The queen dropped the guard’s hand and stepped toward me, and my breath rushed out of me. She stopped in front of me, within arm’s reach, and I couldn’t help noticing how vastly we differed. Her skin was pale and free of any signs of a hard life, and her hair was so light it was almost white.
She reached forward, her finger dipping below my chin and causing me to flinch before she tilted my face back and forth to examine me. “Your face is remarkable.” Her fingers flexed against my chin. “But I would like to gaze upon your back.”
I didn’t want to turn around. I was already so exposed, and I could already feel the stares of those who stood behind me. But I was given no choice.
The queen’s eyes darkened, and the floor beneath my feet began to move.
I reached out to grab ahold of something to stop myself from falling, but she was the only one within reach. I refused to use her help against her own power.
I hadn’t seen her lift her hand or mouth in any sort of spell, but the marble floor where I stood spun easily as if her power didn’t require such things. It didn’t stop until I was facing the doors in which I had arrived, and I heard her gasp along with others.
A cold finger ran down the length of my spine, and I shuddered under her touch. “Are you pure?”
Her question snapped me to attention, and I had no idea what she meant. “Excuse me?”
“Your blood. The blood of the stars. Is it pure, or have you been fed from before?”
A knot settled in my stomach at her insolence.
“Mother.” I heard the crown prince’s voice growl from the stage, and I balled my hands into fists at my sides.
“I am as pure as you demanded.” I tried not to let my voice waver. “No one has ever fed from me.”
Not in the way she was asking and not in the way I had wished for before. No one in my town dared to touch me. I was the Starblessed, and I belonged to the royals. The boys of my town had taken that as literally as they could.
Anyone who tainted me would be cursed. Anyone who harmed me, ill-fated.
“Good,” the queen spoke from behind me. “My son will be the only one to taste your powers and unite with them. You will be his and his alone.”
I hated her words. I despised how effortlessly she referred to me as an object to be devoured.
“Come, Gavril. Look upon her.”
I tensed as I waited with my back turned to the dais. I could hear movement, but I could see nothing but the faces of those who still watched the spectacle in front of them. But none of them were looking at me, not truly.
I knew the moment the crowned prince stood behind me. I could feel him along my marks like a buzz of power coming to life. It reminded me of Evren, and I quickly searched the faces around me for his familiar one.
“She is exquisite.” The crowned prince spoke before slowly moving around me. He stopped when he faced me fully, and he dipped his head in the slightest of bows. “It is a pleasure to finally meet you, Starblessed.”
“Adara.” I couldn’t stop myself from saying. “My name is Adara Cahira.”
“Adara.” He purred my name, and a chill ran down my mark. “It is a pleasure to meet you, Adara.”
I didn’t know what to say back to him because I didn’t share the sentiment. He was handsome and had been respectful thus far, but I was still sent here to be claimed as his belonging.
“And what am I to call you?” I asked, and I heard murmurs from those around me. But the crowned prince grinned.
“I go by many names, but as my future wife, I shall like it if you will call me Gavril.”
He watched me as I took in his words, and that small smile didn’t fall from his lips. “Would you honor me in a dance?” He held his hand out to me, and I faltered before slipping mine into his hold.
Music began playing the moment he drew me toward him, and my palm fell upon his chest as he slowly lifted my other in his hand.
I didn’t miss the way his hand fell upon the small of my back or the way his fingers clenched as they came in contact with my mark. That buzz of power from earlier only amplified under his touch.
“I’m sorry about my mother.” He spoke softly as he began spinning me around the floor. “I know she can be a bit overbearing.”
I glanced up at him. Overbearing didn’t feel like the correct word to describe the queen. My gut told me she was ruthless, cunning, unyielding.