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I looked straight at Crux. “I am the Shadow King’s daughter. The Princess of Blackcastle, if you want to be formal.” My smile turned icy and my gaze dipped to the floor. “And today, I most certainly do.”
“My princess.” Lyrae instantly dropped her head, bent her knees in a curtsy. “I am Lyrae, one of your father’s protectors.” It took Crux a moment of inner turmoil, but he did the same, his mocking bow a hair short of disrespect.
“I’m Crux.” He side-eyed Lyrae, as if he couldn’t believe she’d acquiesced so easily. “Another of the king’s protectors.”
“Then you are mine, as well, as I am the king’s closest kin.”
Oh, Crux didn’t like that, but Lyrae simply lowered her head again, that cool, unflappable smile on her beautiful face.
“Thank you for seeing mehome.” I put extra emphasis on that last word when I stepped away from Raz. As much as I wanted a private talk, it wasn’t worth arousing suspicions, not with so many eyes upon us, so many ears listening.
I waited until he disappeared into the crowd outside, made sure Crux and Lyrae stayed right where they were before I headed for my room. Zor wasn’t there, but the other iron band lay on the end of my bed, and I slid it on gratefully, noting another high-necked dress hanging in my closet.
I dipped into the bath, then went to bed.
But I never really slept.
No, my dreams were stained with Oracle’s grinning black teeth, and the creeping suspicion that this world was far more wicked than I ever imagined. If I expected to survive what was coming, I’d better play my part to perfection.
* * *
The next dayI watched my monstrous father mete out injustice to his hapless subjects as rage built inside me like a tidal wave.
Anger built as he cruelly slaughtered a male begging for his house to be saved. Fury crashed down as he banished an entire family to the prisons for debts they could not pay.
I smiled serenely at the two vultures perched next to him, their bloody knives gleaming with every lightning strike as the storm I’d watched yesterday through Torin’s ceiling roiled overhead.
I would kill them all.
Once I mastered this magic, once the power was under my control, I would burn this place to the ground, until it was nothing but a pile of glowing embers.
Those thoughts kept me sane until Crux dragged his final victim away; my father circumvented the puddle of blood as he called today’s proceedings finished. My stomach was in knots when I took the king’s arm, wondering how long before Ember arrived at Blackcastle.
What would she be like?
Would she be a monster?
Or would she still be my friend, worthy of saving?
I should have warned Raziel yesterday, but I’d been a mess, too rattled to do anything except let him lead me back to the Keep and ask ridiculous questions about the Oracle.
Now I saw what a mistake that was.
“I have my second riding lesson today, father.” The royal vultures showed keen interest in me today when we passed, whispering behind their hands, the tension in the room palpable. “Zor was pleased with my progress yesterday.”
“The bidding is up to eleven million gilder.” The king nodded to a tall male in black, his white hair bound in gold, pointed ears tipped in the same gleaming metal, topped with sharp black stones that seemed to absorb the light.
The male’s dead, empty eyes filled with cold amusement; his lips curved in a cruel smile as he watched me pass by. What was it about wealth and immortality that turned people into monsters? Did the excess of a thing make it worthless, and if life was meaningless, then what mattered to these people, except for power?
Because that, they could not get enough of.
“Let their imaginations fill your coffers, father.” I met the male’s consuming gaze, offered him a withering smile. “And we all get what we want in the end.”
“And what doyouwant, daughter?” One glance told me the question wasn’t just for appearances. No, the king’s jaw tightened, speculation creasing his brow. “I’ve been thinking how tractable you’ve been since arriving. Not at all how Tavion described you.”
“Are you surprised?” I forced myself to stay calm, to not show so much as a flicker of fear. “Tavion Montgomery is a gambler and a liar. He’d say anything to save his skin.”
Some of my resentment bubbled to the surface, which was evidently enough to convince my father. “I never supported his involvement in our plan; Julian insisted his brother be part of this and he seemed well-suited to infiltrate my brother’s military.”
