Crazier and crazier thoughts come to mind, each one more frightening and outlandish than the last. This place is making me insane after just one day.
“That went well,” Elara says, snatching her hand away from the king when we reach the residence floors. He doesn’t seem to mind in the least. “Take the girls to their rooms.”
She doesn’t direct her command at anyone in particular, but four Sentinels break off from the group. Their eyes glitter behind their black masks.
“I can do it,” Cal and Maven say in unison. They glance at each other, startled.
Elara raises one perfect eyebrow. “That would be inappropriate.”
“I’ll escort Mareena, Mavey can take Evangeline,” Cal offers quickly, and Maven purses his lips at the nickname. Mavey. Probably what Cal called him as a boy and now it’s stuck, the emblem of a younger brother, always in shadow, always second.
The king shrugs. “Let them, Elara. The girls need a good night of sleep and Sentinels would give any lady bad dreams.” He chuckles, tossing a playful nod at the guards. They don’t respond, silent as stone. I don’t know if they’re allowed to talk at all.
After a moment of tense silence, the queen turns on her heel. “Very well.” Like any wife, she hates her husband for challenging her, and like any queen, she hates the power the king holds over her. A bad combination.
“To bed,” the king says, his voice a bit more forceful and authoritative. The Sentinels stay with him, following when he goes the opposite way from his wife. I guess they don’t sleep in the same room, but that’s not much of a shock.
“My room is where, exactly?” Evangeline asks, glaring at Maven. The blushing queen-to-be is gone, replaced by the sharp she-devil I recognize.
He gulps at the sight of her. “Uh, this way, miss—ma’am—my lady.” He holds out an arm to her, but she breezes right by him. “Good night, Cal, Mareena,” Maven sighs, making a point of looking at me.
I can only nod at the retreating prince. My betrothed. The thought makes me want to be sick. Even though he seemed polite, nice even, he’s Silver. And he’s Elara’s son, which might be even worse. His smiles and kind words cannot hide that from me. Cal’s just as bad, raised to rule, to perpetuate this world of division even further.
He watches Evangeline disappear, his eyes lingering on her retreating form in a way that makes me strangely annoyed.
“You picked a real winner,” I mutter once she’s out of earshot.
Cal’s smile dies with a downward twitch and he starts walking toward my room, ascending the sloping spiral. My little legs fight to keep up with his long strides, but he doesn’t seem to notice, lost in thought.
Finally he turns, his eyes like hot coals. “I didn’t pick anything. Everyone knows that.”
“At least you knew this was coming. I woke up this morning and didn’t even have a boyfriend.” Cal winces at my words but I don’t care. I can’t handle his self-pity. “And, you know, there’s the ‘you’re going to be king’ thing. That must be a boost.”
He chuckles to himself, but he’s not laughing. His eyes darken and he takes a step forward, surveying me from head to toe. Instead of looking judgmental, he seems sad. Deeply sad in the red-gold pools of his eyes, like a little boy lost, looking for someone to save him.
“You’re a lot like Maven,” he says after a long moment that makes my heart race.
“You mean engaged to a stranger? We do have that in common.”
“You’re both very smart.” I can’t help but snort. Cal obviously doesn’t know I can’t get through a fourteen-year-old’s math test. “You know people, you understand them, you see through them.”
“I did a great job of that last night. I definitely knew you were the crown prince the whole time.” I still can’t believe it was only last night. What a difference a day makes.
“You knew I didn’t belong.”
His sadness is contagious, sending an ache over me. “So we’ve switched places.”
Suddenly the palace doesn’t seem so beautiful or so magnificent. The hard metal and stone is too severe, too bright, too unnatural, trapping me in. And underneath it all, the electric buzz of cameras drones on. It’s not even a sound, but a feeling in my skin, in my bones, in my blood. My mind reaches out to the electricity, as if on instinct. Stop, I tell myself. Stop. The hair stands up on my arm as something sizzles beneath my skin, a crackling energy I can’t control. Of course it returns now, when it’s the last thing I want.
But the feeling passes as quickly as it came and the electricity shifts to a low hum again, letting the world return to normal.
