Page 100 of Solstice

I cleared my throat and looked down at the scars on my palm, right along my lifeline, tracing over a particular grouping as the aching chasm in my heart deepened. We still hadn’t heard from anyone. It was as if Siobhan and the others dropped off the face of the planet. Had they been captured? Had they been killed? If the fairy king came, who would protect us? Could we protect ourselves?

Miri wasn’t here. Carter wasn’t here. That hurt the worst. Not that I expected them to come, not after everything that had happened. It was too fucked, and given the danger I suspected headed straight for us, I didn’t blame them. If I could, I would have left me years ago.

Just me and Lex again. Like always.

“Ivette,” my mother said, waltzing into the room with that same judgmental arrogance she’d had all week. She stopped when she saw the look on my face. “Why so glum? It’s your wedding day. At least pretend like you’re excited.”

Ah, yes.Pretendthis was my idea, that the relationship between Lex and me had been real from the start, that I wanted any part of this.

I should. Lex was a handsome, powerful man. We had all the money in the world. Our marriage would be broadcast to over twenty-seven countries. But the hollow, sinking feeling in my gut only worsened.

It seemed so trivial now. The last thing I should be doing was getting married. All of this, all ofthem,so insignificant.

“Look at me, child,” Evelyn said. I forced my chin up and tried to smile, hoping she couldn’t see the fractures through the duct tape. “You’re making the right decision. You both are.” She straightened her spine. “I know this isn’t what you wanted, but we all have to make choices we don’t like for the good of the country.” She touched my cheek, the way she used to do when I was a little girl, and gave me a pitying smile. “I’ve been where you’re standing. And I wouldn’t change my decision.”

It was the wrong time to compare her and my father to me and Lex.

Especially since Kit and I had spent part of this week trying to find out how far her manipulation went.

My mother gave me a fake peck on the cheek and announced I had fifteen minutes to get downstairs if we wanted to start this thing fashionably late. As soon as the door shut behind her, I made up my mind.

“Ivy.” Kit turned to me, taking my hands. “I debated telling you this after the wedding, but you should know something.” She took my hands. “And you’re not going to like it.”

I raised an eyebrow.

“It’s about that thing you asked me to look into, that weird thing I found on Mother’s firewall.”

The look on her face told me everything I needed to know.

“Is it what I think?” I said. “Was it her?”

Kit’s features dropped, and she pursed her lips, giving me a solemn nod. “I think so. Whoever hacked you and your spouses, they did one sloppy thing. Just one. But—” She sighed. “I’m pretty sure Mother is the reason you broke up the first time. And the photo leak?” Kit pursed her lips. “I found the cache myself.”

Words could not describe the fury that shot through my blood. Rage at my mother, at the media,at all ofthemfor doing this to me. To us. Sadness that we had missed out on so much because of it, because of the roles we all had to play.

Well, I was done playing it.

I couldn’t do anymore.

After everything that’s happened, they didn’t deserve it. Lex’s voice played in the back of my head.“Bunch of sycophants, all of them.”He was right. Lex had always been right about everything. Screw the polling numbers. Screw the rumors. I didn’t care. They’d taken everything from me.

I should let this wedding go on, let it all fall to pieces. If the fairy king was coming for us, then tear us apart, you bastard.

Evelyn Washington deserved my wrath, and god-fucking-damn it, I’d hit my breaking point.

No one had heard from Poppy, Siobhan, or the other fairies in weeks. The queen had been asleep for two days in our guest room. Miri had gone MIA. I couldn’t get a hold of Carter. The media had not stopped skewering me, despite being invited and attending my wedding. My big bill had fallen flat on its face. To top it off, my mother had violated a personal part of my life and manipulated me into years of pain.

Enough.

Time to tear it down. I turned on my heels and met my sister’s sympathetic gaze.

“What?” She narrowed her skeptical gray eyes. “You look like you’re about to do something stupid.”

“Maybe I am.”

“What?” More serious now, she gasped and tried to reach for my hand, but I was already out the door, picking up my dress so I could run down the hallway on the balls of my feet.

“Mother!”

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