“I would ask who you are,” I said, clearing my throat, “but as you’re walking the back passages, you must be meeting a man. You’re one of the ones sent to seduce men to find out what they’re hiding for Zalia, aren’t you?” I accused her, knowing my sister’s reach throughout the castle and how she claimed so many secrets.
“What do you know of Zalia, and how does she know you?” Her viper-red eyes latched onto mine.
“I know lots of things. Now, get out of my way.”
“You must matter for some reason. Zalia sent me to look for a misplaced girl.” She twirled a lock of hair around her index finger. “A woman with a crown on her head and bitterness on her face.” She looked me up and down. “I see I have hit my mark.”
Unable to mask my scowl, I let out a long breath. “Zalia has always been resourceful, picking the saddest grapes in the bunch to do her bidding.”
Her eyes narrowed. “You seem to know her well.”
“Well enough. Regardless, you have failed her in your attempts to tail me. You let me know who you are. Stupid girl.” I shook my head.
She took a step forward. “You wear a tiara.”
“Yes.”
She tapped her nail against her chin. “Ah, then you are the princess. The one hidden away,” she proclaimed. “You were just a rumor at most. There are few who have claimed to see you, but no one truly knew. I thought Cara was mad when she told me you saved her from a fall.”
I clenched my jaw. I should have let her fall. “Get out of my way.”
She stretched out her arm, blocking my way out. “How intriguing, to be locked away by your own father. What crime did you commit? No?” she asked, as I refused to answer since it was obvious.
Could she not see? I was clearly hidden for my ugliness!
“No matter then. Zalia wanted you to know she’s watching you.” Her lip tugged at the corner. “Every step. I’m not the only one. There are many of us. Watch your back.”
“Tell my sister that I think it is pathetic,” I spat, “that she sent one of her puppets to send me a message.”
I turned on my heel and marched away. Fury coursed through my veins, and my teeth almost shattered from the grinding. Zalia was walking a dangerous line, one that would end in one of our deaths.
CHAPTER FIVE
I sat the plate, with ritual symbols carved into clay, on the ground. The book lay open on a spell, but my master would not grant me the power for even a tiny spell unless I did his bidding first.
“Kill them, or I’ll kill you. I will not ask again.”
His hold on me grew tighter by the day, strangling my soul. It was an itch too deep to scratch, an ache too strong to ease. I closed my eyes, exhaling slowly.
“Please, don’t,” I whispered aloud.
“I will bequeath great power unto you. I will give you everything you desire. Beauty. Strength. Vengeance. All you must do is take one life.”
I swallowed hard, pulling my fingers up to my throat and gently caressing the skin. “One life and no more,” I said, relenting. “Just one.” I ran through a list in my head. I could have taken one of my sisters’ lives, releasing me from my vengeance, but I couldn’t bring myself to hurt my family, no matter how estranged I was. Perhaps Zalia’s lady who had followed me… She would have deserved it, but then Zalia would have suspected me.
The smooth walls around me felt like they were closing in, and the strings of my corset too tight. The silver, ornate framed mirror reflected over my room, above the unlit fireplace. Walking lightly over smooth stone floor, I approached my reflection with a solemn stare. Touching my cheek, I pondered what life must’ve been like for the beautiful. I could’ve had it all. To be in the highest of service to my people, a servant to the kingdom—a queen. My tiara could have been traded for the crown that sat upon my father’s young curls, youth bestowed to him with a ring that granted him the immortality of a fae. No one could take it from him unless he chose to relinquish.
Unless I could.
With my master’s power. There was no more evading. It was time.
I grabbed my traveling cloak, red with white trim. I pulled the hood over my face, then turned to the secret passageway that led out of my room and past the guards. They linked the old part of the castle with the newer rooms, but over time, they’d become a maze only I knew.
“It is time then,” I said to myself, pulling strength into my trembling bones. “To kill.”
***
There she was. The girl who had lived. She couldn’t be allowed to leave. My master had already declared it so; she would die, and I would be the one to tear out her heart. He was growing impatient. He needed a young soul. I didn’t know what for, but I knew better than to ask questions.
She sat surrounded by friends on a window ledge. Had she not learned her lesson? She threw her head back laughing at a joke I couldn’t make out. In the daylight, I could see her better. She wore imperfections that made her look more human than flawless, like freckles smattered around her button nose and dark creases under the eyes that she’d done her best to conceal with white powder.
“Spying on girls you’ll never have as friends? It’s creepy.”
I whipped my head around to look at Zalia. She pointed at the pimples covering her otherwise flawless skin. “They’re still there.” She growled under her breath. “When will your curse wear off?”
I tilted my head to the side, smirking. “Oh, that is unfortunate. Although, I think it is quite the improvement… Perhaps they will stay for good.”
“That better not be true!”
“Evangeline.” Caspian ran toward us, his breaths quickening.
Wide-eyed, I looked from Zalia to him. “I’ve found you…” He paused when he saw Zalia. “Your highness.” He bowed. “Pardon the intrusion.”
“I am amid a conversation with my sister.”
He squinted under the light. “Sister? Wait, you’re a princess?”
Zalia rolled her eyes. “How do you know one another?”
I looked at Zalia. “I bumped into him in the gardens. That was all.”
“Well…” Zalia exhaled wearily. “Stay back in your room. If I found out you’ve left again for another midnight stroll, Father will rain his wrath down upon you.” She snapped her fingers at Caspian. “As you are a guest to the court, faery, you may leave us.”
He burned red, balling his fists at his sides.
“You must take my advice and stay away from this one,” she stated. “She is nothing but trouble.”
He unclenched his fists, then grinned, making me smile too. “I happen to like trouble, princess.” He spat the word like venom. He was growing on me.
Her eyebrows wrinkled. “Disgusting.” She shook her head, then pushed us apart. “I will have your chambers checked in an hour,” she warned as she walked away.
Once she was out of earshot, I let out a sigh of relief. “Thank you.”
“Princess.”
“Yes.” I flushed red.
“You left that out.”
“I’m not an important royal. I was locked away.”