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“Because you are a very smart woman,” she says with pride. “That has never been in question.”
“Now,” she says as we stand in front of my door, “go inside and see your first surprise of the evening.”
“First?” My mother has never been one for surprises. She seems almost giddy with excitement about it though. “How many surprises do you have planned?”
“A few.” Her secrets are hidden behind a smile. “Go on in.”
Hesitantly, I open the door to my room and step inside. To my surprise, I find Iris there waiting for me. She’s dressed in a silky white nightgown with a matching robe on top.
I close the door and whisper, “What are you doing here and why are you wearing one of my nightgowns?”
With a sly smile, Iris holds up a vial containing a liquid that glows pink.
“I’ll be impersonating you during the bedding ceremony,” she says, popping the top off the vial and downing the liquid in one gulp. As she wipes her lips, her appearance changes. She looks exactly like me.
“How?” I ask, astonished and slightly weirded out by the transformation.
“It’s a glamour spell,” she says, tossing the now empty vial on the bed.
“Why are you doing this for me?” is the next logical question.
Iris shrugs her shoulders. “I couldn’t care less if someone watches me and Uri have sex. I’m not shy about that sort of thing, but my brother wanted to save you the embarrassment. Uri and I volunteered to pretend to be you. Right now, Uri is drinking the same kind of potion except it will make him look like my brother.”
“So you’ll be making love to Uri, but he’ll look like Oberon. Doesn’t it bother you that he’ll look like your brother?”
“The glamour doesn’t last that long. By the time we get down there and situated, it will have worn off. That’s why I convinced your father to allow the sheet to be placed over the bed.”
“Thank you for doing this for us. I don’t know what else to say.”
Iris, now looking like my doppelganger, waves a hand in the air. “Don’t worry about it.” She walks over to the door and grabs the knob. Before she turns it, she looks back at me over her shoulder. “Oh, and by the way, don’t be surprised if you get a few strange looks tomorrow.”
“Uh, why is that?” I brace myself for her answer.
“I’m notoriously loud when I make love, so you may get a reputation for being, well, let’s just say an overly enthusiastic lover.” She flips her stolen locks over her shoulder. “Just make sure you don’t leave this room until I return. We don’t need people seeing two of you roaming around the castle.” She winks at me and leaves the room.
I sit heavily on the edge of my bed. No wonder Oberon didn’t want to tell me what he had up his sleeve. Even if he had told me, I’m not sure I would have believed it without seeing Iris’s transformation for myself.
I lay back on my bed and breathe a sigh of relief.
The sound of a door being opened interrupts my calm. I sit straight up in bed and look at the door to my room, already expecting someone to have figured out the ruse.
The door is closed, but I know I heard something like it open. With a quick glance around my room, I see nothing out of place. I check the bathroom to see if a cabinet opened on its own but see nothing amiss. The only other place to look is my walk-in closet, but there are no doors inside it.
When I step into the dark closet, I don’t see anything out of place. I’m about to walk out of it again, when the movement of a shadow grabs my attention. I strain my eyes to make out what’s there when the figure of a man steps out of the dark.
A man I had long thought dead.
A man I’ve been mourning for what seems like forever.
“Hello, Emily,” Mark says.
My world suddenly and irrevocably spins out of control. I hear myself take in a sharp breath just as my muscles give out on me from shock. As I fall to the floor, my mind completely shuts off, plunging me into a darkness so complete, I fear I’ll never see the light again.
Chapter 15
Reality is a fickle concept. What’s thought to be true or false all depends on the observer.
My reality has been shattered. Have I lost my mind? Is this what it feels like to go insane?
