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“You have every right to react in whatever way you feel. What happened back there is unacceptable. You will be okay. You will get through this, and you will come with me now to get dressed and walk back in there with your head held high.”
“I can’t,” I whispered.
“I know. But you will. Because when someone hurts us, wounds us in our soul, it will continue breaking unless we find our feet again. I will be with you, and I will not let a bully like Vanessa be the thing that tears you down after everything you’ve survived. She is not worthy of wounding someone as precious as you.”
Tears continued to stream down my face, but my sobs subsided as I stood for another minute looking at my door.
The king pushed at my back gently. “I’ll wait for you here.”
I moved forward, opening then shutting the door behind me more smoothly than I felt.
Inside, my gut was churning. I wanted to curl up in a ball, disappear. Be safe. Never meet the eyes of anyone in that ballroom again. Ever.
The only mercy I’d been granted tonight besides the king rescuing me was the fact that Noah hadn’t been there to witness my torture. I was somewhat certain he’d have stepped in. More than somewhat, Noah wasn’t a monster even if he was blind to what Vanessa really was like.
My bed called to me, offering a soothing sleep, but the king was waiting. His faith in my ability to do this was more than anyone else had in me.
And letting him down would be a source of guilt on top of the humiliation.
Beyond that, he was right. Vanessa wasn’t worth losing myself to. She was planning something after all, and having me worried about her was no doubt part of it.
But I was not a quitter, and giving up when everything seemed against me had never been in my nature.
I looked at the wardrobe, to the dress I needed to put on, and made a decision right there.
Vanessa would never make me feel humiliated again.
I dressed quickly, turning to the mirror and braiding my hair, pinning the flyaways back with a few pins. I smoothed the comfortable and elegant dress. As much as I hated the queen at the moment, she had lavished the staff with these beautiful outfits. And we never were able to really dress up.
Staring at myself in the mirror, I pinched my cheeks a few times and wiped under my eyes, dabbing at them with my fingertips.
No humiliation. I’d rise from that place they had me in in the chair and be more than they assumed I could be.
When I opened the door, the king was waiting as promised. “You look beautiful, Cora.”
I hesitated just for a minute before taking two steps forward and hugging the king of the Unseelie. “Thank you for believing I can do this.”
The hug he returned was almost wonderful enough to make up for all the ones I didn’t get growing up on my own. As if this one man could be a source of encouragement that would make the shitty parts of my life worth it.
If only the entire royal family were as kind.
I pulled back, toying with my hair. “Why does the queen hate me so much? What did I really do?” The way she looked at me was more than just me being close with Noah or the king. It was like I was doing something to her. And I couldn’t understand how the hatred could go so deep.
The king sighed and looked at the flickering torches along the wall. “Jealousy can be a fickle, terrible thing.”
“Jealousy? But what could Her Majesty possibly be jealous of me about?”
His eyes suddenly dropped, and he stood silently for a moment. “Noah had a sister. We lost her to a very rare disease that the fae can get. She was only ten, but she was a firecracker. Always pushing the boundaries.”
The way the king smiled when he talked about her lit up his entire face. He looked younger somehow as he spoke. And my heart ached for him and for Noah.
I stayed quiet as he continued.
“When Noah was close with you and had built a friendship with you, it was the first time he seemed happy in the way that he had when he had his sister. And I believe that in the way I see you as family—like a daughter, if that’s okay to say—she feels jealous that Noah and I seem to have things that bring us joy. And it serves as a reminder of her anger in Felicity being taken from us too soon. So she projects that rage on to you, as unfair as it is.”
I nodded, wiping away more tears. I had no idea when I’d become so emotional.
The king ushered me around the way I was used to walking as we made our way through the halls and back toward the main dining area. I was sure no one expected me to return. I didn’t expect me to return and wouldn’t have without a support system like King Driscoll at my side.
