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My face heated. “You don’t need to do that. I—”

“I spent five years locked in the Dark King’s dungeon, dear, and my wrists don’t look like that,” Halla said bluntly, gesturing toward the scars around mine.

My face flushed further.

“You’ve had a hard life, and that’s nothing to be ashamed of, but things will change here. Namir is a good king, and a better man. He takes care of us, and we take care of him as much as we can in response—and you, my dear, are a part of him now. So we’re going to take care of you, whether you like it or not.” Her words were blunt, but I didn’t hate them.

I didn’t hate them at all.

“I have bracelets as well, if you wish to cover your scars.” She gestured to my wrists again, and my stomach clenched.

“No. I won’t hide the proof of my survival; I lived through things most fae can’t even imagine, and I’m proud of that,” I said, my voice sharp.

“As you should be.” She led me back to Namir, and he recaptured my hand as soon as I was within his reach. “I’ll have the dress and undergarment to the castle first thing in the morning,” Halla explained, scribbling a few notes down on a sheet of thick paper. “Would you mind if I gave your measurements to a few other seamstresses who wish to make you something?” She looked to me.

I looked to Namir.

He shrugged.

Guess it was up to me.

“That’s fine. I don’t have coins yet, though.”

She waved a hand through the air. “I told you, we’ll take care of you.”

“Thank you.” Honestly, I wasn’t sure whether to be shocked, suspicious, or touched by her generosity.

Namir and I made our way through the rest of the market, stopping a few more times for food and other small trinkets. By the time we made it through and walked back toward the castle, I was exhausted. The moon was nearly lost in the sky, yet we took the long way through the city, past buildings with large windows and massive skylights.

When we finally neared the castle, I wanted nothing more than to drop to the ground.

Namir wanted to leave some of the food we’d been given in the castle, so it didn’t go to waste, but I’d decided I was abandoning my plan to slyly convince him to invite me to live there again.

I didn’t want to go back out to the forest, where it was cold and dirty. I wanted a warm bed, and a warm meal, and a set of sturdy walls around me.

“Does your offer to give me a room here still stand?” I asked Namir bluntly.

“Of course.” He looked surprised by the question. “The rooms are large, and sometimes cold, though.”

My face fell.

“But they have lights; we can leave them on, so it’s not dark while you sleep, if that would work,” he added. “And my room has a glass ceiling, so you can see the stars. It’s yours, if you want it.”

I scowled at him. “I’m not taking your room.”

His lips twitched. “I’d take the floor, if you forced me to.”

I heaved a sigh.

Maybe this was a bad idea.

“Come on; I’ll help you pick out a room thatdoesn’tbelong to me.” He tugged me toward the castle. My feet dragged, but I let him pull me behind him.

The castle was even more beautiful to me the second time, because the second time, there was no one seated on the furniture within it. The absence of the other fae was more comfortable to me.

“The only people who live here are those I’m the closest to,” Namir explained, leading me toward a set of gray doors I hadn’t noticed before, tucked beneath the massive staircase. “They all live on the top floor; this portion of the castle is mine. I don’t mind company, but no one enters my rooms. They know that’s where I draw the line. And, I have the shadows attuned to my magic alone, so they can’t get in.” He winked at me as he placed his hand on the doors.

My eyebrows shot upward as the doors turned to shadow and faded in the center, creating a gap large enough for a fae to fit through.