topped with large rubies that should have made it impossible for her to stare down at anyone.
But she managed it just the same.
She looked down at me with a severe and calculating gaze, and it took everything inside of me not to cower. She was beautiful, there was no doubt about that, but she considered me carefully as her eyes narrowed.
She was the power. She was far more than a face to be looked upon.
Even with two men sitting at her sides, the queen of Citlali was the one who ruled, and I feared her far more than I ever thought I would.
I let my gaze slide away from her to the king at her side. He wore a similar crown, much smaller in size, and he looked regal in his deep blue surcoat adorned only with a royal crest in gold and red.
His gaze roamed over my body as if he was trying to calculate every inch of me that could be used. I hated the look in his eyes, as if I was prized cattle being brought to the highest bidder.
I jerked my gaze away from him, and I stopped short when it slammed into the only other who stood upon the dais. He was much younger than the king and queen, and the crown that fell upon his head was much less grandiose.
But he didn’t need the crown upon his head to catch my attention. He was strikingly handsome, in a way that I had only felt with one other, and there was a soft smile upon his lips as he looked down at me.
I stopped in front of the three of them, and I refused to let my head fall as I stared up at them. This was the royal family, the family that would take from me, the family I was to be married into, and I refused to bend the knee even as they shook beneath me.
A hush fell over the crowd as the queen stood. “So, you are the Starblessed that has been promised?”Her voice was unyielding, and every head turned to face her as she spoke.
I didn’t know how to answer her, so I didn’t say a word in return. I simply held her gaze as she assessed me.
“You’re the girl with the power of the stars?” She clenched her jaw, and I knew she wasn’t used to repeating herself.
“I hold no power.”
“Ah, but you do.” She stepped down from her dais, and one of the guards rushed to hold his hand out to her. “I can feel it from here.”