“Are you okay?”
Cal stares down at me, confused.
“Sorry,” I mumble, shaking my head. “Just thinking.”
He nods, looking almost apologetic. “About your family?”
The words hit me like a slap. They hadn’t even crossed my mind in the last few hours and it sickens me. A few hours of silk and royalty have already changed me.
“I’ve sent a conscript release for your brothers and your friend, and an officer to your house, to tell your parents where you are,” Cal continues, thinking this might calm me. “We can’t tell them everything, though.”
I can only imagine how that went. Oh, hello. Your daughter is a Silver now and she’s going to marry a prince. You’ll never see her again but we’ll send you some money to help out. Even trade, don’t you think?
“They know you work for us and have to live here, but they still think you’re a servant. For now, at least. When your life becomes more public, we’ll figure out how to deal with them.”
“Can I write to them at least?” Shade’s letters were always a bright spot in our dark days. Maybe mine will be the same.
But Cal shakes his head. “I’m sorry, that’s just not possible.”
“I didn’t think so.”
He ushers me into my room, which quickly sparkles to life. Motion-activated lights, I think. Like back in the hallway, my senses sharpen and everything electrical becomes a burning feeling in my mind. Immediately I know there are no less than four cameras in my room and it makes me squirm.
“It’s for your own protection. If anyone were to intercept the letters, to find out about you—”
“Are the cameras in here for my own protection?” I ask, gesturing to the walls. The cameras stab into my skin, watching every inch of me. It’s maddening and after a day like today, I don’t know how much more I can take. “I’m locked in this nightmare palace, surrounded by walls and guards and people who will tear me to shreds, and I can’t even get a moment’s peace in my own room.”
Instead of snapping back at me, Cal looks bewildered. His eyes blaze around. The walls are bare, but he must be able to sense them too. How can anyone not feel the eyes pressing down?
“Mare, there aren’t any cameras in here.”
I wave a hand at him, dismissive. The electrical hum still breaks against my skin. “Don’t be stupid. I can feel them.”
Now he truly looks lost. “Feel them? What do you mean?”
“I—” But the words die in my throat as I realize: he doesn’t feel anything. He doesn’t even know what I’m saying. How can I explain this to him, if he doesn’t already know? How can I tell him I feel the energy in the air like a pulse, like another part of me? Like another sense? Would he even understand?
Would anyone?
“Is that—not normal?”
Something flickers in his eyes as he hesitates, trying to find the words to tell me I’m different. Even among the Silvers, I’m something else.
“Not to my knowledge,” he finally says.
My voice sounds small, even to me. “I don’t think anything about me is normal anymore.”
He opens his mouth to speak, but thinks better of it. There’s nothing he can say to make me feel better. There’s nothing he can do for me at all.
In the fairy tales, the poor girl smiles when she becomes a princess. Right now, I don’t know if I’ll ever smile again.
TWELVE
Your schedule is as follows:
0730—Breakfast / 0800—Protocol / 1130 Luncheon
1300—Lessons / 1800—Dinner.
Lucas will escort you to all. Schedule is not negotiable.
Her Royal Highness Queen Elara of House Merandus.
The note is short and to the point, not to mention rude. My mind swims at the thought of five hours of Lessons, remembering how terrible I was at school. With a groan, I throw the note back down on the nightstand. It lands in a pool of golden morning light, just to tease me.
Like yesterday, the three maids flutter in, quiet as a whisper. Fifteen minutes later, after suffering through tight leather leggings, a draping gown, and other strange, impractical clothes, we settle on the plainest thing I can find in the closet of wonders. Stretchy but sturdy black pants, a purple jacket with silver buttons, and polished gray boots. Besides the glossy hair and the war paint, I almost look like myself again.
Lucas waits on the other side of the door, one foot tapping against the stone floor. “One minute behind schedule,” he says the second I step into the hall.
“Are you going to babysit me every day or just until I learn my way around?”
He falls into step beside me, gently guiding me in the right direction. “What do you think?”
“Here’s to a long and happy friendship, Officer Samos.”
