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She sighed. “No, I didn’t.”
“I heard him say… that he didn’t have a choice but to use it. What did that mean?”
She stopped working entirely, then. Walking around me, she stood before me and met my eyes. “I need you to trust me when I say… everything your father and I are doing is for you. Because we love you, and only want what’s best for you.”
“Weirdly, that makes me feel worse.”
“Try not to think about it, okay? We have more work to do here, and you need to focus on tonight.”
“Don’t remind me.”
If there was one thing I knew with all my heart, it was this; I would take a dangerous monster over a dance any day of the week. I hated being constrained by tight dresses and paraded around like a tamed unicorn. In truth, I was much more at home in a forest, running freely, the wind rushing through my fur, past the tips of my ears, my paws digging into the snow as I ran.
This?
This was a nightmare.
The rest of the day went by in a blur of hair and makeup glamours, and before I knew it I was being frog-marched to the ballroom. The music was too loud, there were far too many people, and worst of all, my arrivalwas the main event, which meant another big introduction and yet more eyes on me. I waited behind a glittering, silver curtain at the top of a grand staircase while Lord Bailen introduced me. I had my father to my right, his arm linked with mine, and my mother to my left.
Both looked and smelled incredible, but their appearance did nothing to soften the tension moving between them, through me.Something wasn’t right. I had barely seen my father all day, not until a few minutes ago, and the only words he’d had for my mother wereMy, andQueen.
I squeezed my mother’s hand as Lord Bailen finished his introductions. My squeeze was thankfully returned. The music in the ballroom swelled, the curtains pulled back, and suddenly, I was in full view of maybe a hundred people, staring hungrily at the prize that would make all their dreams come true. Yes, there were fewer courtiers in here than there had been out at the arena, but the confines of the ballroom made me feel like they were pressing in on all sides.
I felt entirely exposed. A small voice in the back of my head picked that moment to ask if I was actually wearing clothes, and in a panic, I had to look down and check. I was, of course, wearing clothes, a beautiful silver dress my mother had made for me. It sparkled, and shimmered, and fit my form perfectly. My black hair was delicately pulled away from my face in an updo, blue gemstones hanging at my neck from a delicate necklace, and a splash of glitter on my eyelids. I knew I looked beautiful, mother’s work always did, but I never felt comfortable or like myself.
One step after the other, I walked down the main, grand staircase to a round of hearty applause and a beautiful crescendo from the orchestra gathered on the balcony above. The entire room was decorated in blue and silver. Little glittering motes of light fluttered through the air like snowflakes that wanted to go anywhere but down while several members of our Royal Staff buzzed around carrying tall-necked glasses filled with our specialty wine on silver trays.
Claire de Lune.
It was said to be the most potent wine in all of Arcadia, made from frozen berries that grew only in the harsh conditions unique to the Winter Kingdom. I wasn’t sure how I felt about it. On the one hand, being a Moon Child was supposed to make me a little more resistant to its effects than most. On the other hand, being part human made me more vulnerable.
That left me somewhere in the middle in terms of how quickly I could get drunk from it. I decided tonight was the night to test that, because there was no way I was going to get through this without at least three glasses of that stuff in me.
As soon as a plate came close enough to me, I reached out and grabbed a glass.
“Pace yourself,” said my father, “The night is young yet.”
By the time he was done speaking, I was done with my first glass of blue wine. It was delicious, and sweet. It sent a shiver ofcolddown my throat that raced through my chest and into my stomach. Once there, the cold dissipated, replaced by a gentle warmth that climbed back up and into my chest, where it remained.
I set my glass down, then picked up another before my mother moved along the Fae holding the silver plate. “Are you trying to get drunk?” my mother asked.
“I believe wine is known as a social lubricant,” I said, “I feel like I’ll need a lot of that if I want to get through this… thing.”
“Do you mean to tell me you aren’t happy that all these impeccably dressed men are here for you?”
“I appreciate the effort they’ve put into their appearances, but you know this isn’t for me.”
“Try to enjoy yourself anyway?” she asked, smiling gently at me. She then turned her head to the side and beamed. “Look, there’s LordCyr.”
“Oh, Gods, mumno!”
She waved at him. I didn’t know why, but she hadwavedat him. Once summoned, the Fae Lordling wasted no time in breaking off whatever conversation he had been having and making a beeline straight toward us. If he could’ve shoulder-charged through the other contestants, he would have, but that would have been rude, so instead he simply danced and weaved past the other contestants and some of the nobles who had been given exclusive access to this trial.
“Why did you do that?!” I hissed at her.
“Because I want to be entertained too,” she said, with a smile and a wink.
“This is torture, you’re torturing me right now—I’m being tortured.”
