Page 91 of Death of a Mortal

I still didn’t understand thething, but I knew it was there, lying in wait for something. At times, I wondered what would happen if I let it take over when I could feel its fiery grip on my heart and mind, as if it were directing my actions, heightening and sharpening my anger.

In the months since I’d left Briarstead, it had become a stronger presence.

I looked up from my plate to the queen, meeting her stare. When I did, that strange prickling spread across my scalp again, the way it had when walking out on the grounds with her. The beast in my chest seemed to go right back to sleep, settling my heart rate once more.

It was odd how fast I went from angry to not angry at all, like I had just somehow forgotten how to care that the king had just tried to rile me up. It was odd, but probably for the best.

The queen broke my stare, so I turned to the king and calmly said, “I am truly honored, Your Majesty, to be dining with royalty. Your generosity is most appreciated.” That was so overkill.

The king seemed pleased, if a bit surprised, at my behavior. The tingling on my scalp stopped. What was that? Was it magic?

“Dear, I still need to review the dinner seating arrangements with her so she knows who is who.”

“It’s easy enough your mortal mind should be able to grasp,” he said to me in response to his wife.

I just ignored the comment. The servants had cleared the plates, so I was nearly done with this exhausting experience.

“Royals and you on one side, my court on the other. I sit in the center with the queen to my right and the prince to my left. You will be seated beside Varyn.”

My heart stopped, and I couldn’t breathe. “I’m next to…Prince Varyn?” I asked. I had questioned the king, which was against rule twenty-something of the queen’s, but I didn’t care.

Malvina shot me a glare.

Caedryn just smiled an evil grin. He knew it would hurt me, and he enjoyed that. “Why, yes, you’re his honored guest. You’ll dine next to him, you’ll dance with him, you’ll fuck him again if he so pleases.”

Again…he knew it had happened. This was all the confirmation I needed that Varyn had used me. I felt dirty and cheap. Stupid.

My blood turned to ice.

Chapter 22

Flames in the Night

I didn’t sleepa wink that night, the night before the ball. My nerves had me wired.

And so, the day of the ball was here.

After I paced back and forth in my cell for what felt like hours, Round and Dumb came back to take me to get cleaned up and dressed, the steps beginning to feel routine.

Except this time, they would bring me to a ball where Varyn waited.

The knots in my stomach didn’t ease the entire time the maidens were washing me. As they scrubbed at my body, the memories of his skin on mine in the library came crashing in, making me recoil.

They painted my face with makeup, blackening my eyes, reddening my cheeks, and covering my scars. Those would have been far too ugly for a royal ball. It was jarring to see myself without them.

By the time the guards came back to escort me to the ballroom, my heart was racing so fast it felt as if it would beat right out of my chest.

My breath hitched when we approached the king and queen,standing behind the closed doors to the already noisy ballroom, where I would have to face the prince.

They were dressed in similar attire as the day of the speech, except the queen looked far more lavish tonight, with her intricate hairstyle and gleaming jewels at her neck, ears, and wrists. Formal, but flashy.

They had dressed me in nearly the same purple dress I’d worn to the dinner of betrayal, except this one was green.

“Remember my promise, Naci, and know that I will keep it if you say even one word out of line. You are happy, you are treated well, you support the crown, and you are firmly opposed to the rebellion. Do you understand me?”

The threat was obvious all over the king’s face and in the tension of his shoulders.

I recalled him saying that the rebellion was dead, so it seemed odd that he needed so desperately for me to publicly denounce it and tell the rebels to stand down. It made me wonder if they were a bigger threat than he wanted anyone to know. I’d contemplate that more later.