Page 23 of War of Her Heart

“I grew up in a castle. I’d say that’s far from a tragedy,” I said, trying to reassure her.

“You see how many new things you’ve seen in the short time we’ve been out today? Imagine all of the things you’ve missed out on. There is an entire world out there far more beautiful than the castle you spent half a century in. To me, that’s a tragedy.”

I had never thought of it that way. My father always told me how grateful I should be to live in such a beautiful place where servants take care of me, and I was always protected. He always said that I wasn’t missing anything from the outside world. The only knowledge I had was from the books I read and the stories I heard. Reading about cities, clothing stores, and Night Realm faeries and creatures was nothing compared to experiencing it for myself.

9

Chapter 9

Violet

Once I was back in my chambers at the castle, I started to second-guess my decision to let Bronwen buy me dresses. Wearing Night Realm clothing to the city with Bronwen and Adar was completely different than attending dinner tonight in a Night Realm dress with everyone. A servant brought the dresses to my chambers and when I unzipped the garment bag, a note fell out.

Don’t overthink it. Wear the dress.

-Bronwen

Don’t overthink it. Every molecule inside of me wanted me to wear a Night Realm dress. They were so beautiful, and I would never have another chance like this once we got back home. I decided to wear the least Night Realm-esque dress that I picked.That way I could gauge Calum’s reaction before wearing one of the riskier gowns I picked.

This gown was fitted, so it showed my figure but had long sleeves and a more conservative neckline. And by more conservative, I mean it wasn’t a deep v that went all the way to my navel. It had a square neckline that showed the top of my breasts and was deep purple in color. After looking at the dress again and looking at the shoes I brought with me, I realized I had no shoes that would do the dress justice. I decided to go ask Bronwen if I could wear a pair of hers. I took the dress out of the garment bag so I could take it with me to Bronwen’s chambers. I had no doubt with her massive collection that she would want to see the dress to ensure she picked the perfect pair of shoes.

When I opened the door to exit my chambers and looked down the hall towards Bronwen’s chambers, I sawhim. Sebastian had cornered someone in the hall and his shadows . . . well, his shadows were holding the fae up on the wall.

I let out a quiet gasp, and Sebastian whipped his head around. When his eyes met mine, his demeanor changed, and the shadows released the fae. The dark look he had on his face went away, and he looked as if he was shocked to see me.

Sebastian looked back at the fae and said, “I’m running out of time and so are you. Figure it out.” I wasn’t eavesdropping. Fae have exceptional hearing, and Sebastian, well he wasn’t whispering.

“Yes, my lord.” The fae nodded as he quickly left.

Sebastian transferred to stand right in front of me. “Violet.”

“I’m sorry I interrupted you,” I said as I looked down, afraid of what I had seen and what he might do. He was the shadow king, and I could see that now. He was threatening one of his own, but what bothered me the most was how quickly he changed his demeanor when he saw me. Like there was an internal switch that he could flip and instantly change himself.

He placed his cool hand on my chin and lifted it up so I was looking at him again. “I’m sorry you had to see that. There’s just a very,” he paused, “pressing matter that I need to handle, and it seems that none of my Guard are competent enough to figure it out.”

“Oh, you mean whatever is making you weaker.”Why the fuck did I just say that?

Sebastian removed his hand from my chin and took a step back. “How do you know I’m weaker?”

“I—” Fuck, I couldn’t say Calum told me. “I heard some of the servants speak about it.”

“My servants are smarter than that.” His eyes darkened. “They know not to speak of such things when outsiders are here.”

“I tend to go unnoticed.”

Sebastian’s eyes slowly moved down my body and I remembered that I was still in skintight Night Realm attire. “That’s impossible.”

I had backed myself into a corner with this one. Sebastian was staring into my eyes again, waiting for me to tell him how I knew.

“Violet, I’m going to ask you again. How do you know?” The shadows around him started to grow and began forming a circle around me like they were waiting on his command to pounce. The beautiful dusty blue-eye color that had put me in a trance last night was slowly starting to darken. I saw nothing but a cold-blooded emotionless killer standing in front of me.

“I—”

“I told her, Sebastian. Calm down.”

The voice of an angel. Bronwen.

“You told her?” Sebastian asked while shifting his head to look at her.

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