A Kingdom of Stars and Shadows

CHAPTER7

Gavril hadn’t called on me last night.

After our lunch, he left me in the garden, and I hurried back to my room where I had locked myself away until now.

Thoughts of fate plagued me through the night, and I tossed and turned and searched the starless sky outside my window for more hours than I was able to sleep. It was torturous. The thought that what lay in front of me could be simply changed with only one decision. A decision that wouldn’t be easy, but it would be fate-altering just the same.

“It will just be you and the royal family tonight.” Eletta was braiding my hair into a thick plait over my shoulder. “The king may have his counsel present, but otherwise this is a family dinner.”

I snorted at her insinuation that I was a part of this family. Even if I was to marry the crowned prince and go forward with my dealt fate, these people would never be my family.

I would become one of them in name only.

I would become Evren’s sister in marriage and his queen in duty.

I would be his brother’s wife, and everything about it would be agonizing.

I was dressed in another white gown, this one much simpler than the one before, but my back was still on full display. It was as if the queen was dressing me so that she may see my mark and nothing else.

The fabric was beautiful and chaste, but it felt obscene against my skin. The queen had wanted to know if I was pure, but she also wanted to put me on display in a way that made me feel exposed.

Eletta stood at my side the entire walk through the palace. I was to dine with the Achlys family in their private hall, and the room we walked to hadn’t been a part of the tour yesterday.

There were guards standing outside the doors, and I absently wondered if any of them ever went anywhere without one of their royal escorts. One of them motioned me forward, and I lifted my chin as I passed through the door and into the room.

A large wooden table was centered in the room beneath a monstrous chandelier, and the king and queen were seated at opposite ends. Two men I didn’t recognize sat to one side while the two men that I was trying not to think about sat at the other.

“Ah, Starblessed.” The king lifted his wine goblet in my direction before motioning me forward. “Please join us.”

Evren stood before any servant could head in my direction, and I tried not to look at him as I slid by him and into the chair he had just pulled out for me. Gavril was sitting to my right, at the hand of the queen, and as soon as I was settled into my seat, Evren took the seat to my left.

I didn’t know what to do or say, so I simply sat there and looked ahead of me at the grand tapestry that draped down the wall. It held the gold emblem of the royal crest, and the deep red of the fabric unsettled me in some way.

It reminded me of what this kingdom desired of me.

“Starblessed, these are my advisors, Draven and Erebus. They both wished to have a better look at you than they were able to get the other night.” Both the name he called me and the words the king spoke begged of me to recoil.

Instead, I simply nodded my head once in their direction before looking back to the tapestry.

“Adara.” My name slipped from the queen’s lips like a curse. “How are you finding the palace thus far? Is it to your standards?”

I looked at her, and I could feel her watching, assessing.

“I have never seen another palace before, so compared to the home I grew up in it is quite grand.”

“I’m sure it is, but I hope what we provided for your family before you were summoned kept you comfortable.” She drank from her wineglass slowly, but her gaze never fell from mine.

“What you provided for my mother and me, you mean?” My hands tightened into fists in my lap. “My family was ruined the moment you all stole my father and slayed him for trying to fight against this betrothal.”

A hand skimmed across my knee, and I flinched. Evren’s fingers gripped my leg in his hold and tightened. A warning.

I knew why.

The queen’s eyes had darkened with venom and the words she spoke felt like they were laced with poison, eager to destroy me. “Your father sealed his fate, my dear. Not the crown. If he had been loyal, then he would still be with his family. If he were loyal, he wouldn’t have died a traitor.”

My chest heaved, and I opened my mouth to speak, but Evren’s hand tightened again, stopping me.

“The blood that runs through your veins strengthens our kingdom and the human lands. Without your fealty, we could easily allow the Blood Court to move into Starless as they please.” She cocked her head and narrowed her eyes as she studied the way her words were affecting me. “Who would be there to protect your mother when the vampyres decided to feast upon her flesh?”