“Don’t talk to strangers, Bella. That’s Monster’s law 101.”
“That was Ivy’s ring! She has seen Ivy!” I turn to haul back to the woman, but I spot her tossing a piece of paper trash to the ground before dusting her hands off and setting her sights on a young girl with a burlap sack positioned over her head entirely, hiding her features from everyone. That doesn’t stop the old woman.
“Care for a souvenir, Pretty Girl?” she repeats.
The eerie girl in the burlap sack doesn’t even pause or acknowledge the woman as she quickly passes by.
The woman shakes her head and tries again on the next man with a horn protruding through the center of his forehead.
...she’s a hustler.
She never had Ivy’s ring at all. It’s simple transfixion magic. I learned to do it my first month here. If you say something with enough conviction, you can change the way someone thinks. And even the way they see. A little bit of magic and a whole lot of confidence is all someone needs for transfixion.
I shake my head and remind myself not to trust anyone here. Even if it comes to my little sister. Always lead with doubt in the Kingdom of Carnal.
I follow closely at Ruiner’s side, and his attention slides to me out of the corner of his eye every two to five seconds. The crowd thickens, and the tension lining his back tightens. Every muscle in his body is taut and ready. The heart of the city just outside the king’s castle is the worst of Carnal. A poor kingdom made entirely of outcasts aren’t always the kindest citizens.
It isn’t until the small, circular cottages come into view that the thousands of people brushing against me start to calm into just a trickle of passersby. The cottages are spaced out largely just outside a towering brick wall that reaches high above the little one-room houses that line a circle around the castle walls. I remember this area fondly.
Because this is the Brotherhood’s homes. And I stayed in the one nearest to the gate for the first few days I arrived in Carnal. The Ruiner’s cottage.
The kingdom’s one hope is that the king will find his Chosen bride. It’s foretold that a match of magic will bring great power as well as great wealth to the Kingdom of Carnal. And so, every year, King Leavon steals away six women (I use the term women loosely considering my baby sister is only thirteen fucking years old). And as a help, the Brotherhood, too, steals a single girl each. A total of ten are brought into the kingdom. And over the last hundred years, none have lived past that one year of initiation. Except for me:the one who got away.
Golden gates line the entrance to a smooth sidewalk. The narrow metal bars don’t hide the castle’s grandeur. It spreads far across green grass like an infection seeping into the lawn. The mere sight of the sleek white brick estate turns my stomach.
I swore I’d never come back to this shiny shithole of insanity. But if she’s here, I’ll never leave until I know she’s safe.
For several seconds, I don’t move. Then I see her. With just a few steps, I enter. I stand with my back to the glittering gates. My gaze spans the sweeping will-o’-the-wisps that dance in the breeze. Their flowers glow a ruby red from each thin branch that dusts the whirling, swirling walkway. The monstrous doors once looked like a happily-ever-after awaiting my young future as I gazed up at the golden paint that framed the entrance doors.
Now it looks like a snarling mouth ready to eat my little sister alive.
Pale blonde hair, the very opposite of my own, sways around her face. Sharp angles and full lips always made everyone stop and stare. At just thirteen years old, she brings in friends by the dozens with her pretty smile alone. But a dark part of her, one she doesn’t even know exists yet, will sneak out once the sun goes down in this world.
In approximately four minutes, by my count. I peer up at the skies and make note of the warm haze burning along the horizon.
A long breath of nerves shoves from my lungs.
“It’s getting dark,” Ruiner murmurs. “We wasted too much time. We have to go, Bella,”
I take another careful step into the courtyard. If I just remind her what she left at home, I can get her to come with me. I don’t understand what would make her leave in the first place, but if she sees me, I know she’ll come home with me. And I can go back to pretending I don’t think about the Sand Man twice a day, every day.
My attention zeros in when her big blue eyes flash with a shadow of darkness.
Shit.
The Kingdom of Carnal isn’t just a kingdom of Monsters. It creates them. The longer you’re here, the worse it becomes. Night by night, you lose your sense of humanity. It festers.
It creates chaos.
I shake my head as my own darkness rattles within me.
“Bella,” Ruin says from somewhere in the distance of my racing thoughts.
I glance away to the others. Ten of them are Chosen women. The rest, they’re courtiers. But not. In a way, they’re slaves to one master. A man I ran away from but can never truly escape.
The proof of that is in the fact that I stand here in his kingdom once again. And I hate that it feels like I never left. I hate that the need to appease him is growing wilder in my chest with each slipping hint of the orange sunlight casting across his beautiful, glowing castle.
Two minutes.