I swallowed hard. That would be the current queen. The mortal I would soon replace.
Hannah.
“You may speak, Madam,” Morgan said to the queen.
She pointed at the tub. “In.”
Her voice shuddered across me like something from the depths of the chasms. Dark, dangerous, full of power. Even as a human, her seventy-five years spent in this court had changed her, transformed her into something else. My mother’s words echoed in my mind. This was the girl who hadn’t wanted to come here. The one who had changed.
She had bright blonde hair that fell to her waist and eyes the color of a fresh bruise—odd for a mortal, as most of us had brown irises. Her slender frame showed off her ample cleavage, and she wore her sweeping, violet gown, woven from the finest silks, as if it was a second skin.
Morgan explained. “During the pre-Oidheritual, the current queen gives you orders and dictates your preparations. She ensures that you are ready for your new role.”
“And can I—”
“No,” the queen said icily. “You cannot speak. You cannot argue. You cannot balk against any of my demands. What you can do is get into the tub.”
Mashing my lips together, I stared the queen down. My mother had been right. There was nothing but hateful superiority in this woman’s eyes. No sign of humanity, compassion, or love. If she’d once rebelled against the fae, she certainly didn’t now.
She’d become one of them herself.
“Why are you like this? Don’t you remember how he treats those of us in Teine? What he does to us?” I asked, balling my hands into fists.
She drew back her lips and hissed, whirling toward Morgan. “What is the meaning of this? You were under strict orders to make her understand that she cannot speak in front of me.”
Morgan paled, her neck bobbing as she swallowed hard. “I apologize, Madam. I did warn her, but you know how they can be. It’s a difficult adjustment. You remember how it was…last time.”
I frowned.
“I don’t care howdifficulttheadjustmentis. She is my servant, to do as I say. Until the wedding, nothing she wants matters. The sooner she understands that, the better. Or Iwilltell the king.”
Morgan turned back to me. “Get into the tub, Tessa.”
The look in her eyes sent a chill down my spine. It was a look that communicated her feelings all too well. Fuck up and there was nothing she could do to stop the queen from enacting whatever justice she deemed necessary.
So, I climbed into the stupid, scalding bath. I didn’t flinch when the queen insisted on chopping off an inch of my hair. I didn’t scream when she brought a soldier in to tattoo Oberon’s one-eyed dragon on my upper back—some kind of brand meant to mark me as his next bride. The ink-tipped needle felt like a knife scraping against my skin, but I stayed still. I wouldn’t let her break me.
And I didn’t say a word when she ordered Morgan to reduce my food rations.
“Too much muscle,” the queen said with a sneer as she poked my shoulder. “We can’t have her looking like that. And what are these scars on her back? Why haven’t they fully healed? Oberon’s choice this time is…odd.”
I didn’t answer. She wouldn’t like what I had to say. Oberon had given me those scars the day Ty, my father’s friend, had carried my father’s wounded body across the Bridge to Death after they’d both fought against the monsters in the mists. When the king’s men had found them, they hadn’t tended to their wounds. They’d taken Father’s head and put Ty in the stocks for months.
For Oberon, that hadn’t been enough. He’d punished me, too.
But I didn’t break then, and I wouldn’t break now. They’d have to kill me before I let them douse the fire in my heart.
Nine
Tessa
As the sun crept into the western side of the sky, Raven, who I’d named after my favorite bird, delivered me a coiled snake ready to strike.
A gown.
Deep crimson and crafted from the finest silks, the gown swept across the floor, the long train embellished by a hundred hand-cut ember jewels. The same jewels King Oberon had caught me stealing. It was one of the most beautiful things I’d ever seen, but the sight of it sent fear through my heart.
This would not be a coincidence. Making me wear a gown decorated with those gemstones was a calculated move, meant to remind me of why I was here. And what would happen if I did not play nice tonight.