And then she holds the tent flap open.
I stare at freedom, my heart beating with the sound of Andraste’s confessions.
With fury.
I promised the Prince of Evernight I would marry him, but it wasn’t until this moment that I realize I want to marry him. I want to be free of my mother’s machinations. I want to explore what it feels like to have a chance to fall in love with someone who believes in me. I want to know what kindness means, and what it feels like to fall asleep in the arms of a prince who will protect me from my mother’s wrath.
I want to know if the way my heart skips a beat when he’s around means something.
But what she says lights a fire in my heart.
Magic. Power. Strength.
I could have it all.
Andraste wants me to play the game? It feels like she’s silently telling me to go ahead with my reckless plans.
Suddenly, all of my doubts about marrying the prince disappear.
“Thank you.” I pause to kiss her cheek. “Thank you for telling me the truth.”
Andraste won’t meet my eyes. “I should have told you a long time ago. Now go…. Go and enjoy your last night of freedom before Mother realizes you’re gone.”
It’s not my last night of freedom.
It’s only the first.
And while I can’t say goodbye to her, I have to say something. “You will make a fair and kind ruler of Asturia one day. You will be the kind of queen Mother could only dream of being.”
And then I slip from the tent before she can even respond.
11
Thiago
The moon hangs heavy in the skies over the Hammerdale ruins as we wait.
They’re long broken—the remnants of a forgotten kingdom—and all that is left of them are fallen stone and jagged arches. The only thing that stands in any semblance of good quality is the temple, where an unknown goddess—or warrior—stares over the valley with a spear in her hand. The sculpted scallops of her gown are some of the finest work I’ve ever seen and the sight of her wings—each feather lovingly excavated from the alabaster marble—made my breath catch in my chest.
It also makes me wonder.
The fae of the Seelie alliance are purebred and can list their ancestors all the way back to the Great Exodus, when we fled the home world and colonized Arcaedia.
Wings don’t belong on the fae.
Or not the Seelie.
No, the only winged fae they belong to lie in Unseelie.
I close my eyes and let my glamor shift over my skin. I can feel the muscles stirring in my back as my wings slip into being. It’s almost akin to shapeshifting. When I want to be Seelie, I swallow my Darkness whole. Wings, claws, those wretched soulless eyes that stare right through me in the mirror.
But they’re always there.
Pressing beneath my skin. Threatening to consume me. One slip of my glamor and my true form rises to the surface.
I haven’t told Vi the truth—there’s so much I haven’t told her—but what will she say when she sees my true form? The handsome prince with his green eyes and wicked smile is just a façade. It’s a lie. A shield.
I want to be that prince with every part of my being, but the truth of my birth can’t be denied.
I’m a monster trapped into fae flesh, and no matter how much I want to hide it, I can never forget.
Maybe you can finally submerge it once and for all if she marries you. Maybe she can help you vanquish this beast. You know how she makes you feel.
There’s an incredible lightness in my chest when Vi smiles at me.
I’m no longer trapped in the dark, fighting not to drown.
No, I’m whole and handsome and able to lock my Darkness down so deep I could almost throw away the key. She’s my hope and my salvation in one.
Marrying her means I finally get a good hand of cards. I’m no longer being tortured on Fate’s rack. There is only goodness within Vi’s heart. She can anchor me to this world, and I will give her everything.
My kingdom. My crown. My heart.
Gods, maybe even my heart.
If she cannot love me, then can she ever truly love you? whispers the Darkness within.
Be silent, I tell it.
What are you going to do? It taunts. Are you going to lock me away and pretend I don’t exist? Are you even going to tell her about me?
I steel myself. I don’t know how she’ll react. I just need time. Time to make her fall in love with me.
Maybe if she loves me, then she will forgive me this one lie.
If I can just hold myself together long enough for Vi to want to stay with me….
The Darkness laughs. I’ll let you have this moment. Only because when I finally rise again, I’m going to enjoy your pain.
But it sinks down deep inside me, until I can finally breathe again.
Will she come?
“Stop pacing,” Thalia says, hauling me into place in front of her and brushing nonexistent lint of my doublet.
“I can’t help it. Is there any sign of Baylor?”
I sent him to ensure Vi arrives safely at the ruins.
“She’ll come,” Thalia says, and I shake her free and rub my knuckles into the palm of my other hand as I pace.
Wanting someone as badly as I want Vi is like handing Adaia the knife and then not expecting her to put it to
