Page 66 of The Beast King's Bride

17

TALEN

“If Sire will stand still for one moment, then I can put the diamond cuffs on the sleeves—”

“There’s no one else here, Jas,” I say. “No reason to stand on ceremony.”

“Auria is right next door, Sire, with Princess Elayne. The walls have ears.”

“As well as teeth and claws,” I mutter.

“And that has nothing with you not holding still—wait, Sire—”

I yank the cover back over the mirror—we cover all mirrors, all reflections, anything through which the Empress can spy on us, and avoid the galleries with the portraits whose eyes follow us—and turn to face him. “I can put the damned cuffs myself. You have other tasks to attend to.”

“Sire, please. If I leave your room now, I’ll have to meet and greet the guests. I thought you liked me.”

I chuckle. “I see. Go on, then. Put on the cuffs and then… What else do I have to wear tonight?”

I’m already in my finest garments, fine woolen britches and coat, all a royal blue, polished black boots on my feet and a black cape fastened to my epaulets. All I could see in the mirror, though, was the cursed horns and the bitterness in my eyes.

I wonder if the Empress was watching.

We all watch, in the Fae realm. We watch through the eyes of birds and animals, sometimes even people, we watch through mirrors and windows and paintings and gates. When your life is so long, you become a voyeur. It seems inevitable—though she has her own reasons for watching me.

Did she catch a glimpse of our arguments with Ash? Or did I manage to hide them from her?

“Sire.” Jassin lifts the chain with the emblem of the kingdom and motions for me to bow.

I sigh and let him pass it over my head. I can do all this on my own and wish I could be left alone with my thoughts, but Jassin won’t let me. It’s pretty obvious he wants to cling on to me, cling on to hope—but is there any left?

I don’t have any choice but to keep moving, keep pretending it could all work out.

“You shouldn’t worry,” Jassin is saying, taking a brush to brush my coat. “The guests will come. They wouldn’t dare refuse with the Empress here.”

“I know.”

The palace has been quiet for a hundred years and it feels strange to know it’s filling up with Fae from all over the kingdom.

“And Princess Elayne?” he asks. “Will she stand by your side?”

“I think so.” Though she didn’t seem convinced.

He hesitates. “Is she the right one, Sire?”

“It doesn’t matter anymore.”

“Sire?”

“The Empress has to believe it’s happening. If she thinks I made a mistake, she will kill her. The game cannot stop, not until the end. If the Empress thinks she has won, she might kill everyone.”

Jassin shivers.

I think of Ash and my entire body tightens—with want, with doubt, with affection, with anger. I think of her bright eyes, that sweet smile, the way her curves pressed against me when I held her in my arms, the interest and the worry in her gaze.

Is she the right one? I don’t know. I never knew. The riddle is as vague as they come. All I know is that I saw her across that ballroom, that other vixen of a girl shouting awful things about her—things that might or might not fit the riddle—and I wanted her.

I wanted it to be her.

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