“Likewise, my lady.”
“Don’t call me that.”
“Whatever you say, my lady.”
Next to last night’s feast, breakfast looks dull in comparison. The “smaller” dining room is still large, with a high ceiling and a view of the river, but the long table is only set for three. Unfortunately for me, the other two happen to be Elara and Evangeline. They’re already halfway through their bowls of fruit by the time I shuffle in. Elara barely glances at me but Evangeline’s sharp-eyed stare is enough for both of them. With the sun bouncing off her metal getup, she looks like a blinding star.
“You should eat quickly,” the queen says without looking up. “Lady Blonos does not tolerate tardiness.”
Across from me, Evangeline laughs into her hand. “You’re still taking Protocol?”
“You mean you aren’t?” My heart leaps at the prospect of not having to sit through classes with her. “Excellent.”
Evangeline scoffs at me, brushing off the insult. “Only children take Protocol.”
To my surprise, the queen takes my side. “Lady Mareena has grown up under terrible circumstances. She knows nothing of our ways, of the expectations she must fulfill now. Surely you understand her needs, Evangeline?”
The reprimand is calm, quiet, and threatening. Evangeline’s smile drops and she nods, not daring to meet the queen’s eye.
“Luncheon today will be on the Glass Terrace, with the ladies of Queenstrial and their mothers. Try not to gloat,” Elara adds, though I never would. Evangeline, on the other hand, blushes white.
“They’re still here?” I hear myself ask. “Even after—not being chosen?”
Elara nods. “Our guests will be here for the coming weeks, to properly honor the prince and his betrothed. They won’t leave until after the Parting Ball.”
My heart plummets in my chest until it bounces around my toes. So more nights like last night, with the pressing crowd and a thousand eyes. They’ll ask questions too, questions I’ll have to answer. “Lovely.”
“And after the ball, we leave with them,” Elara continues, twisting the knife. “To return to the capital.”
The capital. Archeon. I know the royal family goes back to Whitefire Palace at the end of every summer, and now I’m going too. I’ll have to leave, and this world I can’t understand will become my only reality. I’ll never be able to go home. You knew this, I tell myself, you agreed to this. But it doesn’t hurt any less.
When I escape back into the hallway, Lucas ushers me down the passage. As we walk, he smirks at me. “You have watermelon on your face.”
“Of course I do,” I snap, wiping at my mouth with my sleeve.
“Lady Blonos is just through here,” he says, gesturing to the end of the hall.
“What’s the story about her? Can she fly or make flowers grow out of her ears?”
Lucas cracks a smile, humoring me. “Not quite. She’s a healer. Now, there’s two kinds of healers: skin healers and blood healers. All of House Blonos are blood healers, meaning they can heal themselves. I could throw her off the top of the Hall and she’d walk away without a scratch.”
I’d like to see that tested, but I don’t say so out loud. “I’ve never heard of a blood healer before.”
“You wouldn’t have, since they’re not allowed to fight in the arenas. There’s simply no point in them doing it.”
Wow. Yet another Silver of epic proportions. “So if I have, um, an episode—”
Lucas softens, understanding what I’m trying to say. “She’ll be just fine. The curtains, on the other hand . . .”
“That’s why they gave her to me. Because I’m dangerous.”
But Lucas shakes his head. “Lady Titanos, they gave her to you because your posture is terrible and you eat like a dog. Bess Blonos is going to teach you how to be a lady and if you light her up a couple of times, no one will blame you.”
How to be a lady . . . this will be awful.
He raps his knuckles on the door, making me jump. It swings open on silent, smooth hinges, revealing a sunlit room.
“I’ll be back to bring you to lunch,” he says. I don’t move, my feet planted, but Lucas nudges me into the dreaded room.
The door swings behind me, this time shutting out the hall and anything that might calm me down. The room is fine but plain with a wall of windows, and totally empty. The buzzing of cameras, lights, electricity, is vibrantly strong in here, almost burning the air around me with its energy. I’m sure the queen is watching, ready to laugh at my attempts to be proper.
“Hello?” I say, expecting a response, but nothing comes