Arion leans closer, lowering his voice until it brushes the edges of my skin. “You should take pride, Arlet. Of all the creatures I have seen beneath the mountain and beyond the wastes of Zlosa, you are by far the prettiest human. The most compliant, I suspect. Don’t make me regret that observation.”
I manage to keep my chin lifted, even as ice slides down my spine.
He smiles as if he’s pleased by the effort. “A fortnight, then. Thorne will see to your training.”
My infertility glares at me yet again. It suddenly feels like flames are licking at my feet, teasing me with being burned alive.
I take a deep breath. “I am glad to know that I please you, my king.”
He grins again, delighted.
“I wouldn’t say that yet. Beauty is only marginally impressive, and you have only brought me one gift. You have much to do to make this union worthwhile for the both of us.”
I stare at him, uncomfortable.
“Go. Thorne will take you to your rooms to meet your servants. I will see you for the feast tonight. I expect you to act like my future consort.”
Just like that, my skin crawling, I am to be sent away. Thorne begins moving after another bow. I follow suit, fully aware that the king’s attention has turned from me, that he is watching as someoneelse enters the room, someone I don’t know, and then I leave with Thorne.
The air around me is electric. The first meeting went… well? But the race is far from won. There is much to learn, and I must find a healer who can fix my womb. If such a person exists.
As I retrace my steps with Thorne and then embark into a part of the palace I am unfamiliar with, I rehearse conversations in my head, crafting the right way to bribe a servant.
It’s a foreign concept for me.
I’m used to keeping myself busy. Used to helping others. I don’t make a spectacle of myself—I am usually the one who fades into a familiar rhythm of hard work, not the one who schemes and plots and shines bright enough not to be ignored.
It makes my organs twist and my skin crawl. So much so that I hardly realize when we arrive at my new room. It isn’t until Thorne opens the door that I snap out of my endless thoughts and step inside.
Chapter 10
ARLET
My room is as lavish as any other part of the palace that I have seen so far. It’s full of more gleaming wood, shiny silk-papered walls, gilded edges, intricate carvings, and rich textiles hanging from the windows and adorning the floors.
Six women in total are standing on either side of the room; three stand next to a privacy partition with simple yet extremely fine and elegant gowns hanging next to them, and the other three hold different beauty tools like a golden hairbrush, cosmetic pots, and a tray of perfumes.
The elven women are beautiful in a way my mind struggles to hold on to. Different shades of light-colored hair and pale-to-honeyed skin seem to fit together like the most beautiful flowers in nature. Their light skin reminds me of my own.
Standing in front of these women, I feel unbeautiful. Not just because of their extremely sharp and well-proportioned faces, but for the same freckles that have haunted me my whole life.
Except…there had been someone who loved the small dots that cover my body. He’d traced them with both finger and lip. He’d made me feel so beautiful that the way I looked no longer mattered.
Here, I am one of “them.” Back to being judged and scrutinized.
Looking at this room, and the women waiting for me, I realizewhat I have to do. I must use one of them to fix me. Could I trust them? Could I get them to obey me? I quickly spiral into fear and self-doubt.
My heart races and my breath quickens.
Before, when I was up against an impossible situation, I had the ability to reach deep and scrape out just enough conviction to face each challenge, perhaps not gracefully, but well enough to continue. It happened when I lost the baby. When I was thrown out of my home. When I came to Enduvida with Estela and Mikal. And then, finally, when I was cursed and had to leave behind the new life that I’d built for myself.
I…don’t feel the same strength now.
Red, stop,Cursed One interrupts.
I pause at the nickname, only to be drawn away by Thorne.
“This is where you will be staying while you prepare for your upcoming engagement to the king. Once married, you will be taken to a suite closer to His Majesty’s personal rooms, but for right now, you will be given space and expected to be transformed into the ideal bride.” Thorne gestures at the women holding beauty products. “These will be your ladies-in-waiting.”