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“Why?” I demanded, collecting my dagger from the bench.

“BecauseI’mnot missing the ball, and Raphael left you in my care. Do you really want to sit by yourself in a room with a chair barricading the door shut because you’re terrified to be alone in the Vampire Kingdom?”

I glared. That was exactly what I intended, even if I’d come to see just how outmatched I was against vampire strength. “That’s a low blow.”

“Low blows work,” Amalthea countered. “Now, we’ve barely enough time to get ready, so let’s go.”

“How long?” I asked, alarmed.

“Lessthan three hours.”

Amalthea navigated the twisting hallways of Damerel with ease. I froze at the first pair of vampires we crossed paths with, but the witch just tugged on my arm to keep me moving while the vampires bowed their heads in respect—atus. Humans.

“Here we are.”

I didn’t recognize the hall where Amalthea’s rooms were, but that didn’t say much. Despite the fact we were under a mountain, the hallways were every bit the labyrinth as the castle in Ulryne.

“These are your chambers?”

“They are,” she replied, tossing the doors wide.

To say Amalthea’s room was chaotic was to greatly understate the level of disarray. Dresses hung off every elevated surface, from the changing screen to the wingback chairs by the fire to the low table in the middle of the room. The floor was a viper’s nest of shoes of every description, from practical, fur-lined boots I’d have killed to have in the prison to heels that rivaled the dagger I was anxiously clutching. That was not to say Amalthea used her room as one big closet. It was also part library, with books scattered throughout, left open to specific pages, and garden, with the remaining floor space eaten up by luscious purple and blue flowers that matched her hair.

“Don’t mind the mess,” she chirped, taking a big step over a particularly dangerous mountain of flats.

I thought of my mother’s immaculate chambers, which never had so much as a stocking out to be gawked at. “No problem.”

She pointed off to the side. “There’s a bathing room over there. You can wash up and then we’ll have some fun. Here, take this. It’s clean.”

She picked a ball of fabric from her dresser, and I unfurled it. A satin robe. Despite the wrinkled state, it actually seemed to have been laundered.

“Thanks.”

I ducked into the bathroom and stifled a laugh when I saw the shelving. It seemed I wasn’t the only one with a penchant for perfumes. Amalthea had dozens of half-empty bottles, some stacked on top of each other to fit. This time, I abstained, washing my body quickly before returning to Amalthea.

“Now, let’s see what we’ve got. Sit,” she instructed.

In my time freshening up, she’d unearthed both a stool and vanity that I hadn’t noticed. Obediently, I sat. Iademos may have been the general, but Amalthea certainly liked to give orders.

“I just love your hair,” she mused, running her fingers through it. “I’m going to have fun with you, Sam.”

She grinned at me in the mirror, gray eye brimming with mischief. Everything she did was with complete ease. Like having me in her room getting ready for a ball was no bigdeal. Was this what it was like to have friends? Despite the bizarre circumstances, I was touched. My eyes burned.

“What’s this? None of this,” she said quickly. She brushed away the tears that threatened to form.

“It’s just… you’re soniceto me.” She’d been ordered to babysit, but Amalthea had immediately embraced me, teasing, joking, teaching.

She shrugged. “I know we’re going to be friends.”

“Act like this and it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy,” I joked.

“Aren’t all prophecies?” she replied glibly. “But even if we weren’t, it’s in my best interest to be on your good side. I’m rather invested in surviving.”

I frowned. “I don’t see how I could make a difference in anyone’s survival.”

The witch lifted a brush from the vanity and began to run it through my hair. “Maybe not today,” she half-agreed, seeming far too focused on my hair as she answered. Taming the wild strands of my hair was no simple task. My hair was naturally straight, but nights spent sleeping on the forest floor without so much as a comb meant I’d made do with my fingers and little else.

A thought occurred to me. “When you say you know… you mean you got a feeling, or you saw with your magic?”