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“I meantthem! All those new kids.” She shuddered at her own memories. “Now, could you give me a hand with this, please? It’s part of what you’ll be wearing for today’s ceremony.”
“It’s pretty…” I said, walking over to the mannequin and picking up the delicate blue material draped over it.
“It’s not finished yet. I’m actually running a bit behind.”
“I’m sure you’ll get it finished on time.”
“I hope so, otherwise you’ll be sitting out there in your birthday suit, freezing your tits off.”
“Mum!” I shrieked.
“What? I’m not sending you out in something you’ve already worn before. That would be worse.”
CHAPTERFOUR
If there was one thing I disliked more than the Royal Selection itself, it was all the pomp and frills that came with it. I had been laced into a corset so tightly it all but robbed me of my ability to breathe, let alone speak.
The dress I had on was deep blue, with silvery lace and brilliant, white gems. That delicate sash my mother had been working on was draped across one shoulder, a white and silver brooch sporting a small blue gem, a piece of the Frost Stone itself, pinning it to my outfit.
I looked at my reflection in the mirror while my mother added a few finishing touches to my appearance with her fingertips. She was caressing my face, her fingers delicately gliding across my skin and through my hair. As she worked, my face transformed. Color bloomed on my otherwise pale cheeks, my lips were given a warm, pink glamor, and my eyes were shadowed with blue and silver glitters.
My mother grinned at me, and I focused on her face instead of my own reflection. “What?” I asked.
“Nothing,” she said, as she ran her fingers through my hair. It was black, long, and as smooth and still as a frozen lake in the dead of night. “You look so much like your father, sometimes.”
“I think I look a little more like you.”
“Only when you become a wolf. Otherwise, it’s all him I see. That’s not a bad thing.”
“We look the same, but we aren’t.”
“I’m sure he is as painfully aware of that fact as you are,” she added, sighing. “Alright. I think we’re ready to go.”
I nodded. “Yeah. Let’s get this thing over with, I guess.”
“Two more weeks,” my mother said, as she headed over to the door to the room we were in. Her dress was all blue and silver as well, but it was different to mine. Hers was darker, deeper, and carried more silver accents on it. It, like the sparkling crown she wore on her head, looked heavy—like it was weighing her down.
Still, she smiled and held the door open for me. “Coming?” she asked.
Nodding, I walked through the door into the adjoining corridor. Already there were guards posted, waiting for us to make our way from the room down to the Grand Hall. Tellren was there too, among the guards, ever the dutiful steward.
My mother wrapped her arm into his, and together they walked proudly through the castle’s corridors. Wherever we went, there were Fae present. From cleaners, to caretakers, to other nobles and their families, each and every one of them stopped whatever they were doing as soon as they saw us and stepped aside for us to pass.
Queen Dahlia Wolfsbane greeted each of them with a smile, a wave. Some, those she knew a little better—like the staff at the castle—she greeted personally, with a squeeze of the shoulder, or a touch of the arm. She liked knowing the people who worked for her and made it a point to make them feel important, like they mattered to her.
And they did.
If not for them, the castle, maybe even the entire city, would come to a standstill. My mother understood the importance of her subjects and took steps to make sure they were cared for and supported. I admired that about her. I also admired the fact she could keep so many names straight in her head. It took a horde of people to take care of the castle and palace alone, and she seemed to know all of their names and something about their lives she could talk about.
It was impressive, to say the least.
While I waited for her to wrap up a conversation with the group of staff who had just finished preparing the Royal Balcony, a commotion at the end of the corridor caught my attention. A large set of double doors had opened, and people were filing through. At first, all I could see were guards and soldiers.
Behind them, though, werecontestants.
As soon as they entered the area, the nobles in the corridor with us all started clapping and cheering. The chorus rose when the contestants smiled, waved, and otherwise gestured toward those clapping for them. They were celebrities, rockstars, the most exciting people in all of Windhelm.
I couldn’t have rolled my eyes any harder.
